Instructors at: https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/civil-environmental-engineering/facult...
Tahar El-Korchi

Tahar El-Korchi

Professor

Department Head
Codirector, Morocco Project Center
Codirector, Panama Project Center

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 101

Phone: 508-831-5530, 508-831-5518

I enjoy my interactions with students at all levels of education, research, and mentoring, whether it be in the classroom, the lab, or in project work. I especially enjoy taking them to the Morocco Project Center and sharing with them the places where I grew up. Challenging the students to achieve higher levels of discovery is a thrill for me. ... View Profile
Laila Abu-Lail

Laila Abu-Lail

Assistant Teaching Professor

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Office: 100 Institute RD

Leonard D. Albano

Leonard D. Albano

Associate Professor

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 201

Phone: 508-831-5492

I enjoy teaching civil engineering fundamentals in 1000 and 2000-level courses, and then revisiting those fundamentals in upper level and graduate courses as a base for presenting advanced topics and fostering deeper learning. This emphasis on fundamentals can be challenging to undergraduates because they may not appreciate the relevance. Consequently, I integrate design projects into my undergraduate coursework to provide a context for learning and to emphasize my expectations for learning and actively applying the course material. ... View Profile
John Andrew Bergendahl

John Andrew Bergendahl

Associate Professor

Director, Environmental Engineering Program

Environmental Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 208

Phone: 508-831-5772

John Bergendahl is an associate professor in the Department of Civil Environmental Engineering at WPI. John has six years’ experience as a practicing engineer in industry, and holds a BS in mechanical engineering, an MS in environmental engineering, and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Connecticut. He conducted postdoctoral research in the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Program at the University of Texas in Austin. ... View Profile
Cynthia Bergeron

Cynthia Bergeron

Administrative Assistant V

Phone: 508-831-5530

Kenneth M. Elovitz

Kenneth M. Elovitz

Assistant Teaching Professor

Environmental Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall

My courses are application courses presented by a practitioner to train future practitioners.  My teaching style challenges students not only to understand the HVAC design concepts presented but to understand how HVAC design relates to and applies fundamentals learned in other courses.  When calculating heating and cooling loads, students use their knowledge of building materials and how buildings are put together to understand heat transfer through the building skin.  When sizing fans and pumps, students see how principles such as Bernoulli's equation and the conversion of velocity to pressu ... View Profile
Soroush Farzin-Moghadam

Soroush Farzin-Moghadam

Assistant Teaching Professor

Architectural Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 117B

I am a designer, researcher, and educator working at the interface of Architecture and engineering. I am currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Architectural Engineering program at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where I teach Design Studio and Great Project Seminar.My primary research interests focus on sustainable building technologies, urban simulation, and humanitarian architecture. I collaborated with several architectural firms on international design competitions and projects ranging from residential complexes to airports. ... View Profile
Russell Lang

Russell Lang

Lab Manager I

Phone: 508-831-4969

Suzanne LePage

Suzanne LePage

Instructor

Director, Sustaining WPI On-Campus Project Center
co-Director, Stantec MQP Project Center

Environmental Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 209A

Phone: 508-831-5598

Having initially graduated from WPI with a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering in 1995, I returned to teach part-time and pursue graduate studies in 2007. While the intervening years as a professional planner provided me with a wide variety of experience assisting towns and regions with long-term planning goals, the teaching and project advising activities at WPI have been infinitely more rewarding. I teach classes in urban and environmental planning and advise undergraduate projects in those topics and others. ... View Profile
Shichao Liu

Shichao Liu

Assistant professor

Architectural Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 104

Prof. Liu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). His research focuses on built and urban environment, occupant-building-environment interaction, and integrated design for sustainable and healthy buildings. Prof. Liu envisions his research promoting built sustainability and occupant well-being through the interface among building science, information science, public health, and social science. View Profile
Rajib B. Mallick

Rajib B. Mallick

Professor

Civil Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 105

Phone: 508-831-5530, 508-831-5289

Rajib Basu Mallick is currently the Ralph White Family Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at WPI. He graduated from Jadavpur University, India, in 1989 and received his master’s degree and PhD from Auburn University, USA. He also worked as a senior research associate at the National Center for Asphalt Technology, USA. Rajib’s main research interests are in the optimum utilization of natural resources and sustainable construction, specifically related to the pavement industry. ... View Profile

Ronald Mandella

Custodian

Phone: 508-831-5500

Paul P. Mathisen

Paul P. Mathisen

Associate Professor

Environmental Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 209E

Phone: 508-831-5530, 508-831-5343

Professor Mathisen's teaching and research concentrate in the areas of water resources and environmental engineering. He enjoys challenging himself to learn new ideas and concepts, which he can then apply to solve problems that can make a difference for other people. WPI's curriculum and projects program provide the perfect environment for fostering these opportunities. Professor Mathisen especially enjoys advising projects and working with students, since these activities always provide excellent opportunities to learn, solve problems, and make a difference. ... View Profile
Jeanine D. Plummer

Jeanine D. Plummer

Associate Professor & Director of EVE

Civil Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 209D

Phone: 508-831-5142

My teaching and research interests focus on water quality and the safety of drinking waters. I study water from source to tap: where do contaminants originate from, what is their fate in the environment, and how do we engineer treatment processes to protect public health? I am particularly interested in preventing the transmission of pathogens through water. In source waters, I aim to identify sources of pollution and understand the fate, transport, and survival of those pollutants in the environment. ... View Profile
Nima Rahbar

Nima Rahbar

Associate Professor

Civil Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 106

Phone: 508-831-6567

My research and teaching activities in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are in the area of the mechanics of materials and structures. At WPI, my favorite aspect of teaching is working one on one with graduate and undergraduate students on research projects. I like to excite students’ curiosity towards discoveries and creative scientific advancements. In our research group, we focus on the fundamental principles that control the behavior of materials in engineering and biology at multiple scales. ... View Profile
Derren Rosbach

Derren Rosbach

Associate Teaching Professor

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Office: 100 Institute RD

Phone: 508-831-5826

The overarching goal of my teaching and research is to contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental governance and policy. More specifically, I focus on the building of individual, organizational and institutional capacities to participate in collaborative efforts to address complex social and environmental sustainability problems through the application of science and technology. ... View Profile
Aaron R. Sakulich

Aaron R. Sakulich

Associate Professor

Civil Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 209C

Phone: 508-831-5912

Replacing our crumbling national infrastructure with conventional materials would be only a temporary solution to a critical problem. My research focuses on developing new, more durable materials for use in infrastructure, which will lead to a lowered maintenance burden, improved user safety, and a reduced environmental impact. Personally, the part that I like most about this subject is the chemistry. ... View Profile
Guillermo F. Salazar

Guillermo F. Salazar

Associate Professor

Construction Project Management Coordinator

Civil Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 202A

Phone: 508-831-5294, 508-831-5530, 508-831-5262

My academic activity concentrates in the development of formal methods of analysis, computer-based methodologies, and cooperative agreements to evaluate the impact of process integration on the cost of civil engineering projects. Over the last 10 years, this work has been focused primarily on the academic and professional aspects of Building Information Modeling (BIM). This work has produced several computer-based tools. ... View Profile
Mingjiang Tao

Mingjiang Tao

Associate Professor

Civil Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 107

Phone: 508-831-6487

I teach geotechnical and pavement engineering courses at WPI. My favorite teaching activities are helping students develop critical thinking skills and become independent learners and problem solvers for their future career in civil engineering. My areas of research are in the interdisciplinary aspects of highway infrastructure engineering, with the overarching goal to advance the state of the art in sustainable highway infrastructure engineering. One of my recent research areas is developing more durable and sustainable asphalt concrete through an interdisciplinary approach. ... View Profile
Steven Van Dessel

Steven Van Dessel

Associate Professor

Director of the Architectural Engineering Program

Architectural Engineering

Office: Kaven Hall 206

Phone: 508-831-4895

My research and teaching activities are in the area of sustainable building design and building technology, with a special focus on the study of adaptive building envelop systems. One of the goals of our research is to develop smart materials that can alter their thermal properties in response to changing outdoor conditions, in order to conserve energy and optimize building thermal comfort. This research entails the use of energy modeling tools, experimental investigations, and the development of practical applications. ... View Profile
Harold W. Walker

Harold W. Walker

Schwaber Professor

Civil Engineering

Office: 207C Kaven Hall

Harold Walker is the Schwaber Professor of Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at WPI. Prior to his appointment at WPI, Professor Walker was the Founding Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at Stony Brook University. Professor Walker also served as the co-Director of the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology at Stony Brook and was appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo to the New York State Drinking Water Quality Council. Prior to Stony Brook, Dr. ... View Profile
Maryann Watts

Maryann Watts

Administrative Assistant VI

Phone: 508-831-6393

Wenwen Yao

Wenwen Yao

Lab Manager III

Phone: 508-831-5002

Faculty Emeriti

Please note: All phone extensions start with +1-508-831-.

First Name Last Name Title Email Phone Extension Office Location
Frank DeFalco Professor Emeritus defalco@wpi.edu 5272 Kaven Hall 104
Robert W. Fitzgerald Professor Emeritus rfitz@wpi.edu 5271 Kaven Hall 104
Roberto Pietroforte Professor Emeritus rpietroforte@wpi.edu N/A Kaven Hall 104