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Benjamín Colucci-Ríos

BENJAMÍN COLUCCI-RÍOS, Ph.D., P.E., PTOE, F.ASCE, F.ITE, PAE, JD
Benjamin Colucci-Rios is a professor of civil engineering of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM). He is the Director of the Puerto Rico Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP-T2),  the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Every Day Counts (EDC) initiatives and the Program Manager of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program (DDETFP) at UPRM as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Colucci-Rios is also the Abertis International Chair-Puerto Rico and Editor-in-chief of the International Journal for Natural Disasters, Accidents and Civil Infrastructure (RIDNAIC).

He served as acting dean of the UPRM College of Engineering, associate director of the Civil Engineering Department, founder of the Puerto Rico-LTAP T2, founder and past president of ITE-Puerto Rico Section and UPRM, and spokesperson of the worldwide initiative of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

He served as Vice-President of the Caribbean Region of the Pan American Union of Engineering Organizations (UPADI) from 2015-2019 and since 2016 is the President of the Pan American Transportation System Committee of UPADI.

Colucci-Rios has been active in ASCE since 1986. He was editor/reviewer of the ASCE "2019 Puerto Rico Infrastructure Report Card," in the Road and Bridge Infrastructure sections, and was involved in ASCE's Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction and the Journal of Surveying Engineering.

During the passage and devastation of Hurricanes María and Irma in Puerto Rico in September 2017, Colucci-Rios volunteered to serve in the only radio station on air to provide assistance in terms of transportation logistics to the traveling public and government officials in the western region of Puerto Rico when there was no communication with the central government.

Over four decades in the academia at UPRM, he has served as PI or Co-PI in transcendental research projects as part of the University Transportation Centers for the USDOT, Office of the Secretary for Technology and Research, through the University Transportation Research Center (UTRC), Safer-SIM and the National Institute for Congestion Reduction (NICR); in the Civil Infrastructure Research Center (CIRC); in the USACE-Engineering Research and Development Center. Other initiatives in which he has been the PI includes the Entrepreneurial Training and Technical Assistance Program (ETTAP), the University of Puerto Rico, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tren Urbano ((UPR/MIT/TU) and the University of Puerto Rico, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and Transportation integrated Alternative (UPR/PUPR/ATI) Professional Development Programs.

Colucci-Ríos has served as chairman and/or faculty member of over 35 master's and Ph.D. theses associated with highway transportation infrastructure, highway safety, public transportation; and as mentor to over 320 undergraduate and graduate students as part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program.

Colucci-Ríos was the Director of Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) initiative, a joint venture with NSF and Purdue University.

He has given over 450 technical presentations in 40 countries and directed a successful bilingual training program in transportation in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, hosting over 3,500 seminars, webinars, conferences and workshops.

Since 1985, Colucci-Rios is the Transportation Research Board University Representative at UPRM. He is a registered P.E. in Puerto Rico and Indiana.

Awards
2021 ASCE Wilbur S. Smith Award

2021 CIAPR - Mayaguez Chapter Engineers & Surveyors Week, Distinguished Engineer/Recognition for National Wilbur S. Smith Award

2021 ASCE Region 5, Recognition for National Wilbur S. Smith Award

2021 ASCE Puerto Rico Section, Recognition for National Wilbur S. Smith; Declaration of Honorable Member

2020 American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) Fellow

2019 Dedication of the 81st Annual Assembly of the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico (CIAPR)

2019 Dedication of the Annual Gala of the Mayaguez Movement for the Western Economic Development (MMPDO)

2019 ITE Wilbur S. Smith Distinguished Transportation Education Award.

2019 UPRM's Outstanding Civil Engineering Professor

2018 FHWA Administrator's Public Service Award

2017 Proclaim by the House of Representatives, extraordinary support post Hurricane María

2015 Distinguished Civil Engineer from the Institute of Civil Engineers of Puerto Rico

2014 UPRM's Outstanding Civil Engineering Professor

2011 Dedication of the Annual Gala of the Mayaguez Movement for the Western Economic Development (MMPDO)

2009 Exalted to the Pan American Academy of Engineering (PAE), Brasilia, Brazil

2009 Sales and Marketing Executives (SME) of the Year in Education

2008 Adopted Son of the Municipality of Mayagüez

2007 Distinguished Engineer of the CIAPR-Mayagüez Chapter

2004 Microsoft Engineering Projects n Community Service (EPICS) Award

2002 Institute of Transportation Engineering (ITE) Fellow

2000 Millennium Researcher, UPR

1997 UPRM's Outstanding Civil Engineering Professor

1997 Distinguished Professor and Engineer of the CIAPR-Mayagüez Chapter

1996 Who's Who Among America's Teachers

1982 Eno Foundation Award

1980 Harold and Nellie Munson Award

Engineering and Scientific Honor Societies
1980 Chi Epsilon

1980 Sigma Xi

1978 Tau Beta Pi

EDUCATION
Ph.D., Transportation Engineering (pavements), Purdue University, August 1984 Thesis: Development of a Method for Establishing Resurfacing Priorities for the Pavement Management System in Indiana

M.S.C.E., Transportation Engineering (pavements) Purdue University, May 1980 Thesis: Effect of Increasing Truck Weights on Pavement Maintenance Costs on Indiana Highways

B.S.C.E. University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, May 1978

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Pavement evaluation and management, roughness measurements, structural evaluation-destructive and non destructing testing, functional evaluation-skid resistant characteristics of traveled surfaces, materials characterization, weigh-in-motion, pavement design, bituminous materials and mixtures.

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Campus, (July 1992 to Present) Associate Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Campus, (July 1987 to June 30, 1992) Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Campus, (June 1, 1984 to June 30, 1987)

PUBLICATIONS
1. With J. Colucci, J. Velar and D. Dayton, "Feasibility of Using Crumb Rubber Modifier in Hot-Mix Asphalt Pavement Applications in Puerto Rico", Final Report, Submitted to the Department of Transportation and Public Works, March 1994.

2. With Estudios Técnicos Inc, "Estudio para Determinar el Impacto de Implantar el Reglamento de las Dimensiones y Pesos Máximos de los Vehículos en Puerto Rico", sometido al Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas, 18 de febrero de 1994.

3. With Parsons-Brinckerhoff, Inc., "Desarrollo de un Sistema de Administración de Pavimentos, sometido al Ministerio de Obras Públicas de Panamá", Septiembre de 1993.

4. With José L. Pérez Berenguer, "Análisis de Datos de Rugosidad y Desarrollo de Modelos para Estimar la Tendencia del Deterioro de Pavimentos", Submitted to the Civil Infrastructure Research Center, 11 de agosto de 1993.

5. With Jorge Prieto Muñoz, "Desarrollo de Metodología para Evaluar Pavimentos Flexibles con el Equipo FWD", Submitted to the Civil Infrastructure Research Center, August 11, 1993.

6. With Diego Rodríguez Rivera, "Study of the Evaluation of Methodologies for Pavement Evaluation and Management: Roughness (ARAN & DIPStick, Deflection (FWD), Weigh-in-Motion (Weighman) and Crumb Rubber (CRM)", August 1993.

7. With A. López and F. Pantoja, Conceptual Framework for a Pavement Management System for the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority, VII Pan American Congress on Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Caracas, Venezuela, September 7-11, 1992.

8. Pavement Management: Puerto Rico Experience, North Atlantic Highway Planning Officials Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico, August 9-12, 1992.

9. With F. Luyanda, Spanish Translation of "Standard Specifications for Construction of Roads and Bridges on Federal Highway Projects, FP-85", Federal Highway Administration, June 1992.

10. With P. M. Gandhi, "Polishing of Aggregates and Wet Accident Rate in Flexible Pavements" paper presented at the 70th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 1991.

11. With L. Rodríguez, "Analytical Study of Concrete Pavement Behavior", Final Report for the Puerto Rico Highway Authority and Federal Highway Administration, December 1990.

12. With L. Rodríguez, "Analytical Study of Concrete Pavement Behavior", Final Report, U.S. Air Force, Office of Scientific Research, December 1989.

13. With P. M. Gandhi, "Field and Laboratory Investigations of Polishing of Aggregates and Skid Resistance of Flexible Pavements", Final Report for the Puerto Rico Highway Authority and Federal Highway Administration, December 1989.

14. With W. Castro-Hernández and T. López Nieves, "Utilización de Pruebas Rápidas para Evaluar Pavimentos y Determinar sus Necesidades de Rehabilitación", proceedings of the V Pan American Congress of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, July 1988.

15. "Metodología para Establecer Prioridades de Recbrimiento Optimo y su Viabilidad en un Programa de Gerencia de Pavimentos", proceedings of the IV Pan American Congress of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Santiago, Chile S.A., December 1986.

16. With K.C. Sinha, "Optimal Pavement Management at the Network Level", North American Pavement Management Conference Proceedings, Toronto, March 1985.

17. With K.C. Sinha, "Optimal Pavement Management Approach Using Roughness Measurements", Transportation Research Record Number 1048, January l985.

18. Colucci-Ríos, B., "Development of a Method for Establishing Resurfacing Priorities for the Pavement Management System in Indiana", Purdue University, FHWA/IN/JHRP-84-10, Volumes l, 2, and 3, May 1985.

19. "Pavement Management Principles for County Roads", paper submitted to the 67th Annual Purdue Road School, March l983.

20. With E.J. Yoder and A. Van Wijk, "Evaluation of PAVER Program", Final Report Submitted to the American Public Works Association (APWA), August l983.

21. With E.J. Yoder, "Methodology for Estimating Increase in Truck Weights Resulting on Increase in Pavement Maintenance Costs in Indiana Highways", Transportation Research Board Record Number 900, l983.

22. "The Importance of Pavement Management in the Preservation of our Nation's Highway System", paper submitted to the American Road and Transportation Builder Association (ARTBA), l982.

23. With E. J. Yoder, and B. Shurig, "Evaluation of Existing Gravel Roads to Determine its Suitability for Resurfacing", Transportation Research Board Record Number 875, l982.

24. "Regional Design of Pavements", Purdue University, Ground Engineering Report No. 80, August l980.

25. "Truck Size and Weight Issues", Paper presented at the 66th Annual Purdue Road School, March l980.

26. With E.J. Yoder and B. Fraczek, "Effect of Raising Load Limits on Pavement and Bridges in Indiana", Purdue University, JHRP No. 79-23, l979.