Articles

Technical Session - November 2023

AM Technical Session @ 11:00AM

Kurt Keifer, Amir Ghandbari, and Shahad Mohammed

Topic: "How the City of Dallas currently assesses the conditions of its roadways... and how ASTM E3303 might be applied as an innovative approach down the road"

Kurt Keifer, PhD, PE is the President of IMS and has 25 years of experience with pavement testing, analysis, engineering, and management. He has implemented pavement management systems for municipal agencies across the United States and around the world. A major focus of his career has been developing and integrating automated pavement imaging and road surface profiling hardware and software technologies. Prior to joining IMS, Kurt served five years as the Director of Pavement Engineering at Gorrondona & Associates and as Director of North American Consulting at Dynatest Consulting for a decade. Kurt also worked with the US Army Corps of Engineers for more than a decade developing PAVER and the image-based automated method for performing ASTM D6433 PCI inspections.

Amir Ghanbari, PhD, EIT is a dedicated project engineer and data scientist with a strong background in pavement management, pavement materials, highway and airport pavement design, and construction supported by nine years of work experience. Amir has extensive experience with pavement management systems, non-destructive testing and falling weight deflectometer back calculations, pavement condition index analysis, pavement life cycle cost analysis and preservation techniques, highway and airport pavement design, and asphalt material characterization. He has also contributed to several FHWA reports and 20 published articles. Amir is proficient with various types of pavement/asset management software such as AgileAssets, Paver, StreetSaver, Lucity, and Cartegraph.

She is a public servant at the City of Dallas. Currently serving with the Department of Public Works as Program Administrator overseeing Pavement and Asset Management Division, including Dallas Bridge Management Program, Planning and Data Analysis, and Public Works GIS. She is also the Public Works Department liaison for the Dallas Bond Program. Also have served with the Department of Aviation as a Senior Project Manager for Four Years. During her time with Aviation, she led the efforts of managing the Award-Winning Runway 13R 31L and Taxiway C Reconstruction Project, the Crossfield Taxiways Design and Construction, Dallas Love Field Major Maintenance Program, and Dallas Love Field Airside Engineering Program Planning. Before she joins the public sector, she worked for the private sector with leading Engineering firms in the industry such as Strand A/E and Green Works Engineering on several Engineering Programs including Structural Design, Construction Management, QA/QC, and Strategy Planning.

She holds a Honor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from Glasgow Caledonian University in the United Kingdom and she is certified as a Project Management Professional from the American Project Management Institution. She also holds several other certificates in Construction Cost Estimating, Storm Water Management, Incident Command and Emergency Management.

In addition to the above career achievements, She currently serves as the Vice President of the Arab American Association of Engineers and Architects, a member of the American Association of Airports Executives and the Airports Consultants Council, a member of the American Public Works Association, and a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

She is a mother of an incredible 7 years old boy, she enjoys swimming, and she loves fashion!

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

PM Technical Session @ 1:10PM

Jason Jernigan

Topic: "An Overview of Surveying for Engineers" 

Jason started his surveying career as a Field Artillery Surveyor in the US Army in 1997.  He holds undergraduate degrees from Tyler Junior College and UT Tyler and an MBA from UT Dallas.  He earned his Texas RPLS license in 2008 and his PMP certification in 2020.  Jason has been on the Cut Off Score Exam Review Committee for TBPELS since 2009 and taught Legal Principles of Land Surveying at Dallas College from 2010 to 2017.  He has managed surveying projects for various market segments including transportation, private development, municipal, and oil & gas.  Jason has held senior management positions at DFW area AEC companies since 2017 and is currently the Chief Operating Officer at ARS Engineers in Carrollton, Texas.