Najib Abboud

Distinguished Senior Fellow

Najib Abboud has more than 25 years of experience in applied mechanics R&D, structural and computational engineering, and vulnerability assessments and mitigations. As leader of the Weidlinger Applied Science practice, he directs the firm’s research and advanced analysis efforts, which encompasses everything from solving problems related to the safety of military platforms, critical infrastructure, tall buildings, industrial and petro-chemical plants, and automotive and airborne vehicles to developing scientific software whose applications go beyond the built environment.

Software Innovation: Najib has led or contributed to several software development projects, mainly those in the areas of shock and nonlinear fluid and structure analysis, soil and structure interaction, thermo-mechanical coupling, structural acoustics and ultrasonics. These projects were typically driven by the need to understand the physics of a phenomenon in order to engineer better solutions.

Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience: Najib leads many critical infrastructure security and resilience projects for major transportation and port authorities, with a specific focus on bridges, tunnels, transportation facilities and networks. These efforts rely on both computational simulations of extreme events and physical testing as a basis for designs against blast, fire, impact and other attack modalities.

Investigation Expertise: During his career, he has served as a principal investigator and expert on a range of forensics projects. He served as project manager for the multidisciplinary investigation of the World Trade Center collapses and has applied sophisticated nonlinear analyses to other collapse investigations, establishing the firm’s leadership in the field. Najib also led large forensic investigations, from structural collapses such as the Tropicana Casino and Resort parking garage in Atlantic City, New Jersey, to errors and omissions and/or delays claims on large construction projects, including the Denver Art Museum in Colorado.