Research Interests:

Researching the increased usage of biomass (BM) and reduced waste (e.g., refuse-derived fuel, agriculture or forest residues, energy crops, dried bio-solids, etc.) that is often used as a fuel along with natural gas (NG) by businesses and governments for producing electrical energy which helps cut pollution and saves money. This is especially related to the recent and future powerful hurricanes in Florida that yield massive amounts of biomass waste material that can be used in this way, which would also help deal with clearance of the related debris, thus improving environment performance (e.g., reducing CO2, NOx and SOx ); mitigating price spikes of natural gas (NG); reducing benefits to local municipal solid waste (MSW) services and local bio-solids disposal services; and enhancing local employment for biomass collection and processing, and biomass integrated gasifier (BIG) system operations.

Dr. Najafi is a member of several professional societies including the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society for Engineering Education, American Public Works Association, National Academy of Sciences (Transportation Research Board), Advances in Structural Engineering and Mechanics, and Tau Beta Pi (Florida Alpha Chapter); has served on numerous administrative committees and programs at the University of Florida; and regularly attends professional meetings and conferences.

To date, Dr. Najafi has also authored 34 refereed journal articles, 114 refereed proceedings, 21 technical research reports, 2 monographs, and 4 non-refereed proceedings in his areas of specialization (public works, transportation planning and management, legal aspects, and construction contract administration), recently co-authoring a paper on “Co-Utilization of Fossil and Renewable Fuel: Biomass Gas/Natural Gas.” Otherwise, he has contributed to 3 books, 3 other research projects, 4 miscellaneous publications, and has developed courses, videos and software packages related to his field. Emphasis: Saving energy