Faculty Profile: Shadi Najjar

Professor Shadi Najjar

Shadi Najjar entered AUB in 1999 as a civil engineering student; six years later, he graduated with a master's in civil engineering.

His research focused on the aspect of structural engineering that deals with load testing concrete specimens in order to see the effect of adding steel fibers to concrete.

Najjar then went after a PhD in the University of Texas at Austin, where he specialized in geotechnical engineering, which is concerned with all structures in contact with the ground and the foundations of buildings, and deals with everything related to land slides, rocks, and the ground.

In his research, Najjar focuses more specifically on Reliability Based Design, a field that examines how to design a foundation in order to have a certain target probability of failure. This process ensures a certain factor of safety in buildings and is a new engineering approach.

Although he had several work opportunities in the United States, Najjar chose to return to Lebanon in 2005, and worked as a civil engineer and a part-time instructor in various Lebanese and American universities.

He finally chose AUB. He said that after experience, he discovered that AUB has the best caliber of students among all universities in Lebanon. "As a student, I enjoyed my four years tremendously and got to know many people." Najjar's professor at AUB, Salah Sadek, encouraged him to pursue his PhD in the United States. "His enthusiasm and encouragement pushed me and made my ambition achievable."

Najjar does not feel new to the AUB environment, having completed his undergraduate studies there. "AUB is a family. . . I know the University by heart." Najjar currently teaches courses in statistics, reliability based design of civil systems, and engineering geology.