People
Dr. Mansour Solaimanian
Director
Background
PhD (1990) Civil Engineering (University of Texas at Austin)
MS Civil Engineering (University of Arkansas)
BS Civil Engineering
InterestsDr. Mansour Solaimanian is currently director of the Norhteast Center of Excellence for Pavement Technology (NECEPT) as well as director of the Infrastructure program. He joined the NECEPT staff in May 2001 as a Senior Research Associate at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute. Mansour has an extensive background in pavement materials research as well as in teaching and technology transfer. He also has considerable experience in effective project management and implementation, laboratory and field materials testing, forensic evaluation of pavements, and team facilitation. Dr. Solaimanian was the program manager of the South Central Superpave Center (SCSC) when it was located at the University of Texas at Austin. He managed the day-to-day affairs of the SCSC and provided assistance with the Superpave design and analysis system to the region and to the Texas Department of Transportation. He supervised several research projects that included extensive interaction with engineers and technicians throughout all districts of Texas. He also provided Superpave training to technicians and engineers from various states and countries.
Dr. Solaimanian was an active participant in the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP) between 1988 and 1993. He developed the required environmental databases and also worked on developing testing procedures and equipment specifications for asphalt mixtures. He was involved with project management and coordination of project activities for the SHRP asphalt research through the critical path method (CPM). Mansour was one of the principal instructors in the National Training Center at the Asphalt Institute, where he taught engineers and technicians about new Superpave mixture testing equipment from January through September 1994. He developed and taught a Superpave mix design and analysis short course, and a Superpave binder testing and characterization course at the University of Texas at Austin from September 1997 through August 1999, and also taught graduate and undergraduate courses on performance and behavior of asphalt mixtures. Dr. Solaimanian obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1980. Later, he continued his education and received a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Arkansas and in 1990 achieved a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
