Rani Elhajjar

Rani Elhajjar is an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). He holds a tenured position and has expertise in composite materials, structural engineering, and defect mechanics. His research focuses on defects in composites, non-destructive testing, fracture mechanics, and smart materials like magnetostrictive and dielectric elastomers. Dr. Elhajjar has industry experience at Boeing and SpaceX, leading projects on composite structures and reliability engineering. He is a Fulbright Scholar (2016) and affiliated with honor societies Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi.

Education: PhD (Civil Engineering, Georgia Tech, 2004), MS (Civil Engineering, UT Austin, 2000), BS (Civil Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1998).

Research interests span advanced composite materials, sustainable composites, full-field non-destructive testing, and structural assessment of defects. His work includes developing methods for defect characterization in aerospace composites and creating novel materials for energy harvesting and sensing applications. Recent publications emphasize machine learning for fracture analysis, additive manufacturing of composites, and magnetostrictive material applications.

Awards and recognitions include his Fulbright appointment at Italy's Università degli Studi di Trento for teaching/research, and authorship of Composite Structures: Effects of Defects (2018) and co-editing Smart Composites – Mechanics and Design (2013).

His contributions include advancing composite reliability in aerospace (e.g., Boeing 787 Dreamliner and SpaceX vehicles) and pioneering eco-friendly composite systems. Current research trends focus on AI-driven material characterization, sustainable composites for infrastructure, and multi-functional composites for smart applications.