Carlos M. Chang, Ph.D., P.E., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University (FIU). Prior to joining FIU in 2020, he worked as an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Associate Researcher at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), and as an external consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and international engineering companies.
Dr. Chang’s main research interests are in the field of asset management with emphasis on sustainable “smart” infrastructure management for better quality of life, and resilient pavement design, maintenance, and rehabilitation. His research work involves the development of advanced decision making models, methodologies, and tools to apply multi-decision criteria, statistical analysis, simulation processes, optimization techniques, and risk analysis methods to assess infrastructure performance under different scenarios. Among his research sponsors are the National Highway Cooperative Research Program (NCHRP), Metropolitan Transportation Commission in California (MTC), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and the City of El Paso. His research work is documented in more than 100 publications including papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals, conference proceedings, books, and technical reports.
During his tenure period at the University of Texas at El Paso, Dr. Chang’s developed a teaching portfolio of 14 undergraduate and graduate level courses, and implemented a research sponsored program with a budget over US$ 10 M. Dr. Chang also served as the faculty advisor of the Chi Epsilon, the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE), the Transportation Leadership Council (TLC) student chapters; and the International Road Federation (IRF) Fellowship program. He developed two study abroad programs: (1) “Global and Regional Sustainability Engineering” in partnership with the University of Piura (UDEP) in Perú; and “Developing Multidisciplinary Global Skills to Prepare Engineering Students for Leading Sustainable Infrastructure Solutions” with the Universidad Nacional de Rosario in Argentina. Dr. Chang also participated in the implementation of the Transatlantic Dual Master’s Degree Program in Transportation and Logistic Systems with the participation of the Czech Technical University and University of Zilina. Due to his unique combination of academic and practical experience, Dr. Chang developed the “Engineering in Practice” program that is conceived to extend the students’ education beyond the classroom by merging teaching, research, and service. This program has been three-times awarded the “Engineering Award for Connecting Professional Practice and Education” by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). Dr. Chang is also a recipient of the TSPE Excellence Award from the Texas Society of Professional Engineering for promoting professional practice through education.
Dr. Chang participates on various committees and expert task groups. He is the Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Systems Committee (ASCE – ISC); Research Coordinator of the Transportation Research Board Pavement Management Systems Committee and member of the Pavement Preservation Committee; Vice President of the International Society for Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Transport Infrastructures (isMARTI) in the United States; and member of the Executive Board of the Instituto de la Construcción y Gerencia (ICG) in Perú. He is also the former Chair of the International Road Federation (IRF) Asset Management Task Force, U.S. Delegate of the Ibero-Latin-American Asphalt Congress (CILA), Chair of the Committee for the Implementation of Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design (CIDMEP), visiting professor at EAFIT University and Universidad del Norte in Colombia, Ricardo Palma University and University of Piura in Perú.
research interests
Dr. Chang’s main research interests are in the field of asset management with emphasis on sustainable “smart” infrastructure management for better quality of life, and resilient pavement design, maintenance, and rehabilitation. His research work involves the development of advanced decision making models, methodologies, and tools to apply multi-decision criteria, statistical analysis, simulation processes, optimization techniques, and risk analysis methods to assess infrastructure performance under different scenarios. Among his research sponsors are the National Highway Cooperative Research Program (NCHRP), Metropolitan Transportation Commission in California (MTC), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), and the City of El Paso. His research work is documented in more than 100 publications including papers in peer-reviewed national and international journals, conference proceedings, books, and technical reports.