Tuesday, June 11

6:30–8:30 p.m. | Plaza Ballroom

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI) are proud to present the following prestigious awards during the Tuesday evening Awards Banquet.

Keynote Speaker

Nicole R. Nason, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration

Nicole R. Nason was sworn in as Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration on May 2, 2019. In this role, she leads a Modal Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation that is responsible for the Nation’s $49 billion Federal-aid Highway program. Previously, Nason was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Administration, from December 2017 to March 2019. She also previously served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Overseas Building Operations and as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State.

Nason has served in numerous roles in Washington, D.C., notably as Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) at the U.S. Department of Transportation (2006–2008), where she was a two-time gold medal winner, the department’s highest honor. She also served as DOT’s Assistant Secretary for Government Affairs (2003–2006). At NHTSA, her many achievements included overseeing new seat belt rules for school buses, rulemaking for electronic stability control systems, and new car seat safety regulations. Under her watch, NHTSA developed the first-ever criteria for crash test ratings for the Five-Star Safety Ratings program and held the first-ever bilateral with the government of the Republic of China on regulations for motor vehicle safety. During her previous tenure at USDOT, Nason made numerous appearances on national television news programs, testified frequently before Congress, and advocated at the United Nations in Geneva for harmonizing motor vehicle testing.

Previously, Nason served as the Assistant Commissioner for Government Affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (2002–2003). She also served in the legislative branch as counsel for the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary and as press secretary for Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), who was serving as Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She worked as an attorney for the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime (1995–1999).

A black belt in karate, Nason founded Project Koe (KOH-ee) in Connecticut in 2014, empowering women and improving health and fitness using traditional Japanese martial arts techniques.

She has also served two terms on the national board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and on the board of directors of Shakespeare on the Sound. Her media experience includes a TEDTalk at American University on finding inner power. Nason earned a B.A. in political science and government at American University and a J.D. at Case Western Reserve University.

Francis C. Turner Award

Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE

Mohamed Abdel-Aty, Ph.D., is a Trustee Endowed Chair, Pegasus Professor, and Chair of the Department of Civil, Environmental & Construction Engineering at the University of Central Florida. His outstanding leadership in the field of road safety is recognized nationally and internationally. In addition, he has had an exceptional impact on the transportation field with an extensive publication record, his service on committees, and a commitment to outstanding teaching and mentoring.

Dr. Abdel-Aty has established himself as a world leader in transportation research and particularly in transportation safety research. He has published more than 550 papers, of them about 300 in journals. Dr. Abdel-Aty's impact is evident in projects that resulted in improvements to roadways and likely saved lives and millions of dollars. He is a pioneer in transforming the traffic safety field into more proactive approaches to reduce crash risk. He was the first to study the safety of toll roads and plazas and provide guidance for safety improvements. Also of considerable impact are his projects on the innovative safety improvements and systems that are implemented at road segments that experience reduced visibility due to weather conditions, his contributions to the Highway Safety Manual, NCHRP projects, and the development of a similar manual for Part D for the Florida Department of Transportation. Dr. Abdel-Aty has managed more than 60 research projects totaling around $17 million.

His teaching record is impressive and has received considerable recognition. He is among the world's most elite university teachers, having won his university's Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, and the University Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Doctoral Students. Dr. Abdel-Aty has supervised to completion more than 70 Ph.D. and MS students.

About the Award

The Francis C. Turner Award was established by the Transportation and Development Institute of the Society by the solicitation of gifts from the many friends and admirers of Francis C. Turner, Hon.M.ASCE, former Chief Engineer of the Bureau of Public Roads, and retired Federal Highway Administrator. The award is based on the nominee's contributions to the advancement of the knowledge and practice of transportation engineering.

Robert Horonjeff Award

Richard de Neufville, Ph.D., M.ASCE

Richard de Neufville, Ph.D., is a professor of Engineering Systems at MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. Dr. de Neufville is recognized in part for his outstanding and innovative contributions and achievements in education, research, technology transfer, and workforce development in the field of air transportation engineering. He is internationally recognized for his work that applies advanced systems engineering concepts and techniques to the planning of airports and airport systems. He is known for his advocacy of techniques that introduce greater flexibility in the design of complex engineering systems.

Prof. de Neufville is particularly known for innovations in engineering education. He was the founding chairman of the MIT Technology and Policy Program and author of six major texts on systems analysis in engineering. His work has been recognized by Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships, the NATO Systems Science Prize; the Sizer Award for the Most Significant Contribution to MIT Education, the Martore and MIT Effective Teaching Awards, and the US Federal Aviation Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Through professional short courses, academic research, publications, and consulting work with major airports, Dr. de Neufville has passed on his insights to students and practicing engineers throughout the world.

About the Award

The ASCE T&DI Robert Horonjeff Award was established to recognize outstanding achievements in, and contributions to, the advancement of the field of air transportation engineering.

T&DI Outstanding Younger Member Award

Michelle Renee Oswald Beiler, Ph.D., P.E., LEED AP, PTP, ENV SP, M.ASCE

Dr. Michelle Renee Oswald Beiler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University. Her research and teaching focus is in the area of sustainable transportation planning. Specific research topics include transportation adaptation to climate change, sustainable transportation performance measures and rating system development, pedestrian and cycling travel demand modeling, and sustainable engineering education.

Beiler is a member of the ASCE T&DI Committee on Sustainable Transportation and served on the Engineering Sustainable Communities Working Group under the ASCE Committee on Sustainability-Sustainable Infrastructure Education Committee. She was awarded the ASCE ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) Teaching Award in 2015 and also identified as an “Emerging Leader” in the field of sustainable land use practices by the Mid-Atlantic Transportation Sustainability University Transportation Center (MATS-UTC).

Beiler completed her doctoral degree in Civil Engineering, a master’s degree in Urban Affairs and Public Policy, and a master's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware, specializing in transportation planning. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Lafayette College.

About the Award

The T&DI Outstanding Younger Member Award was established to recognize the professional contributions of younger members of the Institute. Characteristics taken into consideration for determining the winner of this award include: Technical registration (PE designation, for example), ASCE activities, non-ASCE professional/technical society activities, civic and humanitarian activities, engineering achievements, and activities outside of engineering.

Wilbur S. Smith Award

Kenneth R. Maser, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE

Kenneth R. Maser, Ph.D., is a Senior Principal at Infrasense, Inc. He is a distinguished civil engineer whose leadership and innovation have been instrumental, both domestically and internationally, in developing and proving highway agencies with driving-speed non-destructive methods for subsurface condition evaluation of pavements and bridge decks.

Dr. Maser is nationally and internationally recognized authority in research, development, and deployment of nondestructive evaluation and subsurface condition investigations, particularly in the area of ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology. To manage and process subsurface GPR data collected on hundreds of miles of pavement per day, Dr. Maser has led a continuing effort to implement advances in software for streamlining the data processing. Examples of agencies that have adopted this technology include CalTrans, Texas DOT, Oklahoma DOT, Virginia DOT, and the Idaho Transportation Department.

In addition to pavement applications, Dr. Maser has also been a leader in the development and implementation of methods for highway speed evaluation of bridge decks. Through his efforts, highway agencies, with hundreds of candidate structures to consider, have been provided with effective tools for deciding which decks need attention, facilitating scoping of required rehab work and repair/replace decisions.

Dr. Maser has authored over 150 publications in his field and has served as an Associate Editor for the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems.

About the Award

The Wilbur S. Smith Award was established by the Highway Division (now T&DI) of ASCE in recognition of the outstanding professional accomplishments of Wilbur S. Smith, Hon.M.ASCE.