Materials & Durability
New material components can improve pavement durability and sustainability. Realizing that benefit depends on accurately forecasting how they age in the field.
Akash Bajaj
I study why asphalt pavements crack, and how to measure it well enough to write it into a specification. Most of my work is on airfield pavements, where the tests I develop are moving into FAA guidance and ASTM standards.
Field
Civil Engineering
Institution
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Status
PhD Candidate
Focus areas
Pavement Mechanics
Fracture and fatigue principles explain how pavement materials behave and eventually fail. This includes developing characterization methods that are both rigorous and practical.
Airfield Pavements
This work advances mix design and characterization for runways and taxiways. It's shaped through coordination with the FAA and international partners.
Selected work
Open to collaboration
and questions
Academic
Education
Doctor of Philosophy
Civil Engineering
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
View courses →Master of Science
Civil Engineering
Texas A&M University
View courses →Bachelor of Technology
Civil Engineering
Delhi Technological University
View courses →Publications
Full record on Google Scholar · ORCID
Presentations
Characterizing Low Temperature Cracking Potential of Asphalt Airfield Pavements
Fracture Characteristics of Cored Brazil Disk Geometry
Performance Characterization of Airfield Asphalt Concrete for Service Temperature Cracking
Development of a Simplified Low-Temperature SCB Test Protocol to Characterize Cracking Potential of Airfield Mixtures
Lab and Field Validation of Simplified Low-Temperature SCB Test for Airfield Asphalt Mixtures
Investigating Photochemical Degradation of Asphalt Binders under Field-Representative Temperature Conditions
Cracking Potential Tests for Airfield Balanced Mix Design
Fracture and Strength Tests for Airfield Balanced Mix Design
Development of Simplified Low-Temperature Semi-Circular Bend Test for Balanced Mix Design Application for Airfield Pavements
Characterization of Cracking Potential of Airfield Asphalt Pavements
Evaluating the Effect of Recycling Agent Type on Binder Blend Performance
Beyond the lab
CVEN 342 · Materials of Construction
Teaching Assistant, Texas A&M University
CVEN 653 · Bituminous Materials
Teaching Assistant, Texas A&M University
CEE 407 · Airport Design
Teaching Assistant, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Ward K. Parr Scholarship for PhD Students (2024)
Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists
Graduate Research Award for Public-Sector Aviation Issues (2023)
Airport Cooperative Research Program, Transportation Research Board
Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association Scholarship (2022)
Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association
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Novel dissipated-energy approach for fatigue of asphalt concrete.
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UV aging of asphalt binders, softening of extracted binders using trichloroethylene.
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Fracture and strength testing for airfield pavements.
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FAA-sponsored work on asphalt pavement cracking and performance.
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FAA-sponsored work on cracking resilience of airfield asphalt mixes.
Research Forum Chair (2025–Present)
Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering
Board Member (2024–Present)
Students Advising Graduate Education (SAGE), University of Illinois
Panel Member (2018)
University Disciplinary Appeals Panel, Texas A&M University
Vice President (2017–2018)
Graduate and Professional Student Council, Texas A&M University
Director (2016–2017)
Indian Graduate Student Association, Texas A&M University
Professional
Six years of applied pavement engineering across consulting and research, spanning roadway design, pavement management for state and county agencies, and federally funded materials research.
Experience
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Urbana-Champaign, IL
Current
Graduate Research Assistant
- Coordinates a competitively awarded $500K FAA project on Stone-Matrix Asphalt implementation across U.S. airports, directing both proposal development and ongoing execution with academic and industry partners.
- Led a 3-year, $1M FAA-sponsored study of cracking mechanisms in airfield asphalt pavements. Findings informed revised FAA specifications and produced two test methods now in ASTM balloting: the Simplified Low-Temperature SCB test (SLT-SCB) and the DONUT disc fracture test.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Urbana-Champaign, IL
Graduate Teaching Assistant
- Supported CEE 407 (Airport Design) across two semesters for 50+ students per term, managing grading, leading discussions, and advising course projects.
Fisher Arnold
Jonesboro, AR
Graduate Engineer
- Delivered site and subdivision designs up to 30 acres across Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri, taking each from conditions assessment through grading, drainage, and utilities within local specifications and budget.
- Produced 30%, 60%, and 90% roadway design sets for municipal and state projects in Arkansas, spanning typical sections, plan-and-profile sheets, pavement markings, maintenance of traffic, and erosion control.
Applied Research Associates, Inc.
Harrisburg, PA
Civil Engineer
- Led a joint ARA/KCI program cataloguing roughly 87,000 traffic signs across 2,500 miles for Nashville Metro Public Works, delivering a GIS database with location and condition data for every asset.
- Built and maintained pavement management systems covering 123,000 miles of roadway for PennDOT, the North Texas Tollway Authority, and Anne Arundel County, MD. Work spanned distress-data QC, database development, 10-year condition forecasting, and benefit-cost treatment programming.
- Assessed runway, taxiway, and terminal pavements at Cape May and Millville airports for the Delaware River and Bay Authority, updating records dormant since 2014 and conducting field surveys to establish Pavement Condition Index ratings.
- Supported PennDOT's annual Highway Performance Monitoring System report to the federal government, plus pilot studies on Full-Depth Reclamation performance and the department's contractor incentive methodology.
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
Graduate Assistant – Teaching
- Led laboratory sections for CVEN 342 (Materials of Construction, 91 undergraduates) and CVEN 653 (Bituminous Materials, 14 graduate students), supervising experiments, grading, proctoring, and coordinating field visits.
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
College Station, TX
Graduate Assistant – Research
- Led laboratory testing for a federally funded, five-year, $1.5M multi-university study of recycling agents in high-RAP asphalt mixtures, benchmarking blends with up to 50% RAP against virgin controls. Results shaped final guidelines for expanding recycled-material use in new construction.
Projects
Evaluating Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) for U.S. Airfield Pavements
GoalEstablish implementation guidance for Stone-Matrix Asphalt across U.S. airports.
Graduate student coordinator, directing proposal development and ongoing execution with academic and industry partners.
Balanced Mix Design: Evaluation of Cracking Tests for Airfield Pavements
GoalCharacterize cracking mechanisms in airfield asphalt pavements to inform FAA specifications.
Led the project; findings produced two test methods now in ASTM balloting, the SLT-SCB and DONUT tests, along with recommendation to current FAA advisor circular.
Evaluating the Effects of Recycling Agents on Asphalt Mixtures with High RAS and RAP Binder Ratios
GoalEvaluate recycling agents for asphalt mixtures with high recycled-material content.
Led lab testing of high-RAP binder blends at Texas A&M Transportation Institute; findings published as NCHRP Research Report 927 along with AASHTO PP 127.
In the media
Contact
Happy to connect, whether it's collaboration, a question, or just to say hello.