Rebecca Napolitano

Affiliate Researcher
Titles and Affiliations
Assistant Professor in Architectural Engineering, Architectural Engineering

Existing buildings and historic structures play key roles in the communities they are a part of. Not only are they an important part of cultural legacy, but they also are crucial in surmounting engineering challenges like the design of sustainable infrastructure, space shortages, increased costs of construction, and the lowering life cycle costs. By reusing or recycling existing and historic structures, communities can reduce their carbon costs, decrease the amount of solid waste they are contributing to landfills, and save on new construction materials. Before existing structures can be preserved or renovated however, an assessment of the existing building must be completed. This process must comprise documenting where damages are, understanding how existing damages originated and assessing the current capacity of a structure. My research is in hybrid! analytics which lies at the intersection of architectural engineering, computer science, and historic preservation. Hybrid analytics, a nascent field, is the combination of physics-based modeling and data-driven modeling for the end goal of making real-time predictions and monitoring in the context of Digital Twin a reality. This new field leverages the decipherability and clear-box nature of physics-based modeling, with accuracy and pattern recognition techniques of data-driven machine learning algorithms.

In the News

Research Keywords

Recent Publications

Damage localization using differentiable physics and displacement-based structural identification

Farnod, B. R., Reinhart, W. F. & Napolitano, R. K., Jan 2025, In: Structures. 71, 108142.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Image-To-Insight: A novel workflow for converting post-disaster imagery of historic masonry structures into actionable data

Kallas, J. & Napolitano, R., Apr 1 2025, In: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 120, 105358.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Community agency and heritage recovery in climate-vulnerable historic districts: lessons from Riverine Montpelier, Vermont

Maalouf, L. & Napolitano, R., 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: International Journal of Heritage Studies.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Analyzing the Impact of Formal Assessment Modalities: Comparative Study in Data Science for Engineering Education

Napolitano, R., Solnosky, R. & Reinhart, W., Jul 1 2025, In: Journal of Civil Engineering Education. 151, 3, 05025001.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Data-driven evaluation of building materials using Ground Penetrating Radar

Alam, A. N., Reinhart, W. F. & Napolitano, R. K., Oct 15 2024, In: Journal of Building Engineering. 95, 110188.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Addressing machine learning bias to foster energy justice

Chen, C. F., Napolitano, R., Hu, Y., Kar, B. & Yao, B., Oct 2024, In: Energy Research and Social Science. 116, 103653.

Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

Understanding critical masonry building attributes shaping vulnerability to blast loads: Data-driven insights from the 2020 Beirut explosion

Kallas, J. & Napolitano, R., Aug 2024, In: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. 110, 104640.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Assessing the behavior of historic masonry buildings to tornadic events: A comparative study of code-based analysis and point cloud based simulation

Kaushal, S. S., Gutierrez Soto, M. & Napolitano, R., Sep 2024, In: Engineering Failure Analysis. 163, 108539.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Three-Dimensional Digital Documentation of Tornado-Damaged Heritage Buildings

Kaushal, S. S., Gutierrez Soto, M. & Napolitano, R., Oct 1 2024, In: Journal of Structural Engineering (United States). 150, 10, 04724002.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

On determining structural wall layout during the adaptive reuse process of historic masonry buildings

Paulino, D. M. S., Ligler, H. & Napolitano, R., Oct 15 2024, In: Journal of Building Engineering. 95, 110178.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Comparative analysis of saliency map algorithms in capturing visual priorities for building inspections

Saleem, M. R. & Napolitano, R., Nov 15 2024, In: Journal of Building Engineering. 97, 110678.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Evaluating Human Expert Knowledge in Damage Assessment Using Eye Tracking: A Disaster Case Study

Saleem, M. R., Mayne, R. & Napolitano, R., Jul 2024, In: Buildings. 14, 7, 2114.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

AUTOMATED LARGE-SCALE DAMAGE DETECTION on HISTORIC BUILDINGS in POST-DISASTER AREAS USING IMAGE SEGMENTATION

Kallas, J. & Napolitano, R., Jun 24 2023, In: International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives. 48, M-2-2023, p. 797-804 8 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

Image-based 3D modeling as a damage prioritization tool for historic buildings in post-disaster areas: The case of the 2020 Beirut blast

Kallas, J. & Napolitano, R., Jul 1 2023, In: Journal of Cultural Heritage. 62, p. 314-321 8 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS of POST-DISASTER MASONRY STRUCTURES MODELED USING CLOUD2FEM SOFTWARE

Kaushal, S. S., Gutierrez Soto, M. & Napolitano, R., Jun 24 2023, In: International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives. 48, M-2-2023, p. 827-834 8 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review