PI: Ramez Hajj

Ramez Hajj is an Assistant Professor in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Prior to joining UIUC, he completed his Ph.D. and Master’s in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech. Dr. Hajj’s research spans everything related to asphalt materials and flexible pavements, from as small as investigating asphalt binder behavior at the molecular, nano-, and micro-scale, to developing novel materials for roadway pavement and railroad trackbed applications, to solving network-level transportation infrastructure problems. Primarily, his research focuses on asphalt binders, mixtures, and pavements, but more broadly, these research areas are situated in wider research areas of viscoelasticity, composites, machine learning and computational modeling. So far, his work includes fundamental scientific discoveries into the origins of cracking in asphalt binder microstructure, as well as practical contributions to the asphalt industry, state Departments of Transportation, and local transportation agencies. To date, he has published in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals in these areas, and presented his work at many international conferences. Currently, Dr. Hajj’s research is funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), and numerous industry partners.

For a detailed CV for Dr. Hajj, please see here.

Ph.D. Students

Renan Santos Maia

Born in Fortaleza-Brazil, Renan has a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering (2018) and a Master’s in Transport Engineering (2020), both from the Federal University of Ceará-Brazil. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Graduate Research Assistant for the Illinois Center for Transportation – ICT. His areas of interest are: Advanced Characterization of Pavement Materials, Road Safety, Sustainability and Teaching of Engineering. His ultimate goal as an engineer and researcher is to help provide solutions for a more sustainable and inclusive world.

Babak Asadi

Babak Asadi received his bachelor’s degree and M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology in 2016 and Sharif University of Technology in 2019, respectively. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Illinois. His research interests include multiscale characterization of bituminous materials and applied machine learning.

Yudi Wang

Yudi Wang is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering (CEE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree at Southwest Jiaotong University and her Master’s Degree at UIUC as part of the 3+2 program. She is currently working with Professor Hajj on the area of polymer-modified asphalt. Her research interest lies in the experimental performance of materials and trying to establish models for their performance.

Abhilash Vyas

Abhilash is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Transportation Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in 2019 from the National Institute of Technology Hamirpur (NIT Hamirpur), India and his Master of Science (M.S.) at UIUC in 2023. His research interests include asphalt binder rheology, flexible pavement design, and construction.

Mahsa Tofighian

Mahsa Tofighian is currently a PhD student in Civil Engineering, specializing in Transportation Engineering, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, in 2021 and her Master’s degree from Pennsylvania State University in 2023. Her research interests include asphalt binder rheology and assessing the heavy fraction of bio-crude as a potential bio-binder for use in asphalt.

M.S. Students

Bibek Regmi

Bibek Regmi is a Master of Science student in Civil Engineering, specializing in Transportation Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 2017 from Pulchowk Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. His research interests encompass pavement design and management, hot mix asphalt, and pavement material performance enhancement.

Muhammad Fahad Ali

Fahad graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan in 2022. He is currently a Master’s student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UIUC. His research interests include the mechanical properties and characterization of bituminous materials.

Alumni

Abhilash Vyas, M.S. Civil Engineering, 2023 (Current Position: Ph.D. Student, UIUC)

Yujia Lu, Ph.D. Civil Engineering, 2024 (Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, UIUC)