Akram Alshawabkeh

CEE Hall of Distinction: 2016

Dr. Alshawabkeh is the Principal Investigator (PI) and Director of the “Puerto Rico Test site for Exploring Contamination Threats (PROTECT)” Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the PI and Director of Center for Research on Early Childhood Exposure and Development in Puerto Rico (CRECE) funded by NIEHS and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  As the Director of PROTECT and CRECE, Dr. Alshawabkeh leads a team that includes epidemiologists, engineers, sociologists, biostatisticians, pediatricians, and toxicologists to study environmental and water contamination in Puerto Rico and its effects on preterm birth and adverse pregnancy outcomes to develop prevention and remediation strategies.

In addition to work funded by NIEHS and EPA, Dr. Alshawabkeh has also led or collaborated on research projects sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Energy, and industry with over $35M lifetime research funding. His work is presented in close to 200 publications, including 100+ peer-reviewed journal papers. He

is a Fulbright Scholar and a recipient of the 2014 ASCE Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award. He has a strong service record, led and participated in many research workshops and organized several technical conference sessions and activities. Dr. Alshawabkeh is a former chair of Committee AFP40 “Physiochemical and Biological Processes in Soil” of the Transportation Research Board of the

National Academies and is a member of several national and international committees. Dr. Alshawabkeh has a track record of collaboration with government laboratories and industry. 

Dr. Akram N. Alshawabkeh is the George A. Snell Professor of Engineering and Associate Dean for Research at the College of Engineering at Northeastern University. He is also a Geo-environmental Engineering Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE). Dr. Alshawabkeh is an Internationally-recognized expert in coupling soil behavior with geochemistry and geomechanics, contaminant fate and transport in soil and groundwater, soil remediation, electrokinetic/electrolytic processes and modeling. He holds a B.E. in Civil Engineering from Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan, M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), Irbid, Jordan, and a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA.