Dr. Rafi Tarefder is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental  Engineering and a Regent’s Lecturer at the University of New Mexico. His research work covers pavement materials and system including pavement design, life cycle assessment and decision analyses for optimum maintenance, recycling and renewal; geomechanics specifically moisture movement, thermal and freeze-thaw force assessment; advanced modeling including molecular dynamics, finite element modeling, neural networks, non-parametric regressions, system dynamics, and back calculation, use of nanotechnologies including atomic force microscopy; nanoindentation, infrared and nondestructive technologies.  Dr. Tarefder has (co)authored more than 183 peer-reviewed journal articles and 232 refereed conference papers.  He has also (co)edited 13 books, book chapters, and journal special issues, and organized several conferences and symposia.

Currently, He serves as an Associate Director of two federally funded transportation centers: Southern Plain Transportation Center (SPTC), and Safety and Operations of Large-Area Rural/Urban Intermodal Systems (SOLARIS). He is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering and Lead Editor of IACMAG Newsletter. He is the Chair of the annual Paving and Transportation Conference in New Mexico, and a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in the state of New Mexico and Idaho. He has received several awards for his scholarship including the prestigious NSF CAREER award, Regent’s Award, John Booker Excellent Medal.