Ali Maher has been director of the Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation (CAIT) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, since the center’s inception in 1998. Since that time, he has been responsible for building the center into an active and successful transportation infrastructure resource program operating at the national level. Under his leadership, CAIT has grown into a program of excellence for multimodal infrastructure asset management that is engaged in research, education, and technology transfer initiatives. He has also led the center through two successful national competitions in retaining its status as a U.S. Department of Transportation-designated University Transportation Center (UTC).
Dr. Maher has been a pioneer in promoting multi-UTC collaborations and building partnerships with public and private stakeholders to address pressing transportation challenges facing the country today. The recent successful award of the $25.5 million Federal Highway Administration's Long-Term Bridge Performance program, which aims to improve bridge asset management, is just one example of such contributions.
Dr. Maher served as chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at Rutgers from 1995 to 2007, building the portfolio and reputation of the program to the highest level in its history. Prior to entering academia, he worked as a project engineer for Frederic H. Harris in Boston. He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in civil engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His expertise as an infrastructure, geotechnical, and geo-environmental consultant has been tapped by Parsons Brinckerhoff; Stantec Inc.; DMJM Harris; PPG Corporation; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; state transportation agencies in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; and many others. The bulk of research he has conducted personally has been in the areas of ground improvement, soil dynamics, infrastructure management, nondestructive testing, environmental geotechnology, and new technology vehicles. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, USDOT, FHWA, New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), Department of Energy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other federal sponsors.
Dr. Maher has been the recipient of many prestigious professional awards including the AASHTO Trailblazer Award, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Educator of the Year Award, and certificates of appreciation from NJDOT for seven consecutive years. He is active in transportation and engineering professional associations such as the Transportation Research Board (TRB), ASCE, ASTM and the U.S. Universities Council on Geotechnical Engineering Research. He is actively involved in a number of ASCE, ASTM, and TRB committees and is a member of the editorial board of two highly regarded ASTM and ASCE journals.
