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2027 TRB Annual Meeting: Erol Tutumluer Recipient of the 2026 Roy W. Crum Distinguished Transportation Research Achievement Award
Erol Tutumluer, Abel Bliss Professor in Engineering and Paul F. Kent Endowed Faculty Scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is the 2026 recipient of the Roy W. Crum Distinguished Transportation Research Achievement Award. Named for Roy W. Crum, who served as the Board’s director from 1928 until his death in 1951, the award recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of transportation research.
Tutumluer is honored for more than three decades of pioneering research and leadership in transportation geotechnics. His work has advanced the design, evaluation, and long-term performance of highway pavements, airfields, and railway track infrastructure by integrating geomechanics, advanced laboratory characterization, computational modeling, sensing technologies, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. His accomplishments include more than 140 externally funded projects totaling over $25 million, two U.S. patents, more than 500 scholarly publications, and more than 15,000 citations.
The award will be presented on Wednesday, January 13, 2027, during the Chair’s Plenary Session portion of the TRB Annual Meeting, January 10 - 14, 2027, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Tutumluer’s research has reshaped understanding of pavement foundation geomaterials and railroad ballast. His investigations quantified the influence of stress sensitivity, anisotropy, particle morphology, and geosynthetic reinforcement on structural performance. Tutumluer pioneered automated aggregate image analysis and stockpile evaluation using computer vision and deep learning, developed imaging-based Discrete Element Method models to study railroad ballast behavior, and introduced bender element field sensors and shear-wave measurement technologies to evaluate pavement foundation stiffness and geosynthetic stabilization. He also developed the C-FLEX flexible pavement analysis program and its next-generation platform, JEDI, for the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Tutumluer's research on rutting models, smart sensing technologies, recycled aggregate applications, and AI-assisted pavement analysis has been implemented by the FHWA, FAA, state departments of transportation, and railroad organizations.
He has a long record of service to TRB. He chaired the Standing Technical Committee on Aggregates from 2011 to 2016 and the Geology and Geotechnical Engineering Section from 2016 to 2023, and he served as a member of the Transportation Infrastructure Group. Tutumluer is currently a member of the Standing Technical Committee on Pavement Foundations and a friend of several other TRB committees. His TRB activity also includes decades of annual meeting participation as an author, coauthor, presenter, presiding officer, and workshop participant, as well as service as a panelist for multiple TRB webinars. Tutumluer has served as an Associate Editor for the Transportation Research Record (TRR) since 2019 and he has published more than 100 TRR papers throughout his academic career.
He has helped build the international transportation geotechnics community. As founding editor-in-chief of Elsevier’s Transportation Geotechnics, Tutumluer established a major international journal devoted to the discipline. He chaired the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering Technical Committee on Transportation Geotechnics from 2013 to 2022 and serves as an elected Council Member of the International Geosynthetics Society and chair of its Technical Committee on Roads, Railways and Airfields. His professional service also includes leadership within ASCE’s Transportation and Development Institute and Geo-Institute and contributions to railroad infrastructure practice through AREMA.
At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Tutumluer has educated approximately 3,000 students, guided 28 Ph.D. and 49 M.S. students to complete their degrees, and mentored postdoctoral researchers and visiting scholars. He has delivered more than 180 invited and keynote lectures and more than 45 short courses and workshops. His professional accomplishments have been recognized through numerous international honors including his election as an ASCE Distinguished Member.
Tutumluer received a B.S. from Bogazici University in Türkiye, M.S. degrees from Duke University and the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology, all in Civil Engineering.
Through sustained research, professional leadership, mentorship, and the translation of scientific advances into engineering practice, Tutumluer has strengthened transportation geotechnics and created lasting benefits for transportation infrastructure and the profession, making him especially deserving of TRB’s Roy W. Crum Award.
This Summary Last Modified On: 10/6/2026
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