Elnashai Named CEE Head

Amr S. Elnashai was named the new head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) on June 15. Elnashai replaces Robert H. Dodds Jr., who stepped down to return to research and teaching.

Amr Elnashai

Elnashai is the William J. and Elaine F. Hall Endowed Professor at Illinois. His technical interest is in earthquake engineering, and he has published on analytical, experimental and field assessment of buildings and bridges subjected to earthquake action.

“I am looking forward to serving the department, taking advantage of national and international opportunities, and addressing the challenges posed by the economic climate and the evolving requirements for educating the engineers of the future,” Elnashai said.

Until his appointment as department head, Elnashai was director and chair of the College of Engineering Council on Global Engineering Initiatives, director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Mid-America Earthquake Center—a multi-institution, multi-disciplinary research center headquartered within CEE—and director of the NSF Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation facility at Illinois. He is a fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, the American Society of Civil Engineering and the Institution of Structural Engineers.

“Amr Elnashai is a superb scholar and researcher, and an accomplished academic leader,” Dodds said. “CEE is fortunate to have such an outstanding member of our faculty step forward into this key leadership position.”

Dodds, who has served as CEE's head for five years, is spending the current academic  year in collaborative research at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn. 

Elnashai is the 14th head since the department’s founding in 1867.

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Contact/Writer: Celeste Arbogast Bragorgos, director of communications, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 217/333-6955.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, Engineering Communications Office, 217/244-7716, editor.