Mohamed Arafa, PhD, PE

Associate Principal

Mohamed Arafa’s career began in his native Egypt where he worked as an engineer and assistant lecturer at Cairo University. After coming to the United States and completing his doctoral studies, Mohamed joined Severud Associates in 2007 as an engineer. He soon progressed to senior engineer and in 2014, advanced to associate. In 2019, Mohamed was elevated to senior associate and in 2025, was promoted to associate principal. Mohamed’s extensive structural expertise and experience allow him to model, analyze, design, and effectively manage complex projects such as the South Shore University Hospital Expansion in Bay Shore, New York. His other innovative projects include the new corporate headquarters at 270 Park Avenue and One Vanderbilt Avenue, two of the tallest office buildings in New York City, and New York University’s John A. Paulson Center, also in Manhattan. Other significant projects in his portfolio are the redevelopment of the existing office building at 390 Madison Avenue and The Bryant hotel and condominiums, both in New York City, as well as the expansion of the SAP America headquarters in Newton Square, Pennsylvania.

Outside of the office, Mohamed contributes to the structural engineering profession by teaching at Rutgers University as a part-time lecturer.

Mohamed is author or co-author of several research papers and magazine articles, including “Simplified Design Methods for Bridge Piers Subjected to Unconfined Blast Hazards,” which appeared in the journal Bridge Structures in July 2011 and “Optimizing Light and Space in the Big City,” which appeared in Structure in April 2014, about the 653 Tenth Avenue residential building.

Mohamed is licensed as a structural engineer in Illinois and as a professional engineer in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland. He earned a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering and a Master of Science in structural engineering from Cairo University in Egypt. In addition, he received a doctorate in structural engineering from Rutgers University.