ISU Professor Mashal named as Transportation Research Board Committee Research Coordinator

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and it “provides leadership in transportation improvements and innovation through trusted, timely, impartial and evidence-based information exchange, research, and advice regarding all modes of transportation,” according to its website.

“I have been a member of TRB’s AKB50 since 2018,” Mashal said. “It was a nice surprise when the newly appointed Chair for this committee, Dr. Monique Head, associate professor at the University of Delaware, invited me to serve in the critical position of CRC. I was honored to accept the appointment. I thank Monique for her trust in me.”

“Seismic design and performance of bridges are really important in the United States,” Mashal continued, “given how many people live in seismically active regions around the country. Seismic resilient bridges are key for life-safety, economic prosperity and the resiliency of our nation. 

TRB “provides leadership in transportation improvements and innovation through trusted, timely, impartial, and evidence-based information exchange, research, and advice regarding all modes of transportation,” according to the academy’s website. For example, committees, researchers, and staff are currently focused on advancing resilient infrastructure, exploring transformational technology and caring for the public’s health and safety. TRB’s mission is divided into three primary roles of “research, convene, advise.”   

The purpose of the TRB Committee Research Coordinators is to provide committees with the knowledge and tools to develop and maintain robust research portfolios through a variety of actions such as identification and sponsorship of research needs that are outlined online at https://sites.google.com/view/trbcrc.  

Mashal is a fellow and affiliated faculty at the Center for Advanced Energy Studies working on projects in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory. Mashal obtained his doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering with a focus on structural and earthquake engineering from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, University at Buffalo-SUNY in the United States, and Kabul University in Afghanistan, respectively. At ISU, he is director of the Structural Lab and Disaster Response Complex run by his department. He is also the faculty advisor for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Chapter at ISU.