Dr. Adams is an expert in the chemistry and durability performance of cemetitious systems for use in infrastructure. He joined New Jersey Institute of Technology as an assistant professor of civil engineering in September of 2015 after completing his M.S and Ph.D. at Oregon State University. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a structural design consultant in Boston, MA for several years after graduating with his B.S. from the University of New Hampshire. His background is in the performance and chemistry of concrete materials including systems with alternative cements, supplementary cementitious materials, recycled aggregates, and fibers. Dr. Adams teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of construction materials, concrete durability, and sustainable engineering. Dr. Adams is heavily involved with the American Concrete Institute and ASTM, International, holding officer and voting memberships in both organizations. He has won the ACI Young Member Award for Professional Achievement (2015) and was named a Fellow of the American Concrete Institute. In 2019 he was awarded the Newark College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching award. In 2020 he was named a Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute for Government.Â
Dr. Bandelt is an expert in the behavior and modeling of novel infrastructure materials in structural applications for improved lifecycle performance, sustainability, and resiliency. He joined the John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NJIT in July 2015 as an assistant professor.. He received his PhD in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University in 2015, and his bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering from Villanova University. Dr. Bandelt is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP), the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Fred R. Havens Fellowship, and the John A. Blume Fellowship from Stanford University. Dr. Bandelt teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the areas of mechanics, materials, structural analysis, and structural design. Dr. Bandelt is a voting member on numerous committees of the American Concrete Institute. He received the 2020 ASCE North Jersey Branch Educator of the Year award, the 2021 Newark College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award, the CAREER award from that National Science Foundation in 2022, and the High Value Research Award from American Association of State Highway Transportation. He is a licensed professional engineer (PE) in the State of New Jersey and the Commonweatlh of Pennsylvania.
Md Maruf Hasan is a a Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering at NJIT who joined the MatSLab in 2023 with a focus on sustainable construction materials and low-carbon concrete systems. His research interests are on the impact of supplementary cementitious materials—such as slag, fly ash, and ground glass pozzolan—on different chemo-mechanical and physical properties of concrete. Maruf also investigates the use of low-carbon materials such as portland limestone cement and sodium bentonite for cementing underground infrastructure. With a bachelor’s degree from the Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh, Maruf’s research on recycled concrete made with waste ceramics established his commitment to sustainable concrete technology. Prior to joining NJIT, Maruf worked as a structural engineer and concrete repair specialist, where he witnessed how large infrastructure projects dramatically increase CO2 emissions. This experience fueled his passion for low carbon concrete technology. His Ph.D. journey is driven by a mission to advance construction practices that significantly reduce global warming potential from the concrete industry.
Amir Karimi joined the MatSLab research group at NJIT in the fall of 2024 as a Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering. His research interests focus on the science of construction materials. He has worked on both numerical and experimental modeling of low-carbon concrete, investigating its behavior when exposed to carbon dioxide, chloride, and sulfate attack. Before joining the MatSLab, Amir researched the mechanical properties and microstructures of recycled Aaggregate concrete (RCA) incorporating nanomaterial. Currently, He is working on low-carbon concrete as a Ph.D. student in the MatSLab research group. His broader research interests relate to the durability, corrosion resistance, and performance of nanomaterials in concrete.
Jason Lin is a graduate at the New Jersey Institute of Technology pursuing a Master's Degree in Civil Engineering. Jason has previously worked in the Geomechanics for Geo-Engineering and Sustainability (GGES) Lab studying rock mechanics and is currently interested in researching high-performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs) as well as interactions of other innovative materials in structural components. Jason interned at AECOM for the past two summers in their transportation and structural departments working on extensive infrastructure improvement projects. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and has participated in the Concrete Canoe Competition.Â
Ronit Sthapit is a PhD student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). He received his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He received his Master’s in Structural Engineering from Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand while working on numerical simulation of reinforced concrete joints using layered shell elements. He received the Golden Jubilee Scholarship during his undergraduate and the Computer and Structures Incorporated (CSI) fellowship during his graduate studies. Ronit is a student member of American Concrete Institute (ACI) and American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is currently working on understanding the performance of reinforced high performance fiber-reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs) columns through numerical simulations and experimental testing. His research interests include finite element analysis, seismic response of structures, structural dynamics, and performance-based earthquake engineering.
Sami joined as a PhD student in the John A. Reif, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2024. His research focuses on enhancing structural resilience against natural hazards through the use of composite concrete materials, with a focus on improving concrete durability using both experimental and numerical methodologies. Sami holds a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan, where his thesis focused on predictive modeling of sustainable lightweight foamed concrete using genetic-based machine learning techniques. Prior to his PhD, he worked as an application-oriented AI researcher on an industrial project at Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, focusing on data-driven approaches for industrial concrete production. His research interests include structural design, sustainable construction materials, composite structures and the integration of AI and machine learning techniques in structural engineering.Â
Graduated: May 2023
Dissertation: Multi-physics Numerical Simulation of Corrosion and Service Life Evaluation of Novel Reinforced Concrete Systems
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, UC Davis
Advisor: Adams and Bandelt
Graduated: May 2020
Dissertation: Computational Modeling of Recycled Aggregate Concrete Systems
Current Position: Project Manager, DR Pilla
Advisor: Adams and Bandelt
Graduated: May 2020
Dissertation: The Impact of Conversion on the Durability of Calcium Aluminate Cement Concrete Systems
Current Position: Structural Associate, Michael Baker, International
Advisor: Adams
Graduated: December 2023
Dissertation: Machine Learning Application for Design, Planning, and Construction of Underground Infrastructure
Current Position: Data Scientist, The National Transportation Center, Morgan State University
Advisor: Bandelt
Graduated: May 2020
Dissertation: Numerical and Analytical Methods to Predict Behavior of Reinforced Ductile Concrete Composites
Current Position: Project Engineer, Thornton Tomasetti
Advisor: Bandelt
Graduated: May 2023
Dissertation: Corrosion Performance and Durability of Advanced Reinforced Concrete Systems for Transportation Infrastracture
Current Position: Senior Engineer, Thornton Tomasetti
Advisor: Adams and Bandelt
Graduated: May 2022
Dissertation: The Impact of Material and Environmental Properties on the Ettringite-Metaettringite Thermochemical Reaction
Current Position: Engineer, Urban Tech Consulting Engineer
Advisor: Adams
Graduated: August 2020
Dissertation: Modeling Strategies for Structures using Ductile Concrete Materials in Seismic Applications
Current Position: Project Engineer, Thornton Tomasetti
Advisor: Bandelt
Graduated: August 2022
Dissertation: Behavior of Novel Cementitious Composites for Use in Sustainable Construction and Rehabilitation
Current Position: Associate Engineer, Pennoni Associates
Advisor: Adams and Bandelt
Graduated: August 2024
Dissertation: Exploring the Performance of Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete: An Integrated Analysis of Fresh Properties, Mechanical Performance, and Durability
Current Position: Technical Analyst at AESC
Advisor: Adams and Bandelt
Joseph Almeida*
Ariella Hernandez
Richard Marsh*
George Mettry
Daniel Calabro
Stephen George
Zachary Keator
Isabel Zayas
Adam Baba Abdulai
Christopher Dinallo
Bushra Islam*
Vujjaini Gottimukkala
*Indicates students with MS thesis.
Britney Aaliyah Ajia-Chavez
Joseph Almeida
Bruno Hinostroza
Alexandra Knowles
Jason Lin
Elizabeth Mundkowsky
Awa Ndiaeye
Jalen-Gerard Reyes
Tiffany Sayey^
Emily Shibata
Shridutt Vishnubhatla
Marina Wadie
Luke Araza
Tola Chen
Conan Cullen
Moustafa Elzar
Matthew Laub
Sebastian Mercado
Herbert Opoku^
Anthony Rodriguez
Emily Shibata
George Ulerio
Anna Casey
Marco Fernandez
Martin Lopez
Tyle McVeigh
Andrew Margiotta
Hiroaki Okazaki
Noah Thibodeaux
^Indicates HS intern.