Donald R. Uzarski has been a member of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Civil Engineering faculty since 1994. He has been supporting the railroad engineering program through the development and teaching of a course in railroad track engineering. He has also taught courses in transportation engineering and pavement management.

Dr. Uzarski retired in the summer of 2004 from the U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), Champaign, IL, after twenty years of service. He served as a Principal Investigator and Project Manager for research efforts in railroad track and building asset management. He also served as a technical consultant in those areas to the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.

The technology transfer mechanism for Dr. Uzarski's research is through the computerized asset management decision support systems called RAILER (railroad track) and BUILDER (buildings). Dr. Uzarski designed these database driven computer applications and new versions reflect new embedded technology and capabilities. Geographical Information System (GIS) technology is included in both. RAILER and BUILDER are available to the various Department of Defense activities, other federal agencies, local and state Governments and the private sector. Dr. Uzarski also developed and teaches short courses on these topics for new users. To successfully accomplish the research, Dr. Uzarski has interacted and partnered with professionals within the military services, academia, other governmental agencies and the private sector.

A retired Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer, Dr. Uzarski served on active duty between 1970 and 1986 and in the reserves from 1986 to 1995. He retired at the rank of Captain. His duty stations included locations in both the United States and overseas, including two tours in the Seabees. His various duty assignments progressed to increased leadership positions and responsibilities in all aspects of construction, public works, and contracts. He was also a course director and instructor at the Naval School, Civil Engineer Corps Officers.

He earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1970, 1980, and 1991, respectively. His Ph.D. thesis consisted of developing a low-speed, low volume railroad track condition assessment procedure consisting of condition indexes. He has authored over fifty papers, reports, and articles on the various aspects of infrastructure (railroads, roads, and buildings) asset management.

Professional memberships include being an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA), the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and other organizations. He serves on several national committees for ASCE, AREMA, and TRB and is the Past-Chair of the ASCE Infrastructure Asset Management Committee. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Illinois and Pennsylvania. His awards include the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the ASCE Government Civil Engineer of the Year (Zone III) in 1992 and the CERL Researcher of the Year in 1990.

Dr. Uzarski's research in the science of asset management has led to improved maintenance and repair (M&R) decision making which results in improved facility condition at less cost. The U.S. Armed Services own and operate thousands of miles of railroad track and thousands of buildings. Dr. Uzarski's work has saved countless dollars through M&R cost avoidance for those assets.

Erol Tutumluer holds a B.S. (Bogazici University 1989), two M.S. degrees (Duke University 1991 and Georgia Tech 1993), and a Ph.D. (Georgia Tech 1995), all in civil engineering. He has been on the faculty of the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois since 1996.

Dr. Tutumluer has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in transportation soils engineering, subgrade soil and aggregate behavior and stabilization, introduction to transportation engineering, pavement analysis and design, and airport facilities design.

Dr. Tutumluer was the recipient of the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) Fred Burgraff Award for Excellence in Transportation Research in 2000.  He is an affiliate of the TRB and has chaired its AFS50(1) subcommittee on "Applications of Nontraditional Computing Tools Including Neural Nets."  He serves on TRB committees AFP70, AFP30, AFS50, and AFD80.  More recently, he has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the TRB's Geology and Properties of Earth Materials Section Best Paper Award for his paper, "Use of Falling Weight Deflectometer Testing to Determine Relative Damage in Asphalt Pavement Unbound Aggregate Layers."  The paper was nominated by AFP70 Mineral Aggregates Committee.

Since October 2008, Dr. Tutumluer has been an Associate Editor for the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.  In January 2009, he became an Editorial Board member for the ASCE International Journal of Geomechanics.  He also has been an Editorial Board Member of the International Journal of Pavement Engineering since 2004 and an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology since 2007.

Dr. Tutumluer's professional involvements also include serving as chair of the ASCE Geo-Institute's Pavements Committee and the co-editor of five ASCE Geotechnical Special Publications on recent advances in transportation materials characterization, pavement engineering, and pavement mechanics and testing.  He is also a member of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) Committee 1 on "Ballast."

For his teaching and scholarly service, Dr. Tutumluer was named a General Electric Scholar by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering in 1997 and later that year received a certificate of recognition as an Engineering Education Scholar by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Subsequently, he was named General Electric Fellow (1999) and Collins Fellow (2000) by the Academy of Excellence in Engineering Education Program administered by the College of Engineering; elected as a Campus Honors Program faculty member by the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001); and listed in the campus Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students (2003 and 2008).

In October 2006, Dr. Tutumluer was recognized as the Paul F. Kent Endowed Faculty Scholar for his research accomplishments in the CEE department. 

Yanfeng Ouyang holds a B.Eng. in civil engineering (with top honors, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2000), M.S. in civil engineering (University of Washington, 2001), M.S. in industrial engineering and operations research (University of California at Berkeley, 2005), and Ph.D. in civil engineering (University of California at Berkeley, 2005). He has been on the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since August 2005.

He currently teaches an undergraduate course in transportation engineering and a graduate course on logistics systems.

Professor Ouyang currently serves on the editorial advisory board of Transportation Research Part B, the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems, and is a member of the Transportation Research Board's Network Modeling Committee (ADB30).  He is also an active member of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science, and an affiliated member of the American Society of Civil Engineering. Professor Ouyang received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation in April 2008 and the Gordon F. Newell Award from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2005.

Rahim F. (Ray) Benekohal holds a B.S. (The Ohio State University 1981), M.S. (The Ohio State University 1981), and Ph.D. (The Ohio State University 1986), all in civil engineering. From 1986-1987, Dr. Benekohal worked for the consulting firm RKA Inc. He has been on the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois since 1987.

Dr. Benekohal teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and conducts research in traffic flow modeling and simulation, traffic flow theory, intelligent transportation systems, traffic operations, and traffic safety.

He is editor of the book, “Traffic Congestion and Traffic Safety in the 21st Century: Challenges, Innovations, and Opportunities,” published by the American Society of Engineers. He guest edited the special issue of the Journal of Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Advanced Computer Technologies in Transportation Engineering, published in December 1999.

Dr. Benekohal is the Director of the Traffic Operations Lab (TOL) and the Director of the annual Illinois Traffic Engineering and Safety Conference. He is actively involved in Transportation Research Board, ITS Midwest, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). He is the faculty adviser to the Student Chapter of ITE.

Dr. Benekohal’s awards and honors include the following: the American Society of Engineers 1993 Arthur M. Wellington Prize; Honorary Professor in Traffic Engineering, Harbin University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, People’s Republic of China, in 1996; and the Illinois Section of Institute of Transportation Engineers’ prestigious Past President’s Award, in 1998.

Imad L. Al-Qadi holds a B.S. (Yarmouk University 1984), and M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees (Penn State University 1986 and 1990, respectively) in civil engineering.  He joined the University of Illinois faculty in 2004.

Prof. Al-Qadi served as an Instructor and a Research Engineer at Penn State from 1988 to 1990. He was a member of the faculty of the Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech for 14 years, until 2004. By 1998, he had already been promoted to full professor; and by 2002 he was named the Charles E. Via Jr. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In addition, he was the leader of the Roadway Infrastructure Group, which he established.

Since his arrival at the University of Illinois in August 2004, Prof. Al-Qadi has served as the Director of the Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Lab (ATREL) and the Founding Director of the Illinois Center for Transportation, which has become one of the largest centers at the University of Illinois.

Prof. Al-Qadi's research has resulted in the authoring/coauthoring of more than 400 publications, of which more than 200 are refereed papers.  He has delivered more than 350 presentations at international conferences and professional meetings on these topics including numerous keynote lectures. In addition, his research has resulted in new developments, including new tests, testing specifications, advanced modeling and simulation of pavement loading, and analysis of radar electromagnetic wave interactions with roads and bridges.

Prof. Al-Qadi established the pavement, bituminous, and nondestructive testing programs at Virginia Tech and led the efforts to secure the Virginia Tech-Association of the American Railroad Affiliated Laboratory, of which he was the director just before joining the University of Illinois. In addition, he and his students designed and instrumented the state-of-the-art, all-weather 1.6-mile Virginia Smart Road pavement testing facility. He has served as the principal investigator of more than 80 projects sponsored by various federal and state agencies as well as international industry. He has consulted for more than 50 federal, state, and major public agencies in the U.S. and abroad, such as FHWA, BP Amoco, Michelin, Bekaert, Maccaferri, DMJM+HARRIS, and Koch.

A registered professional engineer, Prof. Al-Qadi is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a member of TRB, AAPT, NAGS, RILEM, ISAP, IGS, ASNT, and ASTM. He is also an elected honorary member of the Societa Italiana Infrastructure Viarie. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Pavement Engineering, the Associate Editor of the Research in Nondestructive Evaluation Journal, and served as the Regional Editor of the Construction and Building Materials Journal. He was also the Guest Editor of ASNT Materials special edition on Nondestructive Evaluation of Pavements.

A member of more than 20 technical committees, task forces, and advisory boards, he is currently the Chair of the TRB Preservation and Maintenance Section and the Group Leader of the ISAP Technical Committee on Interlayer Systems. He is the past chair of the TRB Committee AHD25 on Sealants and Fillers for Joints and Cracks, the TRB Subcommittee AFS70-2 on Geosynthetics in Flexible Pavement Systems, which he founded, and the ASCE Highway Pavement Committee. He also served as the ASCE Design, Construction, and Maintenance Executive Council Chair and currently a member of the Board of Governors of the ASCE Transportation and Development Institute. Prof. Al-Qadi served as the Chair/Co-Chair of many international conferences including the 5th and 6th RILEM International Conference on Pavement Cracking, the 2006 International NDE Conference on Civil Engineering, and the Advanced Characterization of Pavement and Soil Engineering Materials.

He has received numerous awards including the 2007 ASCE Laurie Prize, the 2006 TRR of the National Academies D. Grant Mickle Award, the Limoges Medal of Merit from France in 2004, the 2001 Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, the 1993 STS Award from UK, and was named to the Virginia Tech College of Engineering Dean's List of Excellent Teachers nine times. In addition, Prof. Al-Qadi is the only pavement engineer to receive the quadrennial International Geosynthetic Society Award (2002) and the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award (1994). His achievements were profiled in the TRNews of the National Academies, November-December 2006 issue.