Amit Bhasin, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering, has been named the new director of the Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at The University of Texas at Austin. He assumed the role on Feb. 15 and is the fifth director in the center’s 55-year history.
Bhasin succeeds Chandra Bhat, who served as director of CTR since September 2012 and who guided the center through a period of significant growth, success and interdisciplinary research. Bhat will continue to serve as a faculty researcher in CTR.
CTR was founded in 1963 and specializes in advancing technologies and developing safety innovations that influence future policy. The transportation program and CTR at UT Austin was ranked #2 in the nation last year in the field of Transportation Science and Technology by the Shanghai-based Academic Ranking of World Universities. The center partners with local, state and national agencies and organizations and brings in over $15 million in research funding annually. In addition to research, CTR focuses on education, workforce development and technology commercialization.
“Amit is a tremendous choice to lead our Center for Transportation Research into the future,” said Sharon L. Wood, dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering. “As a recognized expert in infrastructure materials, Amit will provide critical leadership as we work with state and federal organizations to develop long-term solutions and improve our highways and transportation systems.”
As director of CTR, Bhasin oversees an extensive research portfolio that addresses many aspects of transportation, including traffic congestion relief, driver behavior, technological development, transportation policy and environmental and energy impacts. CTR’s portfolio includes over 100 faculty members, full-time researchers and administrative personnel, and more than 175 graduate and undergraduate students are actively involved in research projects through the center.
“I am honored to serve as the new director of CTR, and I look forward to continuing the excellent work that Chandra has done over the past five years to advance our enterprise,” said Bhasin, who holds the Temple Foundation Endowed Teaching Fellowship in Engineering #2 in the Cockrell School. “CTR is a world-class organization, and I will work to ensure that we remain at the forefront of transportation research in this country.”
Bhasin’s research focuses on infrastructure materials with emphasis on asphalt materials and pavement infrastructure. His research activities are at the intersection of materials science and mechanics with a focus on sustainable materials and design tools for construction and preservation of pavements.
Bhasin, who received his B.S. from the Indian Institute of Technology and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, is a former National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipient and the winner of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association-Council for University Transportation Centers Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research and the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Walter L. Huber civil engineering research prize. As an educator, he is a former recipient of the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from UT Austin and the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award from The University of Texas System.
