The National Concrete Pavement Technology Center (CP Tech Center), which is housed at the Institute for Transportation (InTrans), partnered with the Civil, Construction and Environmental (CCEE) department at Iowa State University to receive the Portland Cement Association (PCA) Education Foundation J. P. Gleason Fellowship. Peter Taylor, research associate professor of CCEE and director of the CP Tech Center, serves as principal investigator and will manage the fellowship on behalf of the CP Tech Center and CCEE.
The J. P. Gleason Fellowship will reward $175,000 to outstanding master’s and doctoral students over the next five years. The fellowship will fund the program’s strong student research focused on improving concrete pavement performance. Specific research goals include 1) improving understanding of the mechanisms behind durability-related deterioration in pavements; 2) improving understanding of methods to extend the life of pavements – mixture ingredients, sealants and repair systems; 3) investigating new approaches to mitigate and evaluate potential D-cracking aggregates; and 4) implementing tools and specifications that will increase the longevity of concrete pavements.
Erik Rancatore, communications director at the PCA, said that Iowa State’s concrete pavement performance research “could be integrated into a new national model for specifying and field controlling paving concrete.”
The PCA established the PCA Education Foundation in 2001 to help finance education programs in nearly every facet of the cement and concrete industries, from university research fellowships to career recruitment and craft training. Concrete pavement is a key market for the cement industry. “Iowa State’s research will increase the acceptance of concrete pavements in the market place by extending the life of such pavements,” Rancatore said.