The Grainger College of Engineering
Illinois Center for Transportation

Pavement academic leaders gather to discuss the future of pavements

2/1/2016

Pavement engineering as an academic discipline faces numerous challenges and opportunities in terms of identity, education, research, and professional practice. Over the past two years, professors Imad Al-Qadi (UIUC), Bjorn Birgisson (Aston), John Harvey (UC Davis), Dallas Little (TX A&M), and Tom Scarpas (TUDelft) formulated and debated a basic vision for how to advance pavement engineering education and research and set a new course for preparing the next generation of pavement engineers for professional practice. This vision includes a collective focus on the science and engineering principles that underpin our discipline and align education, research, and professional practice with new and emerging knowledge in design, materials, analysis, modeling, management, and sustainability to address the challenges for pavement professionals in the 21st century.

On October 14, 2015, academic leaders from around the world came together to review, discuss, debate, and further refine this vision for the development of a pavement engineering academic workforce with the knowledge and skills necessary to address the needs and the demands of the multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure that underpins the world’s economies. The all-day forum was held at the Hilton Chicago at O’Hare Airport, in Chicago, IL, and was hosted and led by Professor Al-Qadi of UIUC.

Establishment of the Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering (APSE) was announced at the meeting and dedicated task force teams were identified and charged with the development of a mission statement and drafting of white papers on education, research, professional image, and community service for the pavement engineering profession. These white papers will provide the building blocks for a global roadmap for revitalizing the discipline, sharing knowledge, and strengthening the academic foundations of pavement engineering.

The group held a follow-up meeting on January 14, 2016, during the 95th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board where various members of the group presented white papers on education, research, and service and discussed further work to advance the mission of the group. The next meeting of APSE will take place in Spring 2016 for the purpose of finalizing the roadmap and putting APSE into action.

 

newsletter
APSE founding members (bottom left to top right): Dallas Little (Texas A&M), Erol Tutumluer (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Jorge Pais (University of Minho), Imad Al-Qadi (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Luis Loria-Salazar (University of Costa Rica), Eshan Dave (University of New Hampshire), John Harvey (University of California, Davis), Elie Hajj (University of Nevada, Reno), Mostafa Elseifi (Louisiana State University), Hasan Ozer (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Kelvin C.P. Wang (Oklahoma State University), Linbing Wang (Virginia Tech), Andreas Loizos (National Technical University of Athens), Karim Chatti (Michigan State University), Baoshan Huang (University of Tennessee), Kevin Hall (University of Arkansas), Lev Khazanovich (University of Minnesota), Jake Hiller (Michigan Technological University), Bjorn Birgisson (Aston University), Silvia Caro (University of Los Andes), Sandra Erkens (TU Delft), Julie Vandenbossche (University of Pittsburgh), Rajib Mallick (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Jeff Roesler (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Kamil Kaloush (Arizona State University), Amit Bhasin (University of Texas at Austin), Wynand Steyn (University of Pretoria), Tom Scarpas (TU Delft), Gordon Airey (University of Nottingham). Other founding member (not shown): Charles Schwartz (University of Maryland); Aimin Sha (Chang’an University);  Jo Daniel (University of New Hampshire); Ghassan Chehab (American University of Beirut); Lijun Sun (Tongji University).