Professor Amr S. Elnashai of the structures group will be the new Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Elnashai replaces Professor Robert H. Dodds Jr., who is stepping down June 15 to return to research and teaching.
“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. “Bob Dodds has set exceptionally high standards with regard to all aspects of leading a top-ranked academic department. I can only strive to maintain these high standards.”
A graduate of Cairo University, Elnashai obtained his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London, UK. Before joining CEE at Illinois in 2001, he was Professor of Earthquake Engineering and Head of Section at Imperial College.
Elnashai's technical interests are multi-resolution distributed analytical simulations, network analysis, large-scale hybrid testing and field investigations of the response of complex networks and structures.
“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 Head for five years, will spend this coming 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 will be the fourteenth Head since the department’s founding in 1871.