Toward Sustainable and Resilient Transportation Infrastructure

Hao Wang, PhD

Professor and graduate program director

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rutgers

February 23, 2024 | 11 a.m. | 140 Ketter Hall

Civil infrastructure poses challenges to the vision of sustainable world because it consumes massive energy and non-renewable materials while generating greenhouse gas emission. At the same time, infrastructure need be designed and constructed to be resilient in response to climate change impacts such as flooding, global warming, sea level rise, and extreme weather events. Challenges exist how to design and maintain infrastructure for climate adaptation in parity with mitigation. In this talk, I will begin by presenting the design of high-performance and low-carbon infrastructure materials using multi-scale and multi-physics modeling and characterization. A data-driven and physics-guided approach is proposed to determine optimized composite material formulations. Second, I will discuss the development of next generation of roadway with longevity, safety, and environment sustainability and how it can further contribute to transportation electrification and automation. Life-cycle analysis approach is advanced for pavement management system through advanced models, nondestructive testing, and artificial intelligence. Third, I will present a wide range of research efforts to improve resilience of built environment over different modes of transportation and at urban landscape using new technology and innovative solutions. Finally, I will provide perspectives on open challenges and collaboration opportunities for future transportation infrastructure to support circular economy and social development.

Hao Wang is currently Professor and Graduate Program Director of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His research areas focus on development of sustainable, resilient, and smart roadway system and transportation infrastructure through innovative materials, computational modeling, and data analytics. He has been PI or Co-PI of more than 60 research projects sponsored by federal government and state agencies in U.S. He has published over 200 journal papers at high-impact journals and his work is well cited by international researchers. He serves as Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member of several journals published by ASCE, ASTM, TRB, and Elsevier and is an elected Fellow of Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) of ASCE. He is the recipient of ASCE Walter L. Huber Research Award (2022), Rutgers Outstanding Engineering Faculty Award (2023), New Jersey DOT Research Implementation Award (2021 and 2023), ASCE NJ Educator of the Year Award (2019), and AASHTO High Value Research Project (2014). Dr. Wang Obtained his PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, MS from Virginia Tech, and BS from Southeast University (China).