Padgett’s research focuses on the application of probabilistic methods for risk assessment of infrastructure, including the subsequent quantification of resilience and sustainability. Her work emphasizes structural portfolios such as regional portfolios of bridges or oil storage tanks exposed to multiple hazards, including earthquakes, hurricanes, or aging and deterioration.
She has published over 200 articles in journals or archived conference proceedings in the general area of structural response, reliability and life-cycle assessment. Dr. Padgett was the founding Chair of the ASCE/SEI technical committee on Multiple Hazard Mitigation and is an active member of several national technical committees within ASCE and TRB. She currently serves on editorial boards for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, Natural Hazards Review, and Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure.
Dr. Padgett has received several awards and recognitions including the 2017 ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, and the 2017 (T+R)2 Award at Rice University for excellence in research and teaching. She also was awarded the 2011 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award and the 2016 IALCCE Junior Award for “contributions to life-cycle analysis of structures.”
Among other projects, Dr. Padgett currently serves in leadership roles within several large national or regional research efforts including the NIST Center of Excellence for Community Disaster Resilience at Colorado State University, the NSF NHERI Cyberinfrastructure “DesignSafe-CI” at University of Texas, Austin, and the Severe Storm Prediction Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center at Rice University.