The PI is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at CSUN and has more than 18 years of experience in research, teaching, and professional practice in civil engineering. His research interests include construction 3D printing and robotic construction. Before he was employed at CSUN in 2021, he served as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Louisiana Tech University for four years. Prior to joining academia, he worked for consulting engineering firms for 13 years. His research and professional contributions have been recognized by a dozen awards, including the Engineers’ Council 2023 Outstanding Engineering Achievement Merit Award, the 2022 CSUN Research Fellow Award, the 2022 Easton Faculty Fellowship in Engineering, the 2021 Louisiana Engineering Faculty Professionalism Award, and the 2020 Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) Daniel P. Jenny Fellowship. As a lead project engineer or project manager, he has received seven national design awards from the PCI and the American Council of Engineering Companies. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal papers and conference proceedings. He has also been a PI on more than 15 research grants and holds a U.S. patent on wind towers. His extensive teaching and research experience and entrepreneurial management skills have prepared him well for this project.
The PI is affiliated with the CSUN Autonomy Research Center for STEAHM (ARCS), which possesses state-of-the-art facilities for additive manufacturing and AI. The PI is currently conducting two pertinent research projects sponsored by CSUN. The first project, titled "Additive Manufacturing of Sulfur Concrete for Mars Habitats," involves the PI and two graduate students assembling a gantry 3D printer specifically designed for printing sulfur concrete. They are studying the feasibility of utilizing this technology for constructing habitats on Mars. In the second project, named "Additive Manufacturing of Fiber-reinforced Concrete," the PI is assessing the effectiveness of steel fibers in reinforcing 3D printed concrete. Additionally, they are examining the structural response of 3D printed specimens through laboratory testing. The team intends to leverage the existing facilities for this proposed project.
The small business partner, eConstruct, has extensive experience in developing national structural design standards. Dr. Maher Tadros, Managing Member of eConstruct, is an internationally renowned expert in concrete. Many of his research findings have been adopted by the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and the concrete industry. The theories developed by Dr. Tadros on concrete design have received wide acclaim and are being used throughout the world. They include strength design for prestress transfer, prestress loss in high performance concrete, analysis of cracked prestressed concrete flexural members, and theory of creep restraint of continuous members made of precast concrete units. Adam Sevenker, Partner, and Mostafa Abo El-Khier, Senior Structural Engineer, have also established successful credentials in the field of structural engineering. The small business partners will be responsible for conducting the analytical study and guiding the PI in conducting the laboratory tests.
