Florentia’s research interests are focused on advancing the field or the re-use of steel and steel-concrete composite structures and developing a theoretical framework that enables a sustainable, and circular built environment. Through her research, she examines experimentally and numerically the structural behavior of re-usable/demountable buildings on different scales starting from material and connection levels up to a structural level.

Florentia obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Houston where she performed experimental and analytical research on the performance of steel column-to-base-plate connections. Her project was funded by the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) of the United States and her research findings led to a more economical steel frame design. During her Post-doctoral Research Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin, she conducted research at the Ferguson Structural Engineering Laboratory (FSEL) on an experimental program that included the design and performance of full-scale experiments on steel breakaway base connections that aims to generate resilient wayside structures. She also performed research at the Texas Seismological Network (TexNet) on earthquake engineering parameters from earthquakes that occurred in Texas.

Florentia is teaching in the MSc program in the courses:

• CIE 4115 Steel Structures 2
• CIE 4121 Steel Structures 3
• CIE 4281 Building Structures 2

And in the BSc program:

• CTB 2220 Concrete and Steel Structures