NEW FACULTY MEMBER
Farshad Rajabipour has joined the faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering as an assistant professor in August 2009. Farshad has a PhD in construction materials from Purdue University and has been an assistant professor of civil engineering at University of Hawaii during 2007-2009. Farshad’s research is in the broad area of sustainable infrastructure. Specifically, his work is aimed at development of “Design for Durability” tools and methods to assist structural engineers in designing long lasting and low maintenance concrete infrastructure. This includes development and experimental verification of a multi-scale life-cycle prediction model that simulates degradation of concrete structures in service. This hybrid model is composed of a transport simulator that predicts moisture, solutes, and heat transport in fractured porous media, and a mechanical simulator that predicts stress generation and cracking in concrete. Farshad also works on development of high performance and green construction materials. Examples include the use of recycled glass as a supplementary cementing material in concrete and applications of demolished concrete in pavement construction. Since 2005, Farshad has authored more than 30 journal and refereed articles on these subjects, including the papers that received ACI’s Wason Medal for Materials Research and TRB’s Bryant Mather Award for Best Paper in Concrete Materials.