Dr. Alecsandru joined the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering as an Assistant Professor in 2006. Prior to earning his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from Louisiana State University in 2003 and 2006, respectively, he worked as an Assistant Lecturer in the Transportation Faculty at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest for four years, where he also earned his B.Eng. degree.
Research interests
- Traffic Simulation
- Traffic Operations and Control
- Intelligent Transportation Systems
- Soft Computing in Transportation Applications
- Sustainable Transportation Development
- Safety and Operations of Non-Motorized Road Users
Projects
- Cell-Transmission Based Model for Signalized Intersections
- Modeling Framework for Large-Scale Traffic Networks
- Montreal Public Transit System - Metro
- MTQ projects
Academic experience
- 2006 - present Transportation Professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, QC
- 2001 - 2006 Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
- 1997 - 2001 Assistant Lecturer, Transportation Department, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania
Education
- 2006 PhD Civil Engineering Louisiana StateUniversity, Baton Rouge, LA
- 2003 MS Civil Engineering Louisiana StateUniversity, Baton Rouge, LA
- 1998 MS Telematics for Transportation Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania
- 1997 BS Automatics for Railroad Transportation Polytechnic University of Bucharest, Romania
My current research is situated in the field of African Cultural Studies, and deals with representations of the human/animal dichotomy in African cultural texts. Tentatively titled, Africa's Animalities: Concern for the Other-Than-Human in the Age of Empire, my manuscript in progress explores how concern for Africa manifests globally in relation to concepts of animality, inhumanity, and nonhumanity. It also explores the position of African animals in conservationist and environmentalist discourses. Moving beyond postcolonial analyses that have condemned the animalization of humans in African contexts, I examine the ways that various African texts recuperate notions of animality. I read these texts as a movement toward both resisting the dehumanization of Africans, but in such a way that stresses the shared lives of human and nonhuman lives on the continent. As such, my work attempts to resist anthropocentric logics that equate animality (and its various associations with Africanness) with subhumanity. My work borrows from the fields of critical animal studies, posthumanism, queer theory, and critical race theory to work toward a multivalent understanding of what the animal means within and in relation to “Africa” as a discursive construct.
My additional work has dealt with a range of subjects including postcolonial theory, animal studies, queer theory, South African student protest, and critical race studies. My recent publications have appeared in Critical Arts, English Studies in Canada (ESC), Safundi, and Postcolonial Text.
Education
PhD, English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University (2016)
MA, English Literature, McMaster University (2010)
BA, English Language and Literature, Brock University (2008)
Research / teaching interests
Cultural Studies / Postcolonial Literature and Theory / Africa / Contemporary South African Literature and Culture / Animal Studies / Queer Theory / Posthumanism / Globalization / Pestilence
Grants / other positions
FRQSC - Soutien à la recherché pour la relève professorale - Awarded 2020-2024 for "The Radical Collectivity of Pests"
Other activities
President, Canadian Association for Postcolonial Studies (CAPS, formerly CACLALS - http://caclals.ca/)
Co-Director (with Rosemary Collard), Society, Politics Animals, and Materialities (SPAM - https://spamcentre.org/)
