POSITION:
Director, Office of Undergraduate Research, Office of Vice President for Research, &
Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557
Tel: 775/784-4839; 775/784-8226; Fax: 775/784-1390; E-mail: saiidi@unr.edu
PERSONAL DATA:
Born on May 24, 1950; Married; Two children; United States Citizen
RESEARCH AREAS:
Earthquake Engineering of Bridges and Buildings, Experimental Studies of Bridges and Components, Analysis and Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures, Innovative Materials in Earthquake Resistant Structures
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Structures), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1979; Graduate Advisor: Professor Mete Sozen
M.S. in Civil Engineering (Structures), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1977
M.S. in Civil Engineering (Five-year program), Tehran University, 1973
EXPERIENCE:
Director, Office of Undergraduate Research, University of Nevada, Reno, 8/03-Present
Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Nevada Reno, 7/88 –Present; Awarded UNR-Foundation Professorship in 1997
Chairman, Civil Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, 7/86 - 6/94
Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, 7/83 - 6/88
Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, 8/79 - 6/83
Serving as the Director of Undergraduate Research Office at the University of Nevada to promote and support undergraduate research in all fields offered at the University including arts, science, engineering, humanities, medicine, business, interdisciplinary research, etc.
Developed proposal and received funding as a focal area leader from NSF-EPSCoR an approximately $1.5M grant to promote and expand undergraduate research in institutions of higher education in Nevada in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Founding Chair of ACI Committee 341 - Earthquake-Resistant Concrete Bridges, 1991-1997. Chair of Subcommittee on Bridge Pier Walls (1997-2002)
Co-Director, Second NSF Workshop on Bridge Engineering Research in Progress, Reno, Nevada, 1990.
Director, NSF Grantees Workshop, Hazard Mitigation Programs, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, 1995.
Director, NSF US/Central Europe Workshop on Civil Infrastructure Systems for the next Century: a Global Partnership in Research, Cracow, Poland, October 1996.
Director, NSF US-Turkey Workshop on Bridge Seismic Retrofit and Design, September 2004.
Director, FHWA/NSF Workshop on Long-Term Bridge Performance, January 2007
Principal Investigator (w/ B. Douglas) of two NSF EPSCoR grants to build the research infrastructure in bridge engineering at UNR, through which a permanent faculty position and technician position were added and major large-scale testing equipment was purchased.
Chaired the Civil Engineering Department for eight years and helped build a dynamic department with worldwide reputation in bridge earthquake engineering research.
Developed proposal and received funding from NSF for a NEES-SG, $2M grant to lead a major research effort with participation from seven other universities [Cal-Berkeley, Florida Int., Georgia Tech, Illinois (Chicago), Kansas, Stanford, and Cal-San Diego]
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND RECOGNITIONS:
Fellow, ASCE
Fellow, ACI
Member, ACI, ASCE, EERI, Phi Kappa Phi, NEES Consortium, CUREE
Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Nevada and California
Reviewer of the National Science Foundation Research Proposals
Reviewer of ASCE, ACI, EERI, PCI, Journal of Engineering Structures, Journal of Structural Engineering and Mechanics, Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, and TRB Manuscripts
Member of Review Panels for NCHRP and NSF Proposals
Who's Who in Frontiers of Science and Technology, 2nd Edition
Distinguished Leadership Award for Outstanding Contributions to Civil Engineering, 2nd Edition
UNR-Foundation Professorship Award, 1997
UNR Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award, 2000
Outstanding Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003
Regents Researcher Award, University and Community College System of Nevada, 2003
Lemelson Award for Innovative Research, College of Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, 2004
Advisor of the Year Award, Associated Students at the University of Nevada, Reno, 2004
Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Engineering, Tehran University, 2004.
SELECTED RECENT JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS:
Saiidi, M., K. Sureshkumar, and C. Pulido, ”A Simple Model for CFRP Confined Concrete,” Journal of Composites for Construction, ASCE, Vol. 9, No. 1, January-February 2005, pp. 101-104.
Choi, H., S. Fadali, M. Saiidi, and L. Kwon, “Neural Network Active Control of Structures with Earthquake Excitation,” International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems, Vol. 3, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 202-210.
Johnson, N., M. Saiidi, A. Itani, and S. Ladkany, “Seismic Retrofit of Octagonal Columns with Pedestal and One-Way Hinge at the Base,” American Concrete Institute, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 102, No. 5, September-October 2005, pp. 699-708.
Saiidi, M., and H. Wang, “An Exploratory Study of Seismic Response of Concrete Columns with Shape Memory Alloys Reinforcement,” American Concrete Institute, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 103, No. 3, May-June 2006, pp. 436-443.
Saiidi, M., R. Johnson, and E. Maragakis, “Development, Shake Table Testing, and Design of FRP Seismic Restrainers,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, ASCE, July/August 2006, pp.499-506.
Correal, J., M. Saiidi, D. Sanders, S. El-Azazy, “Analytical Evaluation of Bridge Columns with Double Interlocking Spirals,” American Concrete Institute, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 104, No. 3, May-June 2007, pp. 314-323.
Saiidi, M., M. Zadeh, C. Ayoub, and A. Itani, “A Pilot Study of Behavior of Concrete Beams Reinforced with Shape Memory Alloys,” Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 19, No. 6, June 2007, pp. 454-461.
Phan, V., M. Saiidi, J. Anderson, and H. Ghasemi, "Near Fault Groiuond Motion Effect on Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns,"
Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 133, No. 7, July 2007, pp. 982-989.
Correal, J., M. Saiidi, D. Sanders, S. El-Azazy, “Shake Table Studies of Bridge Columns with Double Interlocking Spirals,” American Concrete Institute, ACI Structural Journal, Vol. 104, No. 4, July-August 2007, pp. 393-401.
Johnson, N., T. Ranf, M. Saiidi, D. Sanders, and M. Eberhard, “Seismic Testing of A Two-Span Reinforced Concrete Bridge,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, ASCE, March-April 2008, pp. 173-182.
COLLABORATORS IN THE PAST 5 YEARS:
Dr. M. Fischinger, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; Dr. S. Wood, University of Texas, Austin; Dr. J. Anderson, University of Nevada, Reno; Dr. I. Buckle, University of Nevada, Reno; Dr. K. Kawashima, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan; Dr. M. Eberhard, University of Washington, Seattle; Dr. G. Fenves, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. N. Wehbe, South Dakota State University; Dr. J. Ramirez, Purdue University; Dr. A. Elgamal, University of California, San Diego; Dr. A. Kiremidjian, Stanford University, Dr. F. Ansari, University of Illinois, Chicago; Dr. J. Browning, University of Kansas; Dr. R. DesRoches, Georgia Institute of Technology; Dr. V. Karbhari, University of California, San Diego, Dr. Y.L. Mo, University of Houston, Dr. S. Billington, Stanford University.
GRADUATE STUDENTS, POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWS, AND VISITING PROFESSORS IN THE PAST 5 YEARS:
Prof. S. Zadeh, Iran; C. Pulido, PhD.; Z. Cheng, MSCE, PhD; F. Martinovic, MSCE; B. Kavlicoglu, MSME; M. Asthana, MSCE; A. Vlassis, MSCE; J. Felte-Moore, MSCE; H. Nada, PhD; H. Ah-Sha, MSCE; K. Mustafa, PhD; F. Sanchez, PhD; J. Mortensen, MSCE; C. Mortensen, MSCE; E. Reinhardt, MSCE; S. Kumar, MSCE; C. Ayoub, MSCE; Z. Cheng, PhD; R. Johnson, MSCE; J. Correal, PhD; N. Johnson, MSCE; PhD; Research Associate; S. Chandance; MSCE; H. Wang, MSCE; H. Choi, PhD; V. Phan, MSCE, R. Nelson, MSCE; M. O’Brien, MSCE; A. Zaghi, PhD; A. Vosooghi, PhD; K. Doyle, MSCE; W Reid, PhD; A. Brown, MSCE; S. Motaref, PhD, C. Cruz, PhD.