Civil engineering students from the U of A received high honors at the 2025 Texas Asphalt Pavement Association Asphalt Road-Eo event in Buda, Texas. The U of A team placed first in the rutting category and fourth overall at the regional competition.

The team consisted of undergraduate civil engineering students Isaac Torres, Jackson Versfelt and Isaiah Keaton together with graduate students Amarjeet Tiwari and Mohammad Tahir Ansari. During the event, civil engineering staff members Joey Eiland and Hudson Finowich delivered technical support at the competition site.

Students used their classroom knowledge in a high-pressure engineering environment through the TXAPA Asphalt Road-Eo program. All teams used identical materials to build a 20-by-20-inch asphalt pavement slab. Teams evaluated their slabs against multiple performance criteria such as rutting resistance and cracking while also examining skid resistance and innovative design features, all simulating real-world deterioration mechanisms of pavement structures.

The U of A team excelled in the rutting performance category, which evaluates pavement durability by measuring resistance to permanent deformation under repeated loading.

Through first-hand experience with performance testing procedures, students acquired insights into the development and evaluation process of asphalt mix designs.

"This event gave our undergraduate and graduate students a unique opportunity to interact with practicing engineers," said faculty adviser Professor Andrew Braham. "They not only performed exceptionally well but also gained skills and insights that will serve them throughout their careers."

Information about the TXAPA Asphalt Road-Eo is available at texasasphalt.org.