Complaining about potholes and road conditions seems to be a Canadian pastime.
For years, researchers at Carleton, led by Prof. A.O. Abd El Halim, worked on perfecting new techniques that would lead to more sustainable roads. This inspired the creation of Carleton’s Centre for Advanced Asphalt Research and Technology.
As a graduate student at Carleton University, Moustafa Awadalla, worked with Prof. Abd El Halim and Prof. Yasser Hassan, to investigate how to improve the long-term performance of newly paved roads by exploring and testing a new advanced road compaction technique known as the Asphalt Multi-Integrated Roller (AMIR).
Moustafa Awadalla with the AMIR Roller
“Improving the long-term performance of the asphalt roads by using the AMIR Roller means more sustainable roads, less rehabilitation costs, a higher return from investing in infrastructure projects, and much more benefits for taxpayers,” shares Awadalla.
He also looked for links between the field and the lab that would help predict how roadways would perform under different factors such as traffic or rainfall over several years.
Says Awadalla: “I have special interest in being a vital part of this research as there is very promising potential to solve many of the existing problems known for decades in the asphalt industry. This would be considered a revolutionary achievement in Canada and worldwide.”
Awadalla says he always wanted to be a transportation engineer. After finishing high school, he was ranked as one of the top ten students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This qualified him to win the Khalifa Bin Zayed Foundation full scholarship ($150,000) prior to pursuing his undergrad degree at the American University of Sharjah. He was on the Dean’s list six times and the Chancellor’s Award List two times.
Awadalla at his AUS graduation ceremony
His passion led him to pursue a MASc in Civil Engineering at Carleton. He graduated in 2015.
“I decided to pursue my graduate studies at Carleton University since it offers very rigorous and comprehensive graduate programs in transportation engineering that cannot be found elsewhere,” says the alumnus. “This includes advanced graduate courses (e.g. Highway Geometric Design, Traffic Engineering, Advanced Pavement Engineering, and Road Safety), advanced research methods, and top tier professors. As a graduate student, the research facilities, including cutting-edge technologies and field/laboratory test devices directly related to my research interests, were provided by the Faculty of Engineering and Design.”
Now, Awadalla is in Mississauga working as Project Manager at an engineering consulting firm IRC Building Sciences Group where he supervises pavement projects.
While at Carleton, Awadalla says he greatly appreciated the help he received from his two supervisors, as well as other supporters. “In particular, the financial support for my research provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), Carleton University, and the technical support of R. W. Tomlinson Group Limited is greatly acknowledged and appreciated.”
Thursday, November 26, 2015 in Alumni, Grad Student Research, News
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