ICT investigators and students earn recognition

ICT director Imad Al-Qadi delivered the keynote lecture, “Measurement and Analysis Techniques for Assessing Transportation Infrastructure Using Ground Penetrating Radar,” at CITrans 2013, held at the University of Costa Rica, San José, May 22–24, 2013.

ICT investigator Bill Buttlar was recognized with the 2013 University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies Research Partnership Award. He was part of a research team with members from the University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Iowa State University, several state DOTs, and FHWA. The award recognized the team’s efforts in developing the disk-shaped compact tension test (DCT), which predicts low-temperature cracking potential of asphalt mixtures.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign doctoral student Yu Qian was awarded a $10,000 fellowship for the 2013–14 academic year by the Geosynthetic Institute. His submitted research proposal is titled, “Investigation of Geogrid-Ballast Interaction and Geogrid Application in Railroad Reinforcement Using Image-Aided Discrete Element Method.”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign doctoral student Pengcheng Shangguan was awarded the 2013 Grant Shaw Memorial Scholarship from the Illinois Association of Highway Engineers. He attended an award dinner in June to accept the honor.

Several ICT researchers were recently promoted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Jim LaFave was promoted to full professor, and Bassem Andrawes and Larry Fahnestock were promoted to associate professors with indefinite tenure.