PhD candidate Miguel Montoya has been appointed a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Standing Committee on Asphalt Pavement Construction and Rehabilitation (AFH60). This committee is concerned with the construction, rehabilitation and recycling of asphalt pavements. Areas of interest include: construction methods and procedures, in-place recycling techniques, plant production issues which impact construction operations, and paving equipment.

Miguel Montoya is a Ph.D. candidate at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University, where he also received his M.S. degree in civil engineering. After his undergraduate studies, Miguel joined the Innovative Materials and Pavement Group lead by Professor John Haddock at Purdue University who is also his advisor.

His master thesis consisted of developing a field measurement technique that quantifies asphalt emulsion curing times using electrical resistance measurements. Due to its field applicability, Miguel’s master thesis was filed as a patent application by the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization. Currently, Miguel is working on his PhD dissertation, “Environmentally Tuning Asphalt Pavements Using Phase Change Materials.”