Spring Kent Seminar Series calls for a round of applause

This semester’s Kent Seminar Series speakers left attendees impressed with the impacts they’re making in their respective fields.

Illinois Center for Transportation invited 14 graduate students, faculty and transportation professionals to present on a variety of topics, including the following (listed in chronological order):

• Ramez Hajj, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign assistant professor, “Fundamental investigation of microstructural damage mechanism in asphalt materials.”
• Eleftheria Kontou, UIUC assistant professor, “Data-driven modeling of electric vehicle charging pricing and worth.”
• Punit Singhvi, UIUC doctoral student, “Quantification of the effect of binder source on flexibility of long-term aged asphalt concrete.”
• Amir Bahador Parsa and Homa Taghipour, University of Chicago doctoral students, “Real-time accident detection to improve travel-time prediction.”
• Iwona Jasiuk, UIUC professor, “Bone and bone-inspired materials.”
• Abbas Butt, Engineering & Research International, Inc. president, “Leveraging pavement condition index data to build a comprehensive pavement management system.”

Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to hold the remaining presentations via Zoom and had quite the online turnout. Zoom presentations included (listed in chronological order):

• Eric Goldwyn, New York University research scholar, “Brooklyn bus network redesign: Getting passengers back on the bus.”
• Lindsay Braun, UIUC assistant professor, “Active transportation and health equity: Can infrastructure move us in the right direction?”
• Thomas Harman, Federal Highway Administration’s Center for Accelerating Innovation director, “The future of highways.”
• Timothy Stark, UIUC professor, and Heather Shoup, Illinois Department of Transportation geotechnical engineer, “Modified standard penetration tests for drilled shaft design in weak rocks.”
• Issam Qamhia, UIUC postdoctoral research associate, “Durability aspects of chemically stabilized quarry by-product applications in pavement base and subbase.”
• Dan Tobias, IDOT engineer, “Overview of seismic bridge design philosophy in Illinois.”
• Imran Hossain, Bradley University assistant professor, “Evaluating unpaved roads in Illinois: Challenges and opportunities.”
• S. Sriraj, UIC’S Urban Transportation Center director, “Maritime freight database to support performance measures and market analysis”

Given the incredible response in moving the Kent Seminar Series online, ICT is extending the seminars through the summer. Stay tuned by signing up to receive announcements.