APSE works to expand reach in education, research, professional arenas

The Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering is working on introducing itself to the broader community. The organization held an introductory meeting, where it also updated current members, at the International Conference on Advances in Materials and Pavement Performance Prediction (the AM3P Conference) on April 17. 

The meeting was attended by more than 50 people, including three of the five APSE Board of Governors (Professors Imad Al-Qadi, Dallas Little, and Tom Scarpas) as well as all of its executive officers (Drs. Amit Bhasin, Silvia Caro, Ghassan Chehab, and Elie Hajj).

Bhasin, who is from the University of Texas at Austin and is also the current President of APSE, briefly summarized the vision and mission of the organization and outlined the current membership status of 90 academic members and 55 student members. The three Board of Governors members at the meeting also emphasized the need for APSE, highlighting the work over the years that led to its formal formation in April of 2017 and inauguration in January 2018.

Bhasin also summarized the discussions from the Transportation Research Board inaugural meeting and briefly described the six different task forces that are being developed in the areas of education, research, and professional issues. These task forces are focused on (i) compiling content related to pavement science and engineering being taught as a part of other Civil Engineering courses, (ii) compiling topics that could be covered in an elective course in pavement science and engineering for B.S. students who want to specialize in Pavement Engineering, (iii) compiling topics that can be covered in a graduate program in pavement science and engineering, (iv) compiling a list of subject areas within pavement science and engineering and of critical readings for each subject area, (v) compiling a list of journals that accept papers related to pavement science and engineering and APSE members affiliated with such journals, and (vi) conducting a demand survey to estimate the demand for pavement engineers among different organizations. A survey seeking member interests to contribute to this effort was sent in late April to registered members.

The meeting concluded with some discussion on future inclusion of organizational members as well as potential future additions to the APSE website, such as awards for faculty in the area of pavement science and engineering and a job opportunities platform for doctoral students and post-doctoral research fellows.

In 2012, Illinois Center for Transportation Director Imad Al-Qadi invited a group of academic leaders from various educational institutions worldwide for a meeting where they 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 initiative later led to the establishment of the Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering (APSE). Readers interested in joining APSE and participating in the various task forces can visit www.pavements.academy.