The Grainger College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Imad L Al-Qadi

Imad L Al-Qadi
Imad L Al-Qadi
  • Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering
  • Director, Illinois Center for Transportation
  • Professor
(217) 265-0427
1207 Newmark Civil Engineering Bldg

Primary Research Area

  • Transportation Engineering

Research Areas

For More Information

Biography

Al-Qadi, the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, is the Director of the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Al-Qadi is also leading the initiative to build the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track (I-ACT), a proposed high-speed, multimodal test track in Rantoul, Illinois. He served as an instructor and research engineer at Penn State University from 1988 to 1990 and was a member of the faculty of the Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech from 1990 to 2004. By 1998, he had been promoted to full professor and shortly after named the Charles E. Via Jr. Professor. Al-Qadi holds a B.S. (1984) from Yarmouk University in Jordan and M.Eng. (1986) and Ph.D. (1990) degrees from Penn State University, all in civil engineering.

At Virginia Tech, Al-Qadi established the roadway infrastructure group and designed the various heavily instrumented pavement sections of the Smart Road, a state-of-the-art, full-scale, test bed research facility that become one of the leading facilities in North America in providing diverse test environments for transportation research. At UIUC, Al-Qadi established and elevated ICT to an internationally renowned transportation center. He also built out a premiere and innovative program for advanced mobility as part of the state-of-the-art I-ACT, which is currently being designed and is slated to become one of the most advanced test tracks in the world for such technologies. This program includes a focus on electric and autonomous cars and freight as well as energy harvesting.

Al-Qadi’s teaching, research, and consulting interests and expertise focus primarily on highway and airfield pavement mechanics, advanced modeling, tire-pavement interaction, pavement fracture modeling and testing, interface and interlayer systems (including geosynthetics), pavement materials, sustainability, resiliency, and life-cycle assessment, asphalt mixes and performance, modified asphalt binder rheology, pavement recycling optimization, ground-penetrating radar optimization and signal analysis, infrastructure asset management systems and pavement condition assessment, preservation technologies, transportation infrastructure instrumentation and full-scale accelerated testing; autonomous and conceded vehicles and trucks, energy harvesting, truck platoons, and forensic engineering and arbitration.

A registered professional engineer, Al-Qadi is an elected Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Chapter Honor Member of Chi Epsilon, the Civil Engineering Honor Society, honorary member of the Societa Italiana Infrastrutture Viarie, emeritus member of TRB Committee on Pavement Maintenance, and served as an honorary professor at Southeast University in Nanjing, Chang ’An University in Xian, and Tongi University in Shanghai, China; Aston University, UK; and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, as well as an honorary chair professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, China and the ARAMCO honorary chair at KFU, Saudi Arabia. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Pavement Engineering, Associate Editor of the Research in Nondestructive Evaluation Journal, past Regional Editor of the Construction and Building Materials Journal, and Guest Editor of other journals. He also serves on the editorial boards of several other journals.

Al-Qadi is the only pavement engineer to ever receive the National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award (1994) and the Quadrennial International Geosynthetic Society Award (2002). He has received numerous prestigious awards including the ASCE James Laurie Prize (2007), ARTBA S.S. Steinberg Award (2013), ASCE Robert Horonjeff Award (2021), ASCE Turner Award (2014), TRR of the National Academies D. Grant Mickle Award (2006), ASCE Carl Monismith Lecture (2022), Limoges Medal of Merit (2004), STS Research Award (1993), Virginia Tech College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Research Excellence (2001), ASCE Outstanding Instructor Award (2006), Illinois Center for Transportation Research Award (2012, 2015), Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising (2010), as well as several best paper awards. His achievements were profiled in the TRNews of the National Academies in the November-December 2006 issue.

Al-Qadi is the past President of the Board of Governors of the ASCE Transportation and Development Institute and Founder and current Chair of the Executive Board of the Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering (APSE). He also served as Group Leader of ISAP Technical Committee on Interlayer Systems, a member of the USDOT Truck Size and Weight Study National Committee, and as a member of the TRB Operation and Maintenance Group. He is the past chair of TRB Preservation and Maintenance Section, TRB Subcommittee on Interlayer Systems to Control Reflective Cracking (founder), TRB Committee Sealants and Fillers for Joints and Cracks, TRB Subcommittee on Geosynthetics in Flexible Pavement Systems (founder), ASCE Highway Pavement Committee, and ASCE Design, Construction, and Maintenance Executive Council. His service record also includes the role of chair/co-chair of more than 25 international conferences, such as the 5th, 6th, and 7th RILEM International Conference on Pavement Cracking; 2006 International NDE Conference on Civil Engineering; Advanced Characterization of Pavement and Soil Engineering Materials; 2006, 2010, 2013, 2017, and 2019 ASCE International Airfield and Highway Pavement Conferences; the First ASCE Transportation and Development Institute Congress, and the 2017 and 2021 Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Conference.

Al-Qadi is a member of several technical committees and a member of the State Transportation Innovation Leadership Team-Illinois. He is an emeritus member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), a life member of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (AAPT), and a member of North American Geosynthetic Society (NAGS), International Society of Asphalt Pavements (ISAP), International Geosynthetic Society (IGS), American Society of Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), International Association of Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Al-Qadi’s scholarly record features 800+ authored/co-authored publications. His research resulted in the development of new standard tests, testing specifications, advanced modeling and simulation of pavement loading, pavement layer interface and crack devices, analysis of radar electromagnetic wave interactions with civil engineering materials, roads, and bridges, and connected truck platoon models. Al-Qadi presented the outcome of his research at 800+ national and international conferences and international meetings, including numerous invited keynote and distinguished lectures. He has served as principal investigator of 150+ research projects, with funding in excess of $150 million, sponsored by various federal, state, and international agencies and industry. He has also managed more than 280 projects sponsored by ICT. Al-Qadi has consulted for numerous federal, state, and major public agencies in the U.S. and abroad, including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), BP Amoco, Michelin, Bekaert, Maccaferri, DMJM+HARRIS, Jacobs, and Koch.

Education

  • PhD, Civil Engineering, Penn State, University Park, PA, 1990
  • MEng, Civil Engineering, Penn State, University Park, PA, 1986
  • BSCE, Civil Engineering, Yarmouk University (currently JUST), Irbid, Jordan, 1984

Research Interests

  • Asphalt Technology and Binder Rheology
  • Pavement Sustainability, Recycling, and Life Cycle Assessment
  • Pavement Fracture, Reflection Cracking, and Geosynthetically Stabilized and Reinforced Pavements
  • Nondestructive Evaluation and Noninvasive Material Characterization; Ground Penetrating Radar
  • Pavement Modeling, Design, Analysis, Instrumentation, Rehabilitation, and Management Systems

Research Statement

Al-Qadi’s teaching, research, and consulting interests and expertise focus primarily on civil engineering and pavement materials, sustainability and life-cycle assessment, asphalt mixes and performance, polymerized asphalt rheology, pavement recycling optimization, highway and airfield pavement mechanics, advanced modeling, including viscoelastic response to tire loading, tire–pavement interaction, pavement fracture modeling and testing, interface and interlayer systems (including geosynthetics), nondestructive testing (including ground penetrating radar signal analysis), infrastructure asset management systems and pavement condition assessment, preservation technologies, transportation infrastructure instrumentation and full-scale accelerated testing; autonomous and conceded vehicles and trucks, truck platooning, and forensic engineering and arbitration.

Primary Research Area

  • Transportation Engineering

Research Areas

Books Edited or Co-Edited (Original Editions)

Selected Articles in Journals

Articles in Conference Proceedings

Reports

Teaching Honors

  • Recipient of Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising, 2010.

Research Honors

  • Dr. Al-Qadi’s graduate students received numerous awards from FHWA (Eisenhower fellows), FAA, AAPT, ASCE, ACPR, IAPA, ICT, WTS, UIUC CoE Mavis Award, Wiley Award, AAAEA, Society of Women Engineers, MIT Rising Stars, and many other organizations. He advised them throughout the award research requirements.
  • Advisor for many winning projects, including the FAA Design Competition for Universities on Airport and Operation and Maintenance, 2008 (won 1st and 3rd places) and 2009 (won 2nd place).
  • Dr. Al-Qadi’s research has appeared in several professional magazines, newspapers, and TV and radio programs in the US, and abroad, including ASCE Magazine, Roads and Bridges, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, WBES, Annajah Radio, Roanoke Times, News Gazette, AVIONEWS, Transportation Urban Planning Magazine, Erosion, Alhayat, Alwatar, Quds, Rockford Register Star, WCIA, WAND, Tyre Asia, Wallstreet Journal, and several other publications.
  • Several of Dr. Al-Qadi’s TRB papers were selected Practice-Ready Papers and distributed to the US DOT materials and pavement engineers:”Runway Instrumentation and Response Measurements,” “Influence of Filler Fractional Voids on Mastic and Mixture Performance,” “Impact of Wide-Base Tires on Pavements: Results from Instrumentation Measurements and Modeling Analysis,” “Performance Characterization of Asphalt Mixtures at High Asphalt Binder Replacement with Recycled Asphalt Shingles,” “Characterization and Stabilization of Quarry Byproducts for Sustainable Pavement Applications,” “Development of Present and Baseline Scenarios to Assess Sustainability Improvements of Illinois Tollway Pavements Using a Life-Cycle Assessment Approach,” “Field Evaluation of Geocell Use in Flexible Pavements,” “Steel Reinforcing Netting Mechanism to Reduce Reflective Cracking in Asphalt Concrete Overlays,” “Successful Application of GPR for Quality Assurance/Quality Control of New Pavements,” “Quantification of Pavement Damage Due to Dual and Wide-Base Tires,” and “Comparison between Resilient Modulus and Dynamic Modulus of Hot-Mix Asphalt as Material Properties for Flexible Pavement.”
  • Several of Professor Al-Qadi’s students received Best Poster Awards at several conferences, including International Transportation PhD Symposiums.
  • Executive Officer Distinguished Leadership Award, Office of the Provost, May 2024.
  • Emeritus Member of Highway Pavement Committee (HPC), American Society of Civil Engineers, Jan 2024.
  • K. B. Woods Paper Award Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meetings, 103rd Annual Meetings, Jan 7-11, 2024 (w/ A. Jayme and E. Okte).
  • TRB Best Paper Award ACP15 Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meetings, 103rd Annual Meetings, Jan 7-11, 2024 (w/ A. Jayme and B. Usta).
  • Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award, Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, 103rd Annual Meetings, Jan 7-11, 2024.
  • Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering (APSE) Distinguished Lecture Award, May 5, 2023.
  • TRB Dialogue with Transportation Infrastructure Leaders (onsite Inaugural), 2023.
  • Carl L. Monismith Lecture, 2023.
  • Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, 2022.
  • The ASCE Robert Honorjeff Airfield Award, 2021
  • Al-Qadi has the highest number of coauthor connections and is the most published author in the pavement field in the Transportation Research Record as of 2019.
  • Poster Award, The Sweet Sixteen High Value Research Poster Session in Transportation Research Board, Washington “Testing Protocols to Ensure Performance of High Asphalt Binder Replacement Mixes Using RAP & RAS”, DC, 2017.
  • 3rd Poster Award, International Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Symposium, Champaign, April 12-13, 2017 (w/ S. Kang).
  • 1st Poster Award, International Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Symposium, Champaign, April 12-13, 2017(w/ A. Gomez).
  • Research Award, 57th Illinois Bituminous Paving Conference, 2016.
  • The Principal Investigator of the AASHTO Sweet 16 High Value Research project "Testing Protocols to Ensure Performance of High Asphalt Binder Replacement Mixes Using RAP & RAS," 2016.
  • The ASCE T&DI’s Francis C. Turner Award, 2014.
  • 2013 S. S. Steinberg Award in Education and Research, American Road and Transportation Builders Association, 2014.
  • 1st Place Poster, Pavement Life Cycle Assessment Symposium, Davis, CA, Oct 14-16 (with R. Yang and H. Ozer).
  • Gene Skoke Award for Outstanding Paper by a Young Author, AFD70 Committee on Rehabilitation, TRB (Q. Aurangzeb, the first Author) .
  • ICT Research Award, 99th Transportation and Highway Engineering Conference, 2013.
  • The Principal Investigator of the AASHTO Sweet 16 High Value Research project "Best Practices for Implementation of Tack Coat: PART I - Laboratory Study and PART 2 - Field Study," 2013 (the top project in the Midwest).
  • T&DI/ASCE Best Paper Award by a Young Author, Airfield and Highway Pavement Conference, Los Angeles, CA, Jun 2013 (J. Hernandez, the first Author).
  • Recipient of the 2009 Advisor of FAA Design Competition for Universities on Airport and Operation and Maintenance,” 2nd place, FAA.
  • The 2009 Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists Emmons Award Runner-up for Best Paper “The Truth and Myth of Fatigue Cracking Potential in Hot-Mix Asphalt: Numerical Analysis and Validation.”
  • Runner-up for the K. B. Wood Award for the outstanding paper in the field of design and construction of transportation facilities, “Dynamic Analysis and In-Situ Validation of Perpetual Pavement Response to Vehicular Loading,” Transportation Research Board (TRB), National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC (2009).
  • The paper “Eight-Years of Field Performance of a Secondary Road Incorporating Geosynthetics at The Subgrade-Base Interface,” was selected as one of the best published papers by TRR on geosynthetics in pavements in the past 10 years (2008).
  • Recipient of the 2008 Advisor of FAA Design Competition for Universities on Airport and Operation and Maintenance,” 1st and 3rd place, FAA.
  • Recipient of the 2007 ASCE James Laurie Prize “for advancing transportation engineering through his effective leadership, exceptional scholarly contribution, and research innovations on pavement materials, analysis and design; pavement instrumentation; ground penetrating radar; and pavement interlayer systems.”
  • Recipient of the 2006 D. Grant Mickle Award for the outstanding paper in the field of operation, safety and maintenance of transportation facilities, “Viscoelastic Model to Describe Mechanical Response of Bituminous Sealants at Low Temperature,” Transportation Research Board (TRB), National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC (2007).
  • Dr. Al-Qadi's Achievements were profiled in the TRNews of the National Academies, November-December 2006, Number 247 (2006).
  • Named the Founder Professor of Engineering, UIUC, Urbana, IL (2004).
  • Recipient of the Limoges Medal of Merit, Limoges, France (2004).
  • Selected Researcher of the Week, Virginia Tech and WVTF, Blacksburg, VA, May 2003.
  • Recipient of the 2002 Quadrennial International Geosynthetic Society Award, Nice, France.
  • Named the Charles E. Via, Jr. Professor of CEE, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (2002).
  • Runner-up for the K. B. Wood Award for the outstanding paper in the field of design and construction of transportation facilities, “Measurement of Vertical Compressive Stress Pulse in Flexible Pavements and Its Representation for Dynamic Loading Tests," Transportation Research Board (TRB), National Academy of Engineering, Washington, DC (2002).
  • Recipient of the 2001 Virginia Tech College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Research Excellence, Blacksburg, VA.
  • Virginia Tech Nominee to the National Science Foundation 1994 & 1996 Presidential Faculty Fellow Award.
  • Recipient of the 1994 National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, Washington, DC.
  • 1994 Conference of Southern States Young Scholar Award (Top Three).
  • Recipient of STS Research Award, Best Paper by an Academic Researcher, 5th International Conference on Structural Faults and Repair, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 1993.
  • Dr. Al-Qadi's paper "Using Microwave Measurements to Detect Moisture in Hot-Mix Asphalt" was selected by the Virginia Tech College of Engineering for the 1992 Outstanding Contribution in Research Award sponsored by Southeastern Section of ASEE
  • Keynote Speaker and Distinguished Lectures: Eighth International Conference on Structural Faults and Repair, London, UK, Jul 1999. Thirteenth GRI Conference, Philadelphia, PA, Dec 1999. Tenth International Conference on Structural Faults and Repair, London, UK, Jul 2003. Fifth International Symposium on Nondestructive Testing in Civil Engineering, Berlin, Germany, Sep 2003. Seventh International Conference on Concrete Technology for Developing Countries, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct 2004. First Middle East International Conference on Advances in Civil, Mechanical and Material Engineering, Amman, Jordan, May 2005. Third Gulf Conference on Roads, Muscat, Oman, Mar 2006. New Materials and Construction Techniques Workshop, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, Jun 2006. Geo-Shanghai International Conference 2006, Shanghai, China, Jun 2006. Pavement Material Characterization and Modeling, Olbia, Italy, Sep 2006. The Third International Conference on Advances on Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Hammamet, Tunisia, Dec 2006. The Fifth International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements and Technological Control, Park City, Utah, USA, Aug 2007. Workshop on Pavement Engineering, Seoul, Korea, Mar 2008. The 4th International Gulf Conference on Roads, Doha, Qatar, Nov 2008. IV SINAPPRE, 2009 ABPV Conference, Fortaleza, Brazil, Oct 2009. II Controllo ad alto Rendimento Delle Infrastrutture Stradali ed Aeroportuali, Messina, Italy, Jan 2010. Seventeenth Great Lakes Geotechnical & Geo-environmental Conference, Milwaukee, WI, May 2010. GeoShanghai 2010, Shanghai, China, Jun 2010. First International GSI-Asia Conference, Taichung, Taiwan, Nov 2010. Transportation Infrastructure and Traffic of the Future Workshop, Ahsaa, Saudi Arabia, Apr 2011. Falling Weight Deflectometer Users Group Annual Meeting, Champaign, IL, USA, Oct 2011. The First Conference of Transportation Research Group of India (CTRG 2011), Bangalore, India, Dec 2011. GeoAmerica 2012: Second PanAmerican Congress on Geosynthetics, Lima, Peru, May 2012. Tenth International Congress on Advances in Civil Engineering, Ankara, Turkey, Oct 2012. AAAEA Annual Meeting Keynote Lecture, Chicago, USA, Nov 1, 2012. First China-USA Doctoral Annual Symposium on Transportation Engineering, Harbin, China, Dec 16, 2012. II CITRANS Conference, The University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica, May 22-24, 2013. First International Conference in Civil Engineering, Al Bireh, Palestine, Oct 28-29, 2013. The Warren Lecture, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Sep 5, 2003. Kirlin Distinguished Lecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, Apr 28, 2010. Distinguished Lecture, University of Texas at Austin, TX, Oct 8, 2010. Distinguished Lecture, University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL, Oct 29, 2010. First Seed Distinguished Lecture, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX, Mar 29, 2012. Distinguished Lecture, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, Mar 30, 2013. First Rasmus S. Nordal Distinguished Lecture, Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Ninth International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways, and Airfields, Trondheim, Norway, Jun 25, 2013. The Fourth Jordan International Conference and Exhibition for Roads and Transport, Amman, Jordan, Mar 12-14, 2014. Turner Lecture, 2nd T&DI Congress, ASCE, Orlando, FL, Jun 8-11, 2014. Workshop on New Generation Wide Based Tires, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, Oct 20, 2014. The 19th International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies, Hong Kong, China, Dec 13-15, 2014. 7th Jordan Traffic Safety Conference, Amman, Jordan, May 11-13, 2015. COST Action TU 1208, Athens, Greece, Oct 19-20, 2015. iFRAE2015 Conference, Shanghai, China Oct 26-28, 2015. Transportation Research Congress, Beijing, China, Jun 6-8, 2016 Sustainability in Pavement Maintenance, 12th International PROVIAL Conference, Vina del Mar, Chile, Aug 8-9, 2016. International Symposium on Safe and Sustainable Pavement Systems in the Gulf Region, Alhofuf, Saudi Arabia, Nov 6-7, 2016. GeoMEast 2017 International Congress, Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, Jul 15-19, 2017. International ASCMCES-17 Conference, Sharjah, UAE, Apr 18-20, 2017 The 7th Jordanian International Civil Engineering Conference, Amman, Jordan, May 9-11, 2017. The 2nd Transportation Research Congress, Beijing, China, May 23-25, 2017. Pavement/ Materials Conference, Tempe, AZ, No. 15-16, 2017. Advances in Materials and Pavement Performance Prediction, Doha, Qatar, Apr 16-19, 2018. 5th Chinese European Workshop, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China, Oct 27-28, 2018. 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering, Bethlehem, Palestine, Nov 25-27, 2019. 9th International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements, Zurich, Switzerland, Jul 1-3, 2020. 2020 International Conference on Sustainable and Innovative Infrastructure, Tainan, Taiwan, Oct 21, 2020 through Zoom. 5th International Conference on Transportation Infrastructure and Materials (TIM2021), IACIP, Changsha, China, Oct 20, 2021 (through zoom). Sustainable, Transport Infrastructures International Conference, Caligari, Italy, Dec 13, 2021. Illinois Asphalt Paving Association, Springfield, IL Mar 14, 2022 International Conference of Accelerated Pavement Testing, Nantes, France, Apr 4, 2022 SURF 2022, the 9th Symposium on Pavement Surface Characteristics, Sep 12-14, 2022, Milano, Italy. 85th Annual Convention of Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association, Springfield, IL, Mar 15, 2022. The 102nd Transportation Research Board Annual Meetings, Dialogue with Transportation Infrastructure Leaders, Washington, DC, Jan 9, 2023. 109th Annual Illinois Transportation and Highway Engineering Conference, Champaign, IL, Mar 9, 2023. The Mobility of Electrification Revolution, National Academy of Engineering, Champaign, IL, Apr 3-5, 2023. The T&DI ASCE Airfield and Highway Pavement Conference, Austin, TX, Jun 14-17, 2023. XII Mexican Asphalt Congress (XII CMA), The Asphalt Route towards the circular economy, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Aug 24, 2023. ARRA Pavement Recycling Summit, Indianapolis, IN, Oct. 2-5, 2023. 13th Conference on Asphalt Pavements for Southern Africa, South Africa, Oct. 15-18, 2023 10th International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements, Guimarães, Portugal, Jul 24-26, 2024. XII Mexican Asphalt Congress (XII CMA), The Asphalt Route towards the circular economy, Quintana Roo, Mexico, Aug 24, 2023.

Public Service Honors

  • University of Illinois 2024-25 President’s Executive Leadership Program Fellow, Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, Springfield, and Washington, D.C., 2024-2025.