Civil Engineering

Mena I. Souliman

Title: Interim Chair, Associate Professor
Department: Civil Engineering
Building: RBS 1008
Email: MSouliman@uttyler.edu
Phone: 903.565.5892

Degrees

• Ph.D., Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Arizona State University, 2012
• M.S., Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Arizona State University, 2009
• B.C.E., Civil Engineering, Hashemite University, Jordan, 2007

Biography

Recent Academic and Professional Appointments:

• University of Texas at Tyler, Associate Professor, 2019-Present
• University of Texas at Tyler, Assistant Professor, 2014-2019
• University of Nevada, Reno, Postdoctoral Scholar, 2012-2014
• Arizona State University, Graduate Research Associate, 2009-2012
• Arizona State University, Graduate Research Assistant, 2008-2009 

Biography:

 

Dr. Souliman is an Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Tyler. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Arizona State University in Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering focusing on Pavement Engineering. His twelve years of experience are concentrated on pavement materials design, Fatigue Endurance Limit of Asphalt Mixtures, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) mixtures, aggregate quality, field performance evaluation, maintenance and rehabilitation techniques, pavement management systems, cement treated bases, statistical analyses, modeling, and computer applications in civil engineering.

 

Dr. Souliman has participated in several state and national projects during his current employment at the University of Texas at Tyler including “Documenting the Impact of Aggregate Quality on Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Performance, Texas Department of Transportation” for TxDOT, “Mechanistic and Economic Benefits of Fiber-Reinforced Overlay Asphalt Mixtures” for Forta Corporation as well as “Simplified Approach for Structural Evaluation of Flexible Pavements at the Network Level” which was funded by the US Department of Transportation via Tran-SET University Transportation Center.

 

Dr. Souliman has also participated in several state and national projects during his employment at Arizona State University and University of Nevada, Reno. He had previously worked as a postdoctoral scholar at University of Nevada, Reno with the materials and transportation group. He had participated in several national research projects such as the FHWA Project titled “Analysis Procedures for Evaluating Superheavy Load Movement on Flexible Pavements” as well as Asphalt Research Consortium (ARC) Projects including “Design System for HMA Containing a High Percentage of RAP Material”. Before that, he had worked at Arizona State University where he was the major contributor in the NCHRP 9-44A project entitled “Validating an Endurance Limit for HMA Pavements: Laboratory Experiment and Algorithm Development”.

 

Dr. Souliman has more than 100 technical publications, conference papers and reports in the field of pavement and aggregate testing, characterization, and field monitoring. He is the recipient of the lifetime International Road Federation Fellowship in 2009. In 2017, his research work on pavement engineering-related projects earned recognition as his college’s recipient of the Crystal Talon Award, sponsored by the Robert R. Muntz Library, recognizing outstanding scholarship and creativity of faculty from each college as determined by their dean. He also was awarded with the Crystal Quill award in 2018 by the University of Texas at Tyler for his research efforts and achievements.

Past Performance:

 Dr. Mena Souliman’s past research activity has been in the following areas: pavement materials design, fatigue endurance limit, airfield pavement design, analysis of Superheavy load movement on flexible pavements, advanced pavement laboratory characterization, field performance evaluation, maintenance and rehabilitation techniques, pavement management systems.

Research and Professional Highlights

Courses Taught:

• Fall 2014

  • ENGR 2301: Engineering Mechanics: Statics
  • CENG 4351/CENG5351: Traffic Engineering: Operations and Control (with Lab)
  • CENG 5393: Advanced Design Project

  Spring 2015

  • CENG 3351: Transportation Engineering
  • CENG 4350/5350: Advanced Topics in Civil Engineering: Pavement Management Systems (first time offered at
  • UT Tyler)

  Summer 2015

  • ENGR 2301: Engineering Mechanics: Statics

  Fall 2015

  • ENGR 1204: Engineering Graphics I (with Lab)
  • ENGR 2301: Engineering Mechanics: Statics
  • CENG 4351/CENG 5351: Traffic Engineering: Operations and Control (with Lab)

  Spring 2016

  • ENGR 1204: Engineering Graphics I (with Lab)
  • CENG 3351: Transportation Engineering
  • CENG 4353/CENG 5350: Introduction to Pavement Engineering (first time offered at UT Tyler)
  • CENG 4399: Independent Study

  Fall 2016

  • ENGR 2301: Engineering Mechanics: Statics
  • CENG 4351/CENG 5351: Traffic Engineering: Operations and Control (with Lab)
  • CENG 5399: Independent Study

  Spring 2017

  • ENGR 1204: Engineering Graphics I (with Lab)
  • CENG 3351: Transportation Engineering
  • CENG 4350/CENG 5359: Pavement Management Systems
  • CENG 5395: Thesis I

  Fall 2017

  • CENG 4351/CENG5351: Traffic Engineering: Operations and Control (with Lab)
  • CENG 5395: Thesis I
  • CENG 5399: Independent Study

  Spring 2018

  • CENG 3351: Transportation Engineering
  • CENG 4350/CENG 5360: Introduction to Pavement Engineering
  • CENG 5395: Thesis I
  • CENG 5395: Thesis II

Research projects Dr. Souliman conducted as a major researcher:

         

1. Tyler Bike Stripes (June 2018-November 2019) Sponsor: City of Tyler PI: M. Souliman, Co-PI: M. McGinnis Budget: $186,000

 

2. Simplified Approach for Structural Evaluation of Flexible Pavements at the Network Level (May 2017-

current) Sponsor: US Department of Transportation-Tran-SET PI: Romanoschi, S. (UTA), Co-PI: Souliman, M., Co-PI: Dessouky, S. (UTSA) Budget: $184,000 (UT Tyler Portion $80,000);

 

3. Documenting the Impact of Aggregate Quality on Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Performance (September 2017-current)

 

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation

 

PI: Walubita, L. (TTI), Co-PI: Souliman, M.

 

Award amount: $250,000 (UT Tyler portion: $25,000)

 

4. Mechanistic and Economic Benefits of Fiber-Reinforced Asphalt Mixtures (March 2017-Present)

 

Sponsor: FORTA Corporation

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 9,484

 

5. Mechanical, Mechanistic, and Cost Analysis for Reacted and Activated Rubber Modified Asphalt Mixture

 

(April 2018-current)

 

Sponsor: Consulpave International, Inc.

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $3,000

 

6. Improved Bicycle Lane Engineering System (iBLESS) (November 2017-Present)

 

Sponsor: The Retail Merchants Association of Tyler Charitable Fund at East Texas Communities

 

Foundation

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 20,634

 

7. Mechanistic and Economic Benefits of Fiber-Reinforced Overlay Asphalt Mixtures (June 2018-Present)

 

Sponsor: FORTA Corporation

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 5,000

 

8. Design of a Bicycle Lane Network for the City of Tyler (August 2016-July 2017)

 

Sponsor: The Retail Merchants Association of Tyler Charitable Fund at East Texas Communities

 

Foundation

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 20,000

 

9. Pavements Skid Resistance and Friction Characterization of Tyler Bike Pathways (February 2017 - Present)

 

Sponsor: TEXO Construction Association

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 2,500

 

10. Tyler Bike Lane Study (February 2017-Present)

 

Sponsor: Greater Tyler Association of Realtors

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 1,000

 

11. Tyler Bike Lane Map Study (August 2016-Present)

 

Sponsor: City of Tyler

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 3,000

 

12. International Road Federation (IRF) Executive Leadership Program (January 2017-February 2017)

 

Sponsor: International Road Federation

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 1,750

 

13. Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) (June 2017-September 2017)

 

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)

 

PI: M. Souliman

 

Budget: $4,950

 

14. Tyler Hub-and-Spoke Bike Lane Map (May 2015-Present)

 

Sponsor: UT Tyler President (Dr. Mabry)

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 5,000

 

15. Tyler Bike Lane Map Study (June 2017-August 2017)

 

Sponsor: UT Tyler Office of Sponsored Research

 

PI: M. Souliman

 

Budget: $5,000

 

16. Simplified Approach for Structural Evaluation of Flexible Pavements at the Network Level (September

 

2016-August 2017)

 

Sponsor: UT Tyler Faculty Research Grant

 

P.I.: Souliman, M.

 

Budget: $ 9,110

 

Relevant publications for Dr. Mena Souliman:

       

1. Isied, M.*, Souliman, M. I., “Integrated Predictive Artificial Neural Network Fatigue Endurance Limit Model for Asphalt Concrete Pavements” Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, July 2018, https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2018-0051

 

2. Zavagna, P.*, Souliman, M. I., “Engineering Scoring System for Bicycle Lane Mapping Development: Case Study on Tyler, Texas, USA)” Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018.

 

3. Souliman, M.I., Abd El-Hakim, R., Davis, M.*, Gc, H., Walubita, L., “Mechanistic and Economic Impacts of Using Asphalt Rubber Mixtures at Various Vehicle Speeds” ASTM International: Advances in Civil Engineering Materials Journal, DOI: 10.1520/ACEM20170104, 2018

 

4. Zeiada, W., Gudipudi, P., Underwood, S., Souliman, M. “Effect of Loading Waveform Pattern and Rest Period on Fatigue Life of Asphalt Concrete Using Viscoelastic Continuum Damage Model” Transportation Research Record, January 2018 (Accepted).

 

5. Zavagna, P.*, Khanal, A.*, Souliman, M. “LTTP Data Analysis: Factors Affecting Pavement Roughness for the State of California” Journal of Materials and Engineering Structures,2018 (In Press).

 

6. Zhang, J., Simate, G., Hu, X., Souliman, M., Walubita, L. “Impact of Recycled Asphalt Materials on Asphalt Binder Properties and Rutting and Cracking Performance of Plant-Produced Mixtures” Construction and Buliding Materails Journal, Vol 155, pp. 654-663, November 2017.

 

7. Souliman, M., Mamlouk, M., Eifert, A.* “Mechanistic Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness of Rubber and Polymer Modified Asphalt Mixtures” ASTM International: Advances in Civil Engineering Materials Journal, Vol 6, No. 1, 2017.

 

8. Hu, X., Faruk, A., Zhang, J., Souliman, M., Walubita, L., “Effects of tire inclination (turning traffic) and dynamic loading on the pavement stress–strain responses using 3-D finite element modeling” International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology, Vol 10, No. 4, July 2017, pp. 304-314.

 

9. Mamlouk, M., Souliman, M., “Simple Approach for Designing Sustainable Pavement with Self- Healing Fatigue Cracking” ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements, Vol 143, No. 2 - June 2017.

 

10. Loganathan, K.*, Souliman, M.I., “Prediction of Average Annual Surface Temperature for both Flexible and Rigid Pavements” Journal of Materials and Engineering Structures, Vol. 4 pp. 259– 267, December 2017.

 

11. Walubita, L., Nyamuhokya, T., Romanoschi, S. Hu, X., Souliman, M. “A Mechanistic-Empirical Impact Analysis of Different Truck Configurations on a Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP)” Stavební Obzor - Civil Engineering Journal, Vol. 4-2017, pp.507-529, DOI: https://doi.org/10.14311/CEJ.2017.04.0041, 2017.

 

12. Souliman, M. I., Eifert, A.*, “Mechanistic and Economical Characteristics of Asphalt Rubber Mixtures” Advances in Civil Engineering, Volume 2016 (2016), Article ID 8647801, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8647801. pp. 1-6.

 

13. Salini, R., Xu, B., Souliman, M. “Impact of Image Resolution on Pavement Distress Detection Using PICUCHA Methodology” Stavební Obzor - Civil Engineering Journal, Vol. 4-2016, pp. 1-11, DOI: https://doi.org/10.14311/CEJ.2016.04.0024, 2016.

 

14. Souliman, M. I., Eifert, A.*, “Mechanistic and Economical Characteristics of Asphalt Rubber Mixtures” Highway Engineering Australia, Volume 47, No. 6. (2016).

 

15. Souliman, M. I., Shankar, K.*, Walubita, L. “Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Options on Roughness Using LTPP Section Data for New Mexico” ASCE Special Edition: Innovative and Sustainable Solutions in Asphalt Pavements. 2016: pp. 137-145. doi: 10.1061/9780784480052.017.

 

16. Souliman, M., Mamlouk, M., Eifert, A.*, “Cost-effectiveness of rubber and polymer modified asphalt mixtures as related to sustainable fatigue performance” Elsevier-Procedia Engineering Journal, 2016, Volume 145, pp. 404–411.

 

17. Mamlouk, M. S., and Souliman, M. I., “Reducing Inconsistency of HMA Flexure Fatigue Testing” ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 2016, Volume 28, Issue 2, pp. 04015131,1-8.

 

18. Chamoun, Z., Souliman, M., “Mechanistic Evaluation of the Long Term Performance Characteristics of Warm Mix Additives in Modified Asphalt Mixtures” Springer Journal-8th Rilem International Conference on Mechanisms of Cracking and Debonding in Pavements, France, 2016, Volume 13, pp. 411-416.

 

19. Chamoun, Z., Souliman, M. I., Hajj, E. Y., and Sebaaly, P.E., “Evaluation of Select Warm-Mix Additives with Polymer and Rubber Modified Asphalt Mixtures” Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, April 2015, Vol. 42 No. 6, pp. 377-388.

 

20. Souliman, M. I., Hajj, E. Y., and Sebaaly, P. E., “Impact of Antistrip Additives on the Long-Term Aging Rheological Properties of Asphalt Binders” ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 2015, Volume 27, Issue 8, pp. C4014006.

 

Professional Society Membership:

• Subcommittee Chair, Flexible Pavement Design Young Members Subcommittee (AFD60) (2013-Present).
• Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
• Member, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
• Life Time Fellow, International Road Federation.
• Life Time Member, Chi Epsilon.
• Life Time Member, Tau Beta Pi.
• Member, Phi Kappa Phi Association.
• Panel Member, NCHRP 09-59 Project: Relating Asphalt Binder Fatigue Properties to Asphalt Mixture Fatigue Performance (2014-Present).
• Young Member, Characteristics of Bituminous Material Committee (AFK20), Transportation Research Board (2014-Present).
• Young Member, Flexible Pavement Design (AFD60), Transportation Research Board (2012-Present).
• Member, Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists