Soung Eil Houng

About

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, where I develop fast, scalable computational methods for earthquake hazard and risk analysis. My recent work combines adaptive importance sampling, Gaussianized (linearized) ground-motion–fragility coupling, and probabilistic PCA for scalable seismic hazard and regional risk assessment of critical infrastructure. Before Berkeley, I spent eight years as a seismic hazard analyst and seismologist in South Korea, with earlier training in seismology/geophysics and earth system sciences.

Research Interests

Earthquake risk modeling for infrastructure
Importance sampling and uncertainty quantification
System optimization
AI and ML methods for hazard and risk
Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA)
Engineering seismology and ground motion modeling

Education

Civil Engineering

2024 – present

Ph.D. candidate, Civil & Environmental Engineering · UC Berkeley

2024 – 2025

M.S., Civil & Environmental Engineering · UC Berkeley

2023

Ph.D. student, Civil Engineering · NYU (transferred to UC Berkeley)

Earth Science

2013 – 2015

Ph.D. candidate (ABD), Geological Science, Seismology · Yonsei University

2011 – 2013

M.S., Geological Science, Seismology · Yonsei University

2006 – 2011

B.S., Earth System Sciences · Yonsei University

Journal Publications

Scalable Scenario-based Earthquake Risk Modeling via Linearized Ground-Motion–Fragility Coupling and PPCA
Houng, S.E., Ceferino, L.

Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics · 2026

Link Preprint Code
Fast Propagation of Epistemic Uncertainty in Seismic Hazard via Adaptive Importance Sampling

Houng, S.E., Ceferino, L., Abrahamson, N.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 116, 1709-1726 · 2026

Link Code
Fast Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis through Adaptive Importance Sampling

Houng, S.E., Ceferino, L.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 115, 646–663 · 2025

Link Code
Discrimination between natural earthquakes and explosions based on the azimuthal distribution of S/P amplitude ratios

Houng, S.E.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 108, 218–229 · 2018

Link PDF
Dynamic seismic response of a stable intraplate region to a megathrust earthquake

Houng, S.E., Lee, J., Hong, T.-K.

Tectonophysics, 689, 67–78 · 2016

Link PDF
Seismotectonic properties and zonation of the far-eastern Eurasian plate around the Korean Peninsula

Hong, T.-K., Park, S., Houng, S.E.

Pure and Applied Geophysics, 173, 1175–1195 · 2016

Link PDF
Long-term evolution of intraplate seismicity in stress shadows after a megathrust

Hong, T.-K., Lee, J., Houng, S.E.

Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 245, 59–70 · 2015

Link PDF
Temporal changes of medium properties during explosive volcanic eruption

Hong, T.-K., Houng, S.E., Jo, E.

Geophysical Research Letters, 41, 1944–1950 · 2014

Link PDF
Probabilistic analysis of the Korean historical earthquake records

Houng, S.E., Hong, T.-K.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 103, 2782–2796 · 2013

Link PDF

Patents

Computational framework for numerical probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) pending

Houng, S., Ceferino, L.

WIPO · WO2026006061A1 · 2026
Method for automatically discriminating earthquake vibratory motion from erroneous signal records at the seismic system of a nuclear power plant granted

Houng, S., Park, D., Kim, H.-S.

KIPO (Korea) · KR 10-2587912 · 2020

Experience

Scholarships & Fellowships

Graduate Student Researcher, UC Berkeley

Fall 2024 – present

Graduate Student Instructor (CE193 Engineering Risk Analysis), UC Berkeley

Fall 2026

AI for CEE Education GSR, UC Berkeley

Spring 2026

UC Berkeley CEE SEMM Fellowship

Summer 2025

Graduate Student Instructor (CE294 Disaster Risk Analysis), UC Berkeley

Fall 2024

School of Engineering Fellowship, New York University

Fall 2023

Brain Korea 21 Plus Scholarship, Yonsei University

2013 – 2015

Brain Korea 21 Scholarship, Yonsei University

2011 – 2013

Korea National Oil Corporation Scholarship, Yonsei University

2011

National Science & Technology Scholarship, Yonsei University

2010

Invited Talks & Seminars

Scalable Scenario-based Earthquake Risk Modeling via Linearized Ground-Motion–Fragility Coupling and PPCA — NHERI GSC RSR meeting (Feb. 2026)
Adaptive Importance Sampling–based PSHA computational framework — KHNP-CRI (Jul. 2025)
PSHA: Theory, Practice, and Numerical Computation — KIGAM (Apr. 2025)
Current State-of-the-Art PSHA for Korea's NPPs — KAERI (Jul. 2020)
Synthesis of Strong Ground Motion using Empirical Green's Function — Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (2018)
Synthesis of Strong Ground Motion using Empirical Green's Function — KIGAM Earthquake Research Center (Feb. 2018)

Journal Review

Earthquake Spectra · Scientific Reports · Pure and Applied Geophysics · Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment · Geosciences Journal · International Journal of Data Science and Analytics