Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science

News and Events

March 17, 2011

Dr. Khaled Sennah announced as new Chair, Department of Civil Engineering

Dean Lachemi is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Khaled Sennah, P.Eng., P.E., as Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering, effective July 1, 2011. Dr. Sennah brings considerable academic experience and a strong and committed academic leadership to this position.

Dr. Sennah joined the Department of Civil Engineering as an assistant professor in August 1998 and obtained tenure in 2001. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2002 and to Full Professor in 2007. He is currently the Associate Chair of the undergraduate program and Co-ordinator of the Industrial Internship Program (IIP). Dr. Sennah obtained his PhD in structural engineering from the University of Windsor, and earned his MASc. and BSc. degrees in civil engineering from Alexandria University.

Dr. Sennah brings to the position 25 years of research, teaching and industrial experience in the area of structural engineering, with particular emphasis on bridges. His core area of expertise includes design, evaluation, retrofit and rehabilitation of bridge infrastructure. Dr. Sennah has published more than 140 publications, including journal and conference papers as well as industrial reports. His research in bridge engineering has earned him a number of awards including the 2002 State-of-the-art Civil Engineering Award, the 1999 Arthur Wellington Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the 1998 P. L. Pratley Award from the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE). He also earned the 1998 Governor General Gold Medal for the best graduate student at University of Windsor.

As a dedicated teacher, Dr. Sennah always encourages and motivates his students. He recently established, through donation from some of his contacts in the industry, a Steel Design award worth $2,000 for the best student in his steel design course. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Sennah has secured donations from industry and funding agencies to purchase essential equipment for the structural laboratory, and to establish a strength of materials laboratory in 2001, a requirement for accreditation of the program. His achievements at Ryerson University have earned him the 2006 FEAS Award for Research Excellence, the 2005 Ryerson Research Award, the 2004 FEAS Teaching Excellence Award, the 2002 GREET Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching and many Ryerson Merit Awards.
  
Dr. Sennah possesses an outstanding record of obtaining external research funding. For the past 12 years, he has been collaborating with numerous federal and provincial funding agencies, as well as the private industry. His research grants and contracts have enabled his to train highly-qualified personnel. Throughout his career at Ryerson, he has supervised 38 Master’s students, seven post-doctoral fellows, 55 undergraduate thesis students, and 23 non-degree researchers. Currently, he is the sole supervisor of eight Master’s students and six PhD students.

Dr. Sennah has been active in external technical committees and societies. He was the Chair of the CSCE Structures Division, the CSCE sub-committee of steel structures and the OGS panel, and was a guest editor of a special issue of the Canadian Journal for Civil Engineering. Currently, he is the co-chair of the CSCE International Structures Specialty Conference to be held in Edmonton in 2012, and a guest editor for the spring 2012 issue of the CIVIL magazine published by CSCE. Dr. Sennah has served on numerous administrative committees at the university, faculty and department levels.