Michelle (Shelby) Bensi, Ph.D. is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maryland (UMD).

Dr. Bensi earned a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with Designated Emphasis in Computational Science and Engineering (and minors in statistics and risk analysis) from the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a Master of Applied Sciences from the University of Delaware and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with minors in mathematics and political science from the University of Toledo.

Dr. Bensi’s research centers on the application of probabilistic risk assessment concepts and tools as well as statistical/machine learning techniques to problems involving engineered systems exposed to natural hazards. Dr. Bensi focuses primarily on topics related to the probabilistic assessment of natural hazards (e.g., seismic, coastal, inland flooding, precipitation), risk-informed applications, and disaster resilience.  

Dr. Bensi serves as a member of the American Nuclear Society and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ANS/ASME) Joint Committee on Nuclear Risk Management and chairs the working group responsible for the ANS/ASME Standard for external flooding probabilistic risk assessment at nuclear power plants.  

Prior to joining the UMD faculty, Dr. Bensi served as an engineer at the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission where she was heavily involved in the agency response to the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactor accidents. Prior to joining the NRC, Dr. Bensi’s doctoral research focused on the development of a Bayesian network (BN) framework for seismic infrastructure risk assessment and near-real-time, post-event decision support.

Outside of teaching and research, Dr. Bensi enjoys playing soccer, practicing tai chi and wushu, painting, traveling, and learning to speak Chinese.