Muhammad Hajj (mhajj)

Muhammad Hajj

Chair, Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, Director of Davidson Laboratory, and George Meade Bond Professor

Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science

Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering

Education

  • PhD (1990) University of Texas at Austin (Civil Engineering)
  • MS (1985) University of Texas at Austin (Civil Engineering)
  • BE (1983) American University of Beirut (Civil Engineering (with Distinction))

Research

Professor Muhammad R. Hajj is the George Meade Bond Professor, Chair of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering and Director of the Davidson Laboratory at Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Hajj is a renowned scholar in the fields of nonlinear dynamics, fluid mechanics, structural dynamics and fluid-structure interactions with applications in aero- and hydro-elasticity, ships hydrodynamics, biomimetically-inspired air and underwater vehicles, and energy harvesting. To date, he has advised and directed research programs of 32 PhD students who hold prestigious academic and industry positions. He is the author/co-author of over 170 journal publications.

Experience

Before joining Stevens Institute of Technology in July 2018, Dr. Hajj was the J. Byron Maupin Professor of Engineering and Director of the NSF funded I/UCRC Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems at Virginia Tech where he oversaw the development of industry-directed energy-related science and technology research programs. At Virginia Tech, he also served as the Associate Dean of Graduate School between 2014 and 2018 where he was involved in the implementation of the Transformative Graduate Education initiative. Dr. Hajj is a Fellow of the Engineering Mechanics Institute and has served as an elected member of its Board of Governors. Dr. Hajj received a B. Eng. degree (with distinction) from the American University of Beirut. He received a M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Institutional Service

  • Registrar Search Committee Member
  • SES and SSE P&T guidelines Member
  • Stevens Strategic Planning Committee Member
  • Search Committee Vice President for Development and Alumni Engagement Chair
  • Search Committee for the position of Vice Provost for Academic Innovation and Faculty Affairs. Chair
  • SES PhD task force Member
  • SES Task Force on Undergraduate Curricula Member

Professional Service

  • Nonlinear Dynamics Associate Editor
  • Scientific Reports Associate Editor
  • Journal of Engineering Mechanics Associate Editor
  • Engineering Mechanics Institute ASCE Chair of Programs Committee
  • Nonlinear Dynamics Lead Guest Editor
  • Nonlinear Dynamics Guest Editor

Appointments

Stevens Institute of Technology

2018 – Present George Meade Bond Chair

2018 – Present Chair, Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering

2018 – Present Director, Davidson Laboratory

Honors and Awards

Fellow, Engineering Mechanics Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers
American University of Beirut - Distinguished Civil Engineering Alumni, 2019
Virginia Tech - College of Engineering’s Dean’s award for Excellence in Research, 2016
Virginia Tech - Distinguished Leader in Research, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, 2016
Virginia Tech -Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics award for Excellence in Research, 2015
Virginia Tech -College of Engineering’s Dean’s award for Excellence in Service, 2009

Professional Societies

  • ASCE – Engineering Mechanics Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers Fellow

Grants, Contracts and Funds

Floating Oscillating Surge Wave Energy Converter using Controllable Efficient Power Takeoff System, Muhammad R. Hajj (Stevens – lead institution), Lei Zou (Virginia Tech) and William Staby (Resolute Marine Energy), $1,800,000 – Department of Energy, 6/1/2020 – 12/31/2021. Research.

High-resolution Storm Surge Forecasts for New York and New Jersey, Muhammad Hajj (PI), Raju Datla, Philip Orton, Reza Marsooli, and Jon Miller $4,940,000 – Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 9/1/2019 – 8/31/2024. Research.

Bio-inspired Bistable Energy Harvesting for Fish Telemetry Tags, Muhammad Hajj, $200,000 – National Science Foundation, 9/15/2019 – 8/31/2022. Research.

Patents and Inventions

Energy Harvester, US9786832, Inventors: Abdessattar Abdelkefi, Nathan Sharpes, Shashank Priya, Muhammad R. Hajj, Kyunghoon Cho, Hwiyeol Park, Jin S. Heo,
Current Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Issue date: 10/10/2017

Selected Publications

Ayyad, M., Orton, P. M., El Safety, H., Chen, Z., & Hajj, M. R. (2022) Ensemble forecast for storm tide and resurgence from Tropical Cyclone Isaias, Weather and Climate Extremes, 38, 100504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wace.2022.100504

Vasconcellos, R., Bouma, A., Marques, F., Abdelkefi, A., & Hajj, M. R. (2022) Aeroelastic analysis and nonlinear characterization of three-degree-of-freedom systems with discontinuous nonlinearities, International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics, 145, 104100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnonlinmec.2022.104100

Liu, Y., Hajj, M. R. & Bao, Y. (2022) Review of robot-based damage assessment for offshore wind turbines, Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 158, 112187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112187

Shehata, H. M., Zakariya, M. Y., Woolsey, C. A., & Hajj, M. R. (2022) Lift enhancement by a flapped trailing edge at low Reynolds number: A frequency response approach, Journal of Fluids and Structures, 110, 103518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfluidstructs.2022.103518

Ayyad, M., Hajj, M. R. & Marsooli, R. (2022) Artificial intelligence for hurricane storm surge hazard assessment,Ocean Engineering, 245, 110435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.110435

Omari, M., Ghommem, M., Romdhane, L. & Hajj, M. R. (2022) Performance analysis of bio-inspired transformable robotic fish tail, Ocean Engineering, 244, 110406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.110406

Qian, F., Liu, M., Huang, J., Zhang, J., Jung, H., Deng, Z. D., Hajj, M. R., and Zuo, L. (2022) Bio-inspired bistable piezoelectric energy harvester for powering animal telemetry tags: Conceptual design and preliminary experimental validation, Renewable Energy, 187 (34-43).­­­­­­ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2022.01.018

Sallam, A., Meesala, V. C., Hajj, M. R.. & Shahab, S. (2021) Holographic mirrors for spatial ultrasound modulation in contactless acoustic energy transfer systems, Applied Physics Letters, 119 (14), 144101. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0065489

Ayyad, M., Marsooli, R. & Hajj, M. R. (2021) Spatial variation in sensitivity of hurricane surge characteristics to hurricane parameters, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 147 (10), 04021070.
https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29EM.1943-7889.0001984

Hussein, A. A., Ragab, S. A., Hajj, M. R., & Patil, M. J. (2021) Material and geometric effects on propulsion of a fish tail, Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 16 (6), 066008. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/ac220e

Basta, E., Ghommem, M., Romdhane, L. & Hajj, M. R. (2021) Hybrid tail excitation for robotic fish: Modeling and performance analysis, Ocean Engineering, 234, 109296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2021.109296

Hajj, M. R., Mehmood, A., Akhtar, I. & Billah, K. (2021) VIV control strategies using displacement-based ‎phenomenological model, Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics, 7(SI) 1090-1097. https://doi.org/10.22055/JACM.2021.32635.2050

Hajj, M. R., Mehmood, A., & Akhtar, I. (2021) Single-degree-of-freedom model of displacement in vortex-induced vibrations, Nonlinear Dynamics, 103 (2), 1305-1320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-021-06209-5

Courses

OE 630: Hydrodynamics
CE 342: Fluid Mechanics