FAA News 

Federal Aviation Administration

William J. Hughes Technical Center

_____________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             

Date: January 14, 2008                   

Contact:  Holly Baker

Phone:  609-485-6253

FAA Centers of Excellence ‘Outstanding Student of the Year’ Honored by DOT

EGG HARBOR TWP., N.J. – A University of Illinois doctoral student who is conducting important airport asphalt concrete research is being honored as the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Transportation Centers of Excellence “Outstanding Student of the Year.”  This award was presented by former Secretary of Transportation, Norman Mineta, and the newly appointed Administrator for the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), Paul  Brubaker, at a special TRB ceremony at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel on Saturday, January 12 in Washington , D.C.  

Andrew F. Braham, a civil and environmental engineering doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been named as one of the recipients of the prestigious award, given by the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration.  Braham conducts research for the FAA’s Center of Excellence for Airport Technology.  He is researching the behavior of asphalt concrete for use in airport pavement rehabilitation. He has focused on the Center’s project, “Development of New Methodologies for Mechanistic Design of Asphalt Overlays,” by identifying and summarizing the most recent studies and technologies related to reflective cracking mechanisms and mechanics-based modeling of pavement overlay systems. He also is developing and conducting mixed-mold fracture tests on asphalt concrete materials for his Ph.D. thesis research.  

“Andrew Braham is an exemplary scholar, engineer and practitioner,” said Patricia Watts, Ph.D., FAA Centers of Excellence Program Director. “His talent, strong leadership qualities, professionalism and creative approach to asphalt concrete research make him an asset to the FAA’s Airport Technology and Centers of Excellence programs.”  

Braham holds both masters and bachelors degrees in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin (2000 and 2002). His thesis was, “The Use of Blended Recycled Foundry Sand in Hot Mix Asphalt.” He has been a research assistant and teaching assistant at both the Universities of Illinois and Wisconsin . Braham has authored or co-authored seven journal and conference articles about asphalt concrete materials, and he has presented his research at several national and international conferences.

Braham served as the assistant director of the 2007 Transportation and Highway Engineering Conference. He founded the new Illinois Asphalt Paving Association (IAPA) hot-mix asphalt student design competition, and is very active in the University of Illinois Leadership Center. He has received many honors, including the IAPA’s 2006 and 2007 Ernest L. Doctor Memorial Scholarships, the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists’ 2006 Walter K. Parr National Scholarship and an engineering graduate fellowship ( University of Illinois , 2005).

Each year the DOT honors the most outstanding students from its participating university transportation centers for their achievement and promise for future contributions to the transportation field. Students are selected for the award based on the technical merit of their research, academic performance, professionalism and leadership.  In addition to the students honored at the DOT awards ceremony, the DOT and FAA also recognize outstanding students at each FAA Center of Excellence. 

The FAA’s Centers of Excellence Program is based at the William J. Hughes Technical Center , near Atlantic City , N.J.

All 2008 COE Students of the Year