Welcome...

dr.ir. M. Pena Acosta (Monica)

Assistant Professor

About Me

Monica's expertise lies in data analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and urban informatics. Utilizing these skills, she develops models and frameworks that harness publicly available data to address critical issues related to urban heat.

Monica's research focuses on analyzing the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, a pressing issue for urban planners and policymakers. Her approach involves data-driven methodologies that extract explicit correlations between socio-economic factors, urban morphology, and UHI at a micro (street) level. This approach integrates advanced machine learning algorithms to provide actionable insights. Her innovative work not only contributes to the scientific understanding of UHI effects but also aids in the development of sustainable urban planning strategies.

Expertise

Earth & Environmental Sciences
Data Acquisition
Heat Island
Urban Planning
Business & Economics
Heat Island
Urban Planning
Engineering & Materials Science
Hot Temperature
Pavements
Urban Planning

Publications

Recent
Pena Acosta, M. (2023). Demystifying the urban heat island phenomenon: A data-driven approach. [PhD Thesis - Research UT, graduation UT, University of Twente]. University of Twente. https://doi.org/10.3990/1.9789036558730
Pena Acosta, M. , Vahdatikhaki, F. , Santos, J. , & Doree, A. (2022). A framework for a comprehensive mobile data acquisition setting for the assessment of Urban Heat Island phenomenon. In T. Linner, B. García de Soto, R. Hu, & I. Brilakis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (pp. 1-8). International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction. https://doi.org/10.22260/ISARC2022/0003
Pena Acosta, M. , Vahdatikhaki, F. , Oliveira dos Santos, J. M., Hammad, A. , & Doree, A. (2021). A generalizability analysis of a data-driven method for the Urban Heat Island phenomenon assessment. In Proceedings of the 38th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) (pp. 73-80) https://doi.org/10.22260/isarc2021/0012
Pena Acosta, M. , Vahdatikhaki, F. , Santos, J. , & Dorée, A. G. (2020). A conceptual framework for more efficient simulation of the interplay between road pavements and the Urban Heat Island phenomenon. In L.-C. Ungureanu, & T. Hartmann (Eds.), EG-ICE 2020 Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering: 1st–4th July 2020, Online, Proceedings (pp. 264-274). Berlin University Press.
Ibragimova, E. , Pena, M., & Thompson, M. K. (2019). The evolution of Sihwa dam: A formal design theory perspective. In International Conference on Civil and Environmental Engineering, ICCEE-2009

UT Research Information System

Google Scholar Link

Affiliated Study Programmes

Bachelor

Courses Academic Year  2023/2024

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
 

Courses Academic Year  2022/2023

Contact Details

Visiting Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Engineering Technology
Horst Complex (building no. 20)
De Horst 2
7522LW  Enschede
The Netherlands

Navigate to location

Mailing Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Engineering Technology
Horst Complex
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands

Social Media