Honorary Member since 2001

Ernest Barenberg was born in Rawlins County, Kansas in 1929. After studying civil engineering at Kansas State University, he worked briefly in the aviation industry before serving a two-year tour in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After his discharge from the army, he obtained his Masters Degree in structural engineering at the University of Kansas, and taught structural engineering design in steel and concrete there for five years. He went from the University of Kansas to the University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign Illinois (UIUC) where he obtained his PhD Degree. He stayed on at UIUC, teaching and conducting researching for nearly 40 years. Dr. Barenberg has held various staff positions and appointments at UIUC including a 4-year term as the Associate Head of Civil Engineering, and serving as an associate director for the Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for airport pavements for over 8 years.

Dr. Barenberg’s primary fields of interest are concrete pavements, paving materials and railroad track systems. He has made many contributions to these fields through his research and consulting activities. For example, he was instrumental in developing design standards for pavements at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and for London’s Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, and developed the background and framework for the mechanistic-based design procedures for concrete pavements currently used by the Illinois Department of Transportation. He has been a part of the design team for several post-tensioned concrete pavements, including those currently in service (including O’Hare Airport and Rockford Airport). Recently he has been working with a manufacturer in the development of precast pavements for rapid repair of concrete pavement.

He was responsible for the development of the theoretical model for the analysis of concrete pavements (ILLISLAB) and a comprehensive model for predicting the buckling of rails. He was particularly active in the early development of theoretical/empirical design procedures for concrete pavements, and the development of premier pavements for long life and low maintenance.

Dr. Barenberg has been active in several professional societies including the Transportation Research Board, ASTM, ASCE, and ACI. He is the author or co-author of over 150 technical papers and or technical reports dealing with paving materials and the design and performance of transportation facilities. He has been named as an emeritus member for Transportation Research Board Committees dealing with rigid pavement design and with rail-track structure design. He was also a founding member and the first president of the International Society for Concrete Pavements.

Dr. Barenberg has received numerous major awards over his illustrious career, including:

• 1998 – ASCE Air Transportation Division Robert Horonjeff Award for “outstanding contributions to airport paving engineering”.
• 2002 – Named “Educator of the Year” by the American Concrete Pavement Association for his “more than 45 years of teaching and innovative research in concrete pavements”.
• 2004 – Designated a lifetime National Associate of the National Academies in “recognition of extraordinary service to the National Academies in its role as advisor to the Nation in maters of science, engineering, and health”.

In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to the concrete paving profession, Dr. Barenberg was inducted into the ranks of ISCP Honorary Membership on September 9, 2001. ISCP is proud to have Dr. Barenberg as an Honorary Member!

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