Dr. Joseph Assaad graduated as Civil Engineer from the Lebanese University in 1999, he then continued his Masters’ in Toulouse University (France) and obtained his Ph.D from Sherbrooke University (Canada), where he graduated with a  high distinction in 2004. 

Upon his return to Lebanon, Dr. Assaad was appointed as R&D Manager in a leading enterprise that manufactures and commercializes a variety of construction materials and ready-to-use products for the building and cement industries. Concurrently, he was teaching in local universities on a part-time basis, which allowed him to widen his research activities and develop strong networks of collaboration and exchange of know-how with academics and professors. 

His research interests significantly expanded over time, to include a wide variety of topics related to Civil Engineering, such as modern cement clinkers, alkali-activated geopolymers, composite materials, applicability of soil mechanic principles to fresh concrete, bond to steel reinforcement, corrosion, microstructure, durability, 3D printing, recycling of aggregates and other waste materials, seismic behavior of non-structural elements, and sustainability in construction. 

In 2018, Dr. Assaad joined the University of Balamand on a full-time basis, where he served as the Chairperson of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering until 2022.

In the course of his career, Dr. Assaad served on numerous standardizing committees for Libnor Institution (LSI), organized many training conferences for the concrete industry, and secured series of research grants from different organizations such as National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS), Lebanese Industrial Research Achievements (LIRA), Lebanese University, and others. He established numerous agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with local and international Universities to exchange graduate students and conduct joint research activities.  

Dr. Assaad, as an active and keen researcher, has published more than 120 technical papers in renowned journals such as ACI, ASCE, CBM, etc. His current h-index is 32 (according to Scopus) with more than 4000 citations, placing him among the top Civil Engineering researchers in Lebanon and the region. Dr Assaad is named among the top 2% researchers worldwide according to the Stanford Study for Top Researchers. Dr Assaad completed two books in 2009 and 2017 about the thixotropic properties and applicability of geotechnical principles to cementitious materials. 

Dr. Assaad believes that peer-reviewing and editorial memberships are among the pillars for academic work, allowing researchers to establish themselves as well-known experts in their fields and gaining large platforms to introduce ideas and remain updated with current research trends. With this in mind, he actively participates as Editorial Board Member and peer-reviewer to prestigious journals such as ACI, ASCE, CCR, CBM, etc. specialized in Materials and Structures. Dr. Assaad has over 300 verified reviews listed on his profile https://publons.com, which allowed him to receive multiple “Top Peer Reviewer” and “Outstanding Reviewer” awards in Civil Engineering for years 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. 

Dr. Assaad received numerous local and international distinctions and awards. In 2014, he received the “Research Excellence Award”  from CNRS-Lebanon in recognition of his distinguished scientific research related to the reduction of CO2 emissions during cement production. This made him among the very few non-academic researchers (at the time) to receive such an award from CNRS-Lebanon. Two years later, he was honored with the prestigious Research Excellence Award organized jointly by the “Société de la Légion d’Honneur Franco-Libanais” and “Institut Français au Liban” for his outstanding contribution to research and exposure of Lebanese scientists to the international community.