Amir Fam is now Vice-Dean, Research in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.
For a 5-year term which began July 1, 2022, this change of title from Associate Dean to Vice-Dean recognizes Fam’s experience and leadership as well as the strategic importance of the research portfolio within the faculty.
Amir Fam is the Donald and Sarah Munro Chair in Engineering and Applied Science and has been the Associate Dean, Research, for the past six years, including two years where he was also the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies.
Prior to this, Fam was the Chair of Undergraduate Studies in Civil Engineering for six years and has held the position of a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Innovative and Retrofitted Structures for ten years. He has also served as a member of Queen’s Senate for six years. Dr. Fam holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Alexandria University and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (structures) from the University of Manitoba, Canada. From 2000 to 2002, he was a Post-doctoral Fellow and Instructor at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, NC. Fam joined the Department of Civil Engineering at Queen’s University as an Assistant Professor in 2002, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2009. In 2009, he was a Visiting Professor at Monash University, Australia, and from 2014-17 he has held the Jinshan Visiting Scholar position at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, China.
An active researcher in the areas of structural engineering using composite and low-carbon materials, energy-efficient buildings, and rapid construction of bridges and buildings, Dr. Fam has over 370 refereed publications, including 210 journal papers. His work has been cited more than 8000 times with an h-index of 48 (Google scholar).
He is an elected Fellow of eight technical bodies, including the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Engineering Institute of Canada, Engineers Canada and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering (CSCE), and is an elected Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the co editor-in-chief of the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering and the Senior Vice-President of the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC).
Fam is the founder of the Rolling Load Simulator (ROLLS) facility at Queen’s, the only one of its kind in Canada, for testing highway bridges. He is the recipient of the Casimir Gzowski Medal of CSCE, the Ontario Early Researcher Award, Queen's University Chancellor's Research Award and the T. Y. Lin best paper award of Journal of Structural Engineering of the American Society for Civil Engineers. Fam has trained 21 doctoral and 44 research master's students, 16 post-doctoral fellows and visiting scholars, and 34 undergraduate research students.
Fam has played a key role in developing the research component of the faculty’s new Strategic Plan “Driving Curiosity Forward.” In his new role, he hopes to use his experience to serve the faculty through the implementation phase of the Strategic Plan, building on the momentum established over the past few years. He plans to continue promoting research and scholarship and support the continued growth of the faculty.
