June 1, 2022: Graduate student Haoran Li, working under the supervision of Prof. Lev Khazanovich, is the recipient of a prestigious scholarship and internship opportunity at Pitt. Haoran has won the 2022 Mark and Roni Magalotti Scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh, which also gave him the opportunity to present his work at MASITE-ITSPA on Artificial Neural Networks Based Assessment Tool and Design Alternative for AASHTO M-E Concrete Pavements Design. He is also joining the University Center for Teaching and Learning at Pitt this summer for an internship. This internship program provides participants a great opportunity to leverage and learn new professional skills, develop a deeper understanding of higher education administration and policy, and gain exposure to a potential career field. The program also includes weekly professional development programming to support Ph.D. students’ career exploration and preparation. Congratulations, Haoran!
April 12, 2022: The AM3P 2022 Conference invites papers for the conference to be held in Hong Kong from Dec 12-14, 2022. The topics of the conference include:
  • Experimental laboratory material characterization
  • Field measurements and in-situ material characterization
  • Constitutive modeling and simulation
  • Empirical predictions, statistically sound calibration and validation methods
  • Innovative pavement materials and interface systems
  • Non-destructive measurement techniques
  • Surface characterization
  • Tire-surface interaction
  • Pavement noise
  • Pavement rehabilitation
  • Case studies

The conference will have a track for concrete pavements co-chaired by Pitt Pavements Professor Dr. Lev Khazanovich. Those interested can contact him at Lev.K@pitt.edu. The due date for submission is June 15, 2022. For further details, please visit the conference website.
January 7, 2022: The 101st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB AM) will be held in-person at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC from January 9-13, 2022. This is the largest gathering of transportation researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and enthusiasts in the world. Several participants from Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh will be participating at the event. These include (co-authors affiliated with Pitt at the time of the conference or who performed the research while at Pitt are indicated with a *):
  1. Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles* and Dr. Sushobhan Sen*, Co-Directors of Communication at the International Society for Concrete Pavements (ISCP), will participate in the Society's annual board and open membership meeting
  2. Dr. Julie Vandenbossche* will preside over a meeting of AKP20(1) - Subcommittee on Advanced Concrete Pavement Modeling
  3. Dr. Sushobhan Sen* will preside over a breakout session at a meeting of AKP00(2) - Sustainable and Resilient Pavements Subcommittee
  4. Graduate students Haoran Li*, Zhe Wan*, Katelyn Kosar*, and Charles Donnelly* will be presenting their research at the Three-Minute Thesis (TMT) Competition
  5. Zhe Wan*, Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles*, and Dr. Lev Khazanovich* will present a paper on "Poroelastic modeling of pore pressure development in the pavement thawing subgrade layer"
  6. Dr. Lev Khazanovich*, Katelyn Kosar*, and Bernard Izevbekhai will present a poster on "Evaluation of Long-Term Impacts of Early Opening of Concrete Pavements"
  7. Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles* and Dr. Lev Khazanovich* will present a poster on "Local Evaluation of Concrete Pavement Performance Model Considering Rehabilitation"
  8. Dr. Lev Khazanovich*, Dr. Julie Vandenbossche*, Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles*, and Thomas R Burnham will present a paper on "Mechanistic-Empirical Model for Cracking Prediction in Unbonded Concrete Overlays on Concrete Pavements"
  9. Charles Donnelly* and Dr. Julie Vandenbossche* will present their work on "Quantification of damage accumulation around dowels"
  10. Haoran Li* and Dr. Lev Khazanovich* will present a poster on "Multi-Gene Genetic Programming Extension of AASHTO M-E for Design of Low-Volume Concrete Pavements"
  11. Sarah Stolte, Linda Pierce, Nicholas Weitzel, Jose Medina, Dr. Sushobhan Sen*, Gail Scott, and Dr. Jeffery Roesler will present a paper on "Field and Laboratory Evaluation of In-Service Bonded Concrete Overlays on Asphalt"
  12. Javier García Mainieri, Dr. Sushobhan Sen*, Dr. Jeffery Roesler, and Dr. Imad Al Qadi will present a poster on "Albedo Change Mechanism of Asphalt Concrete Surfaces"
October 6, 2021: The 12th International Conference on Concrete Pavements (12th ICCP) was held virtually from September 27 – October 1, 2021. The conference is held every 4 years and is the premiere event in the field of concrete pavement research and practice, with a history dating back to 1977. The conference saw 700 registered participants, 10 workshops, nearly 100 papers presented, and a student networking event. Participants from over a dozen countries attended the conference. Several researchers, including 5 graduate students and 2 pos docs, from Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh participated in the conference. These include (co-authors affiliated with Pitt at the time of the conference or who performed the research while at Pitt are indicated with a *):
  1. Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles*, Dr. Lev Khazanovich*, and Dr. Jose T Balbo presented a paper on “Re-evaluation of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement Structural Model,” for which they were awarded the Eldon J Yoder Award for Outstanding Paper of the Conference
  2. Larissa Stromberg, Dr. Lev Khazanovich*, and Dr. Staffan Hintze presented a paper on “Enhancement Of Sustainable Road Design Towards Compatibility Between Pavement Materials”
  3. Dr. Julie Vandenbossche* had an invited presentation at a workshop on Fiber-Reinforced Concrete, sponsored by the Fiber Reinforced Concrete Association. The workshop had almost 200 attendees
  4. Dr. Sushobhan Sen*, Dr. Jeffery Roesler, Dr. Benjamin Ruddell, and Dr. Ariane Middel presented a paper on “Cool Pavements for Sustainable Urban Development”
  5. Dr. Julie Vandenbossche* and Dr. John DeSantis* presented a paper on “Effects of Interlayer Properties on the Performance of Unbonded Concrete Overlays”
  6. Nathanial Buettner*, Qianyun Zhang*, Dr. Julie Vandenbossche*, and Jeffrey Oswalt presented a paper on “Investigating the Effects of Superloads on Fatigue Performance in Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements”
  7. Charles Donnelly* and Dr. Julie Vandenbossche* presented a paper on “Establishing Effects of Superloads on Doweled Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements”
  8. Peter Bly and Dr. Lev Khazanovich* presented a paper on “Reducing Rigid Pavement Modeling Complexity: An Exercise Using the Principles of Similarity”
  9. Dr. Sushobhan Sen* moderated a session on Thin Pavements
  10. Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles* and Dr. Sushobhan Sen* organized a student networking event for grad students from various universities at the conference, including Pitt
  11. Dr. Lucio Salles de Salles* and Dr. Sushobhan Sen* were part of the organizing committee for the 12th ICCP