Research Highlights

  • PI/Co-PI of total external funding = $17.0M (as PI = $15.1M)
  • Authored 444 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles (193J, 251C) including two best paper awards
  • Published 1 textbook and 6 book chapters; Edited 6 books and journal special issues; published 48 major research reports
  • Supporting/supported 92 students (24 Ph.D., 29 M.S., 4 Postdocs, 1 Editorial Assistant, 35 undergraduate students); Graduated 18 PhDs and 26 MS students
  • Established a strong externally funded research and scholarly program at UNM, essentially from scratch, principally in the area of pavement materials and design
  • Led the New Mexico DOT in the calibration and implementation of a newly developed mechanistic-empirical ME pavement design guide
  • Contributed significant new knowledge and engineering tools in the state of New Mexico's airfield pavement evaluation and rehabilitation design procedure
  • Delivered speeches/presented at more than 100 national/international conferences & symposia

Major Research Areas

Pavement Materials & Design

  • Characterization and modeling of pavement materials
  • Pavement geomechanics and mechanistic design
  • Airfield pavement dynamics and rehabilitation
  • Nanoscale measurements of material properties

Advanced Geomechanics

  • Pavement foundation and transportation soils
  • Constitutive laws of engineering materials
  • Non-destructive testing methods
  • Multi-scale material characterization

Sustainable Infrastructure

  • Sustainable pavements through recycling
  • Life cycle assessment of pavement systems
  • Environmental impact reduction strategies
  • Green construction materials development

Advanced Modeling

  • Molecular dynamics and neural networks
  • Finite element modeling and simulation
  • AI and machine learning applications in pavement management
  • Atomic Force Microscopy and FTIR data modeling