Dr. Faris A. Malhas has joined Christian Brothers University as the new dean of the Gadomski School of Engineering, effective June 1. He assumes the position from Dr. Siripong Malasri, who has served as dean since 2014 and is returning to the classroom as a professor in the Packaging Department.
Dr. Malhas is a seasoned engineering educator and administrator. He comes to CBU from the Kuwait College of Science & Technology, where he served as the Dean of Faculty. He was previously the Dean of the School of Engineering, Science & Technology at Central Connecticut State University. Before that, he was the Dean of the College of Architecture, Applied Engineering, and Technology at Bowling Green State University, and prior to that the Dean of the Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering & Sciences at West Virginia University Institute of Technology. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Florida and has been a practicing consultant structural engineer for over three decades.
Dr. Malhas’ research interests include durability of concrete structures, repair of concrete structures, seismic behavior of precast concrete structures, hollow core slabs, and structural health monitoring. He is an active member of the American Concrete Institute (ACI), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Institute of Steel Construction, and the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute. He is the past chair of ACI Committee 444-Structural Health Monitoring of Concrete Structures. For his long service and contribution to ACI, he was elected as an ACI Fellow in 2009. He is also the recipient of the of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Martin P. Korn Award for the best journal paper, in recognition of his work on the Earthquake Resistance of Large Precast Panel Walls. Over his academic career, he has led a number of experimental and analytical research projects related to structural concrete and has taught a wide variety of structural engineering courses. He is the coauthor of the bestselling textbook titled Steel Structures: Design and Behavior.
Dr. Malhas received a BSE and MSE in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. He also holds an MSc in Engineering Mechanics and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Malhas is also an avid reader and a passionate cook. He and his wife Vicky have four children — Ameen, a marketing director at Facebook; Sami, a civil engineer with Witting-Turner; Tamara, a senior at UMass Amhurst majoring in Architecture; and Layla, who recently graduated from high school (and achieved a perfect score of 36 on the ACT).