Meet ARRA's New Technical Advisor, Ben Bowers

Hello! It’s your new technical advisor, Ben Bowers. You might be asking yourself where ARRA Technical Director - Dr. Steve Cross - is, and the answer is likely on a golf course or somewhere casting a line, enjoying his retirement. The truth is, I owe a lot to Steve. He took me under his wing, fielding numerous phone calls about the ins and outs of recycling, coaching me up when I joined the academic ranks of his alma mater, Auburn University, and even supporting me in my first ever national research project as principal investigator, NCHRP 14-43. The primary objective of that study? To produce draft AASHTO Construction Guide Specifications for Cold In-place Recycling and Cold Central Plant Recycling. I relied heavily on ARRA members to vet our work, along with agency colleagues. Like I said, I owe a lot to Steve. Fortunately, he promised to continue taking my calls, at least when he has service.

So, you might be wondering a little about me… I’m the McCartney-Chase Highway Engineering Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Auburn University (AU). I have been at AU over 6 years, studying and teaching sustainable and resilient pavement technology. I joke that I’m a like a cousin, or a crazy uncle, to the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT). Most of my research, my graduate students, and my collaborators are at NCAT. Prior to joining Auburn, I worked at the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC), the research division of the Virginia DOT. Working with Brian Diefenderfer, who is like a brother to me, I was trained in the ways of both the agency and pavement recycling. While I’ll give a “War Eagle” any day, I’m a Tennessee Volunteer at heart, having graduated from UT with my PhD in pavement materials. I earned my BS and MS in Civil Engineering at UNC Charlotte (go Niners!) and cut my teeth in road building with a master’s thesis on subgrade stabilization. So I’m an academic who has experience working at a highway agency. The opportunity to work with ARRA as a technical advisor, providing insight into the latest research and helping solve problems facing the industry and agency partners was too good to pass up.

With that in mind, what are my additional goals in this role? I have a few:

• Bridge building: Using my experience, my goal is to continue building bridges between industry, agencies, and academia to help to achieve the common goal of an efficient, durable roadways that serve our communities.
• Sustainability: This was my gateway into the asphalt world. I view it as my role to help shepherd the industry through the ongoing efforts to quantify environmental impacts through life cycle assessment, the writing of product category rules, and ultimately the development of environmental product declarations.
• Education: I hope to contribute to ARRA from the eyes of a professor, by helping develop training materials that can be used by faculty and others who are wanting to educate students and employees about ARRA subdisciplines, which are often not included in traditional pavement design and materials courses.

So, there are lots of exciting things to come. Speaking on exciting, I’ll look forward to seeing you in Rancho Mirage, California at the Annual Meeting!