It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Ernest J. Barenberg, Ph.D., P.E., at his home on Tuesday, January 19, 2021. Affectionately known as “Ernie”, he created and launched the International Society for Concrete Pavements in January of 1999 with Dr. Shiraz D. Tayabji and colleagues, and served as the first President of the Society. In 2001, he and nine other distinguished colleagues were the first to be designated as ISCP Honorary Members. Ernie was a remarkable individual admired by many in the industry and after retiring from full-time teaching, he continued consulting until he was 85 years old.
Ernie was born on April 9, 1929, to John and Helena Barenberg, in Herndon, Kansas. He studied civil engineering at Kansas State University (KSU) and belonged to Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. After graduation, he worked briefly in the aviation industry before serving a two-year tour as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After his discharge from the Army, Ernie earned his master’s degree in structural engineering at the University of Kansas (KU) and taught structural engineering design in steel and concrete there for five years. He earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), then taught and conducted research in transportation facilities at UIUC for over 40 years. Ernie loved solving novel engineering problems, teaching, and his students.
Ernie held various positions, including a four-year term as the Associate Head of Civil Engineering, coordinating the departmental graduate students and research programs. For three years, he maintained a joint appointment with the UIUC Civil Engineering Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Construction Engineering Research Laboratory.
Dr. Barenberg focused on the early development of theoretical/empirical design procedures for long-lasting and low maintenance concrete pavements for highway and airfield applications. His primary fields of interest included concrete pavements, paving materials, and railroad track systems. He has made many contributions to these fields through his research and consulting activities:
—Developed a theoretical model for the analysis of concrete pavements (ILLISLAB)
—Developed comprehensive model for predicting the buckling of rails
—Developed the background and framework for the mechanistic-based design procedures currently used by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT)
—Instrumental in developing standards for pavements at international airports—including Chicago O’Hare, and London’s Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport—while working through various consultants and government agencies
—Part of the design team for several post-tensioned concrete pavements—including those currently in service at the Chicago O’Hare and Rockford Airport where the pavement is unique in that the post-tensioned pavement is 1200 feet long and 75 feet wide and does not have a joint in either the longitudinal or transverse direction
—Served as associate director of the FAA Center of Excellence for airport pavements for 8 years
—Worked with a concrete precasting company to develop precast concrete pavement design features and construction techniques that helped to usher in the modern era of modular pavement systems in the U.S. in the early 2000s
—Authored over 200 technical papers on paving materials, design and transportation facilities
—Lectured on six continents
In response to a request for proposal, Dr. Barenberg restarted the Railway Civil Engineering program at UIUC that had been directed by Dr. William Hay from 1947 to 1977. From its inception in 1983 to 1998, Ernie served as Director of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) affiliate program at UIUC. His primary interests were railroad track systems, particularly prestressed concrete rail ties.
Along with founding the International Society for Concrete Pavements with colleagues, and serving as its first President, Dr. Barenberg received many honors.
Honors and Awards for Dr. Barenberg include:
—ISCP Honorary Member
—Kent Faculty Award
—ASCE Air Transportation Division Robert Horonjeff Award for “outstanding contributions to airport paving engineering”
—American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA) Educator of the Year
—Emeritus member for the Transportation Research Board Committees
—Lifetime National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences in “recognition of extraordinary service to the National Academies in its role as advisor to the Nation in maters of science, engineering, and health”
—CEE Distinguished Faculty Award
— Ernest J. Barenberg Professorship—He was honored when this was created and delighted when his former student, Dr. Jeffery Roesler, was designated as the first Barenberg Professor!
—The concrete materials and pavement laboratory in the new CEE instructional building will be named for Ernie.
Several concrete pavement engineer colleagues from Australia met, learned from, and have applied the teachings and advice of Dr. Barenberg during the 1970s, 1980s to the present. They noted, “Over the past 45 years or so, the advice, the wisdom, material learned, applications in Australia, and over 1,000km of modern concrete highway pavements built in Australia, can be sourced to the USA. Among the giants of the second half of the 20th century in the field of concrete pavements was Ernest J. Barenberg known affectionately as Ernie. Two key elements of our contemporary practice can be directly traced to Ernie’s work going back to the 1980s—(1) The procedure that has been used for thickness design in Australia since 1992 owes a very considerable amount to the development of finite element models such as ILLISLAB. Structural concrete shoulders have been standard in highways in Australia for almost 40 years and have been a major contributor to long life. (2) Another contribution that stands out is the 1989 paper presented by Ernie Barenberg and Dan Zollinger at Purdue*. For the first time, we were able to assign values to the width of a concrete shoulder to reduce edge loading fatigue to interior loading. During courses and forums today, Geoff Ayton and John Hodgkinson use data from that paper to demonstrate the technical basis for structural shoulder widths. From a country halfway around the world, those who were active in our concrete highway developmental years will never forget the debt that we professionally owe to the Ernie Barenbergs of this world! We extend our condolences to the concrete pavement engineering community of the USA, to his wife Nancy, and to his children, who we know are all proud of his achievements.”
(*) A Mechanistic Based Design Procedure for Jointed Concrete Pavements by D.G. Zollinger, Texas A&M University and E.J. Barenberg University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Proc 4th International Conference on Concrete Pavement Design and Rehabilitation Purdue University 1989.
A moment of silence in Ernie’s honor and memory was shared during the virtual ISCP Membership Board Meeting January 21, 2020 and ISCP plans to honor him during the 12th ICCP2021 planned for August 2021. Colleagues at ISCP, in the concrete industry, and family express their sorrow for Dr. Barenberg’s passing. They are incredibly saddened, as Ernie was a mentor, a great colleague, and friend to so many over many years.
For LINKS, please see below:
More information about Ernie and his life, service plans, memorial gifts (including (CEE concrete lab at the University of Illinois in Urbana)—Obituary in The News Gazette: https://www.news-gazette.com/obituaries/ernest-barenberg/article_d723c31e-5ab3-11eb-9a37-5cb9017b8d1b.html
—ISCP Honorary Member page: https://www.concretepavements.org/honorary-members/
—Ernie’s personal Honorary Member page: https://www.concretepavements.org/team/dr-ernest-j-barenberg/
—ISCP TIMELINE featuring Dr. Barenberg: https://www.concretepavements.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/TIMELINE_2021.jpg
