University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The Grainger College of Engineering
Illinois Center for Transportation

UIUC triumphs at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

1/30/2024 Kent Reel

The Transportation Research Board’s 103rd Annual Meeting was held Jan. 7-11, 2024, in Washington, DC.

The event, the largest transportation conference in the world, attracts nearly 14,000 professionals globally, bringing together administrators, practitioners, policymakers and researchers.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty, staff and students made significant contributions, engaging in discussions on the latest transportation research topics.

Clockwise from upper left: Al-Qadi with the Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award; Al-Qadi, Jayme, and Okte with the K.B.Woods Award; Jayme, <span dir="ltr">Nadim Hamad (Northwestern University), Divyakant Tahlyan (Northwestern University), and Usta with</span> the Best Paper Award; the CEE RailTEC team with the William W. Millar Award.
Clockwise from upper left: Imad Al-Qadi with the Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award; Al-Qadi, Angeli Jayme, and Egemen Okte with the K.B.Woods Award; Jayme, Nadim Hamad (Northwestern University), Divyakant Tahlyan (Northwestern University), and Berkan Usta with the Best Paper Award; and the CEE RailTEC team with the William W. Millar Award.

Several Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty, staff and students received notable awards:

  • Imad Al-Qadi, ICT director and CEE Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, received the Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award. This accolade is given to individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to the transportation field. Watch his ceremony here.
  • Daniel Mueller, Arthur De O. Lima, J. Riley Edwards and Marcus Dersch, a CEE RailTEC team, received the William W. Millar Award. The award recognizes the best paper focusing on public transportation and acknowledges their contributions to enhancing safety, efficiency and reliability in transit systems.
  • Angeli Jayme, Al-Qadi and Egemen Okte received the K. B. Woods Award for their work on stone-matrix asphalt with surface micro-milling, an honor commemorating outstanding contributions in transportation facility design and construction.
  • The TRB ACP15 committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems recognized Jayme, Berkan Usta and Al-Qadi with the Best Paper Award for their work “A Systematic Approach to Evaluate the State of Illinois’ Preparedness for Smart Mobility.” The award represents a strategic and methodical approach to incorporating smart technologies in transportation.
  • Gafar Sulaiman received the Audience Choice Award at the Three-Minute Thesis Competition, an opportunity for young professionals to showcase their research in a concise, engaging way to attendees from diverse areas of the transportation industry.
  • Erol Tutumluer received the 2023 Innovators and Influencers Award on behalf of the Resilient Roads Roundtable. 
  • Al-Qadi was named Inaugural Emeritus Member by the American Society of Civil Engineers Highway Pavement Committee.

Al-Qadi hosted a luncheon for past and present students. This annual tradition not only keeps the ICT community connected, but also fosters a conducive environment for research collaborations.

Left: University of Illinois Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty, staff and students pose at the CEE TRB reception, hosted by Illinois Center for Transportation. More than 800 UIUC alumni and friends attended the reception. Right: Al-Qadi, front, smiles with his current and former students at his annual luncheon, a 25-year tradition.
Top: University of Illinois Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering faculty, staff and students pose at the CEE TRB reception, hosted by Illinois Center for Transportation. More than 800 UIUC alumni and friends attended the reception. Bottom: Al-Qadi, front, smiles with his current and former students at his annual luncheon, a 25-year tradition.

UIUC’s participation in the TRB Annual Meeting was marked by nearly 90 presentations, reflecting a wide-ranging involvement in numerous workshops and sessions. View a complete list of UIUC’s presentations here.