Imad Al-Qadi

Imad Al-Qadi is the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Director of the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Penn State University and has held academic positions at Virginia Tech and Penn State. His research focuses on sustainable transportation infrastructure, pavement mechanics, and autonomous vehicles. Al-Qadi is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and has served as Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Pavement Engineering.

• Education: B.S. (1984) Yarmouk University, M.Eng. (1986) and Ph.D. (1990) Penn State University.
• Affiliations: Past president of ASCE's Transportation and Development Institute, founder of the Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering.
• Key Projects: Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track (I-ACT), Illinois Center for Transportation, Smart Road research.

His research emphasizes pavement sustainability, recycling optimization, and tire-pavement interaction. He has authored over 1,000 publications and led 180+ research projects funded by federal agencies and industry partners. Recent work includes energy harvesting from pavements and assessing impacts of electric vehicles on infrastructure.

Al-Qadi has received prestigious awards including the NSF Young Investigator Award (1994) and TRB Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award (2023). He chairs international conferences and serves on technical committees, driving advancements in pavement science and transportation innovation.