Amjad Aref named chair of civil, structural and environmental engineering

By Marcene Robinson

Aref succeeds Alan Rabideau, who has served as the department’s chair since 2022. Rabideau will return to a faculty role.

“I am excited to see the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering continue to rise under professor Aref’s leadership. His ambitious vision will help propel the department toward further success in its next chapter,” said Kemper Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “I also want to thank professor Rabideau for his exceptional service and dedication. His leadership has been vital to the department’s growth, and his efforts will have a lasting impact.”

An expert in structural engineering, Aref has led UB’s Structural Engineering and Earthquake Simulation Laboratory (SEESL) — the flagship research facility of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering — as director from 2013 to 2015 and since 2025. He also served as his department’s director of graduate studies for civil engineering from 2018 to 2021.

Aref joined UB in 1997. His research focuses on earthquake and blast engineering, applied and computational mechanics, and multiphysics problems. He has received more than $4 million in research funding, and he has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

He is a fellow of both the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the ASCE’s Structural Engineers Institute. He also is a section editor of the Journal of Structural Engineering and an associate editor of the Journal of Bridge Engineering.

In 2000, Aref was part of a team led by the New York State Department of Transportation that received ASCE’s Charles Pankow Award for Innovation for the economical rehabilitation of a steel truss bridge using a fiber reinforced polymeric deck system.

Aref received a doctoral degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a master’s degree in civil engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Birzeit University.

“Our Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering has a distinguished history of achievement, a strong national reputation, and a longstanding tradition of excellence,” said Aref. “As chair, I look forward to working closely with our faculty, staff, and alumni to build on this strong foundation and further advance the success of our department and our students.”

Under Rabideau’s guidance, the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering — renowned for its leadership in structural and earthquake engineering — continued to expand its expertise in environmental, water resources, transportation, sustainability, and construction engineering. The department widened the scope of SEESL, developed the new Transportation Research and Visualization Lab, recruited faculty to broaden its scholarship, and launched new academic programs, including a construction engineering and management focus for its civil engineering master’s degree program.

A passionate advocate for sustainability and education, his research interests include groundwater modeling and remediation, stormwater management, urban water systems, and environmental ethics. He was part of a team that developed the prize-winning groundwater remediation system at the West Valley Demonstration Project nuclear facility and has led National Science Foundation-sponsored programs in ecological restoration.

A licensed professional engineer, Rabideau joined UB in 1993. He played a lead role in the establishment of UB’s Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water (RENEW) Institute. He has served on national and regional scientific advisory committees and has received numerous honors, including the ASCE Rudolph Hering Medal in 2001 and the 2014 Engineering Educator Award from the New York State Society of Professional Engineers. He is also a fellow of the ASCE.

Rabideau earned his doctorate in environmental science and engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, master’s degrees in civil engineering and philosophy from UB, and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Notre Dame.