Rate My Professor Michel Boufadel

Michel Boufadel is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), where he has served since July 2012. He is also the Director of the Center for Natural Resources at NJIT since 2007, leading research on water infrastructure, environmental protection, and energy resources. Boufadel holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1998, an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the same university in 1992, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering/Hydraulics from Jesuit University at Beirut, Lebanon, in 1988. His career includes serving as Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Temple University from June 2006 to June 2011, Professor there from July 2008 to June 2012, Associate Professor from July 2005 to June 2008, and Assistant Professor from September 1999 to June 2005. Earlier positions encompass Research Assistant Professor at Clemson University from August 1998 to September 1999 and various roles at the University of Cincinnati. He maintains courtesy appointments as Professor in the Department of Chemical, Biological, and Pharmaceutical Engineering at NJIT since March 2014 and in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Rutgers University since January 2013.

Boufadel's research focuses on environmental fluid mechanics, hydrology, coastal systems, oil spill remediation, and water resources, with applications to major disasters including the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Deepwater Horizon spill. Notable publications include "Long-term persistence of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in two-layer beaches" in Nature Geoscience (2010), "Simulation of the landfall of the Deepwater Horizon oil on the shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico" in Environmental Science and Technology (2014), "Bioremediation of the Exxon Valdez oil in Prince William Sound Beaches" in Marine Pollution Bulletin (2016), and "Was the Deepwater Horizon well discharge churn flow? Implications on the estimation of the oil discharge and the droplet size distribution" in Geophysical Research Letters (2018). He received the NJIT Board of Overseers Excellence in Research Prize and Medal in 2022 for his sustained contributions enhancing NJIT's reputation, along with the 2024-2025 Nexus of Excellence Award. Boufadel is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers since 2014, Board Certified Environmental Engineer since 2014, Diplomate in Water Resources Engineering since 2014, Professional Hydrologist since 2007, and a licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His work integrates field measurements, computational modeling, and sensor networks, resulting in over 200 research articles and significant funding from agencies such as the National Science Foundation and U.S. Geological Survey.