NJIT in the News

Rima Taher, PhD is a civil/structural engineer who teaches at NJIT’s College of Architecture and Design. Her courses include topics related to wind and earthquakes with guidelines and recommendations for better design and construction in hurricane and earthquake prone areas. Taher also helps prepare architecture graduates for the certifying exam and has authored a book on the topic.

Taher has written extensively about best building design and construction practices to reduce wind pressures on building surfaces and to resist high winds and hurricanes in residential or commercial construction. “Design of Low-Rise Buildings for Extreme Wind Events” (Journal of Architectural Engineering, March, 2007) by Taher highlighted such research findings. Wind researchers at the Center for Building Science and Technology (CSTB) in France, researched and tested reduced-scale home models at its wind tunnel facilities, and developed a prototype of a “cyclonic” or hurricane-resistant dwelling. Taher cooperated with the CSTB wind researchers, working on the structural aspect of the home’s design.

In 1999 Taher received NJIT's Teaching Excellence Award in the category of Instruction by a Special Lecturer.

Taher received a doctorate of civil engineering with honors in 1986 from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, France; a master's degree in civil engineering (Building Science & Technology) in 1983 from ENPC, Paris, France (Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies); and a bachelor of civil engineering and urban planning in 1982 from Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon in Lyon, France.

Last update: August 11, 2009