Rafiqul A. Tarefder, Ph.D., P.E.
E-mail:tarefder@unm.edu

Profile:
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, UNM
Associate Director, SPTC, www.sptc.org
Associate Director, SOLARIS, www.unr.edu/solaris

Education:
Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of Oklahoma
M.S. in Geotechnical Engineering
B.S. in Civil Engineering

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:

Research

• PI/Co-PI of total external funding = $16.0M (as PI =$13.7M at UNM)
  
• Authored 428 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles (189J, 239C) including two best paper awards
  
• Published 1 textbook and 6 book chapters; Edited 6 books and journal special issues; published 45 major research reports
  
• Supporting/supported 83 students (21 Ph.D., 27 M.S., 3 Postdocs, 1 Editorial Assistant,31 undergraduate students); Graduated 14 PhDs and 24 MS students
  
• Established a strong externally funded research and scholarly program at UNM, essentially from scratch, principally in the area of pavement materials and design
  
• Associate Director of two USDOT funded University Transportation Centers: (1) SPTC- Region 6 UTC, and (2) SOLARIS - Tier 1 UTC
  
• Led the New Mexico DOT in the calibration and implementation of of a newly developed mechanistic-empirical ME pavement design guide
  
• Contributed significant new knowledge and engineering tools in the state of New Mexico's airfield pavement evaluation and rehabilitation design procedure
  
• Delivered speeches/presented at more than 100 national/international conferences & symposia
  

Teaching

• Taught undergraduate and graduate classes in geotechnical, structure, and pavement engineering topics (10 different courses) with an average teaching evaluation of above 90% of maximum possible evaluation (max. 100%)
  
• Developed Pavement Engineering, a graduate curriculum/program within the geotechnical engineering unit, which did not exist prior to my joining at UNM. It serves as a hub for relationship with local asphalt industry, paving contractors, TRB, FHWA, USDOT, City, and New Mexico DOT
  
• Developed 5 new graduate courses, which have substantially strengthened the graduate course offerings in Geotechnical/Pavement Engineering program at UNM
  
• Developed and equipped 2 state-of-the-art labs from scratch:(Pavement lab, Asphalt lab); Currently, these two labs have $1.5M worth of equipment and devices and are regularly used to teach graduate classes in pavement program as well as undergraduate class in cicvil engineering materials
  
• Played a key role in increasing the enrollment in Geotechnical Engineering graduate program. The number of graduate students in the Geotechnical Program increased from 5 (in 2006) to over 25 (in 2019) - a growth of about 400% over a period of 13 years
  
• Strong track-record of recruiting underrepresented students (8 women in M.S., 4 women in Ph.D., and 3 Hispanic origin men in M.S., 7 minority undergrads, 3 high school students) in research activities

Service

• Experienced university professor (20 yrs.) and a licensed professional engineer
  
• Associate Editor, International Journal of Geomechanics, ASCE, 2019-current
  
• Chair, Annual Paving and Transportation Conference (approx. 600 attendees), 2012-current
  
• Lead Editor, International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) Newsletter, 2009-19
  
• Guest Editor, Engineering Mechanics Institute's Special Publication, ASCE, Guest Editor - Indian Geotechnical Journal, Guest Editor - International Journal of Geomechanics
  
• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Pavements; Editorial Board of International Journal of Geomechanics
  
• Appointed Member, Transportation Research Board Committees, National Research Council, National Academies, 2010-now
  
• National Council Member (Rocky Mountain District Councillor) of Chi Epsilon, a Civil Engineering Honor Society, 2014-current
  
• Organized and co-chaired NSF Sponsored International Workshop on Energy and Sustainability in 2010 in China. Also, Organized EMI symposium in 2010 in LA
  
• Served in NSF panel several times; chaired sessions in several conferences; reviewed proposals for several agencies & reviewer for more than 15 journals
  
• Chair of Civil Engineering Curriculum Fee Committee; Served on several CE committees (Graduate Committee, Strategic Initiative Committee, Equipment Committee, CE Faculty Search Committee Chair; Juniror Faculty Mentoring) and SOE Policy Committee. SOE Summer Outreach Program: funded high-school students in 2013, 2014; Faculty Senate's Research Policy Committee Member
  
• Faculty Advisor to Chi Epsilon Student Chapter at UNM; Faculty Advisor to Bangladesh Student Association at UNM which brings a lot of diversity in the campus

Address:
Department of Civil Engineering, MSC01 1070
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Phone: (505) 277-6083
Fax: (505) 277-1988