
Our Team
Our Team

Geo-Resources and Geotechnical Laboratory
Our Team
Director
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Dr. Bruno Gonçalves da Silva
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Education:
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- PhD - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2016
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- MSc - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2009
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- BSc, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2004
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Employment:
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- NJIT, Newark - Assistant Professor
- Arup, New York - Geotechnical Engineer
- Nolan's Associates, UK, Structural Engineer
- ViaTunel PGF, Portugal, Structural Engineer
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Interests:
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I am a geoscientist and geotechnical engineer whose research interests are the experimental and numerical study of the multi-scale damage processes of rocks and rock-like materials subject to loading conditions of interest to field-scale applications in the subsurface energy, environmental and civil engineering fields.
Current Graduate Students



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​Catarina Baptista Pereira
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PhD candidate, MS Petroleum Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal; BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Portugal
Research: Influence of fluid diffusivity on hydraulic fracturing processes
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Ehsan Mehryaar
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PhD candidate, BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Iran.
Research: Thermal-induced spalling of tunnel liners
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Mohab Hussein
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PhD candidate, BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology
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Research: Use of Artificial Intelligence-based methods to enhance driven pile design
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Di Zhang (co-advisee)
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PhD candidate, MSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology; BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, China Agriculture University
Research: Numerical simulations of the micro-mechanical properties of shale
Former PhD advisees
Gayani Gunarathna, PhD (2020)
Currently Geotechnical Engineer at WSP USA
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Thesis Title: Stress-state and injection-rate dependent damage processes during the hydraulic fracturing of granite. (link)
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Haroon Afzal
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Feasibility of implementing an Enhanced Geothermal System at the NJIT campus
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Tola Chen
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Feasibility of implementing an Enhanced Geothermal System at the NJIT campus
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​Zachary Keator
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Feasibility of implementing an Enhanced Geothermal System at the NJIT campus
Jas Ahuja
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Visual analyses and interpretation of hydraulic fracturing tests in rocks
Elisee Doh
Undergraduate Researcher
Research: Specimen preparation and thermal testing of concrete sections
​Josue Deidan
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Analysis and interpretation of acoustic emission data from hydraulic fracturing tests
Edisberto Cardona, Jr
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Visual analyses and interpretation of hydraulic fracturing tests in rocks
Marco Fernandez
Undergraduate Researcher
Research: Estimation of roughness of lab-scale hydraulic fractures in granite using micro-CT scan and SEM observations
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Karina Tapia
BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (currently at Neglia Engineering Associates)
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Effect of fractures, fracture filling and rock saturation in the attenuation and speed of propagation of P- and S-waves
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Inderdeep Grewal
BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (currently at Advantage Engineering Associates P.C.)
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Development of a MATLAB code to automatically identify the development of hydraulic fractures based on visual data
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Ricardo Ayala
BSc Civil and Environmental Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology (currently at AECOM )
Undergraduate researcher
Research: Experimental evaluation of the effect of injection rate in the hydraulic fracturing pressures in granite
Former undergraduate members

Current undergraduate members