Design and development of performance-based asphalt mix designs, and enhanced construction specifications using local, recycled, waste and regenerative materials through sustainable construction technologies such as warm mix asphalt, cold or hot in-place recycling systems.
Transportation Asset Management
Development of science-based decision-making tools for optimizing pavement and municipal infrastructure investments; Pavement distress evaluation and conditions data collection, ranking of aging infrastructure, life cycle analysis of alternatives, application development
Highway Materials
Mechanical, rheological and chemical characterizations of pavement materials using classical and advanced laboratory tests, both in micro and macro scales, and development of performance prediction models (Asphalt, aggregate, polymer, additive and asphalt-aggregate mixture)
Pavement Mechanics
Mechanics based pavement structural design analysis for enhanced pavement designs under connected vehicle traffic system, changing climates, and composite pavement environment; Tire pavement interaction, finite element modeling, laboratory investigation
Smart Pavements
Development of smart pavements using innovative nano and polymeric materials which have multi-functional features including self-healing, phase-changing, energy-harvesting, and sensing-properties to minimize life cycle costs, accommodate new generation connected and autonomous vehicles and monitor pavement structural health condition and functional properties remotely.
Highway Maintenance & Road Safety
Development of sustainable preservation and summer maintenance strategies, and winter maintenance solutions including self-deicing technologies while enhancing transportation sustainability and road safety