Rabideau elected fellow of ASCE

By Peter Murphy

Published August 1, 2023

Alan Rabideau, chair and professor in UB’s Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, is one of the latest members of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to be elected fellow.

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Alan Rabideau.

According to ASCE, becoming a fellow is a recognition of the engineer’s impact, experience, persistence and ability. “Our fellows inspire others through their professionalism, expertise, leadership and mentoring the next generation of civil engineers,” ASCE says.

Rabideau has been a UB faculty member since 1993 and has served as department chair since 2022. He is an advocate for sustainability and education. Rabideau’s research interests include groundwater modeling and remediation, stormwater management, chemical effects on lead water distribution pipes, and environmental ethics.

He has secured over $12 million in external funding from the National Science Foundation, United States Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, Buffalo Water Board, Buffalo Sewer Authority, National Grid, Motorola and others for research projects. He has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and contributed to more than 150 conference presentations. 

Rabideau has served on multiple scientific advisory committees at the national and regional levels, including, most recently, the National Research Council’s study of “Future alternatives for managing groundwater restoration at complex waste sites”. He and his students were part of a research team that developed an award-winning groundwater remediation system that has operated successfully for over a decade at the West Valley Demonstration Project nuclear facility.

A licensed professional engineer for 30 years and a member of ASCE for nearly 40 years, Rabideau received the 2001 Rudolph Hering Medal for best paper in environmental engineering and served as associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Environmental Engineering.

Rabideau has also served in many critical administrative roles within the department and university. He has previously worked as graduate and undergraduate director for the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. He served as director for the Ecosystem, Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE) programs and UB’s Environment and Society Institute. Rabideau also worked as the UB Research and Economic Development Leadership Fellow to launch the Institute for Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water (RENEW).

He earned his doctorate in environmental science and engineering from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and holds a Master of Engineering and bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in philosophy. 

ASCE Fellows in UB's Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Department

Rabideau joins Amjad Aref (2022), Michael Constantinou (2019), Andrew Whittaker (2016), Michel Bruneau (2007) and Kamran Nemati (2001) as ASCE fellows in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. 

Amjad Aref.

Amjad Aref, professor, has worked on and published research in structural engineering, mechanics, computational mechanics, earthquake and blast engineering and multiphysics problems for over 20 years. Many of his more than 90 peer-reviewed articles have been published in premier journals in the fields of structural and civil engineering, including ASCE’s Journal of Structural Engineering, Journal of Bridge Engineering, the Journal of Engineering Mechanics and the International Journal of Solids and Structures.

MIchael Constantinou.

Michael Constantinou, is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and Samuel P. Capen Professor. He is one of the world’s leading scholars in seismic protective systems and has made key contributions to the development of standards related to seismic protective systems, including the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Recommended Provisions, ASCE standard 7 and 41, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Guide Specification for Seismic Isolation Design.

Andrew S. Whittaker.

Andrew Whittaker, SUNY Distinguished Professor, is an internationally renowned scholar and engineer who has made significant contributions to the development of the first generation of tools for performance-based earthquake engineering and led a structural engineering team to develop the second generation of these tools on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He has helped develop engineering standards for several national committees, including ASCE 4, ASCE 7, ASCE 43, ASCE 59 and ACI 349.

Michel Bruneau.

Michel Bruneau is a SUNY Distinguished Professor, and his work enhances the resilience of structures against extreme events. His work spans across multiple concentrations and decades, and his research on steel plate shear walls, ductile bridge diaphragms, tubular eccentrically braced frames, structural fuses and controlled-rocking piers have made major impacts on the resilience of structures. Over the course of his career, Bruneau has contributed to the development of codes and standards, bridge engineering and structural and earthquake engineering.

Kamran Nemati.

Kamran Nemati is a professor of practice and is a registered professional engineering in New York and California. Nemati served as civil engineering chair at the University of Arizona global campus in Cambodia and as associate professor in construction management and civil engineering at the University of Washington. In additiona to ASCE, Nemati is a fellow in the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).