Scarpas to Present Kent Lecture

3/14/2014

Lecture to feature expert in pavement engineering.

Written by

Yeh Center
Yeh Center
Tom Scarpas, head of pavement engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, is this year’s Paul Fraser Kent Distinguished Lecture presenter. His talk, "Rejuvenation of Asphalt Mixes: Turning Back the Clock," is on March 20, 2014, at 4 p.m. in the Beckman Institute, room 1005. A reception will immediately follow the presentation in the Beckman Institute atrium.
 
Scarpas’ presentation will address additives known as rejuvenators, which are applied to bituminous pavements to restore functional properties to aged binder. Rejuvenators are important because they can prevent premature failure of pavements as a result of embrittlement. This not only extends pavement service life but it also reduces costs associated with road repairs. Scarpas’ presentation will review the challenges of identifying and quantifying the causes of aging in binders as well as the potential of various rejuvenation techniques aimed at restoring binder properties.
 
Scarpas holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Delft University, an M.S. in civil engineering from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and a B.S. in civil engineering and applied mechanics from McGill University in Canada. His research interests include constitutive modeling and testing of pavement engineering materials, chemo-mechanics, and computational mechanics. He is chairman of the Technical Committee on Constitutive Modeling of Asphalt Pavements of the International Society of Asphalt Pavements and is active on several RILEM and TRB committees. He serves as editor-in-chief for theInternational Journal of Pavement Engineering.
 
The Paul Fraser Kent Memorial Lecture, initiated in 2007, honors outstanding leadership in the field of transportation engineering.
 
Paul Kent was a 1920 graduate of the University of Illinois in civil engineering. As a highway contractor and materials supplier, he owned and operated two Champaign-based companies, General Paving and Builders Supply. Throughout his professional career, he expressed the highest regard and great esteem for the education in civil engineering he received at the University of Illinois. Kent dedicated himself to civic service in Illinois and surrounding states. He was the founder and president of the University of Illinois Civil Engineering Alumni Association and was the recipient of the U of I Loyalty Award and the Civil Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award.
 
The Kent Distinguished Lectures are sponsored by the Paul F. Kent Memorial Fund, established in 1977.
 

Share this story

This story was published March 14, 2014.