University of Central Florida’s Dr. Abdel-Aty honored with prestigious national research award 

Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Aty, a professor and trustee chair at the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, is the 2022 recipient of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) prestigious S.S. Steinberg Award.

Named after the founding president of ARTBA’s Research & Education Division (RED), the Steinberg Award recognizes “an individual who has made remarkable contributions to transportation education.”

Dr. Abdel-Aty has been a professor for 27 years, serving as a teacher and mentor to many students. He has supervised the completion of 36 Ph.D. and 60 master’s degree students and is currently advancing 18 more Ph.D. candidates.

Several of Dr. Abdel-Aty’s students have been given Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) awards, which honor outstanding transportation students, faculty and leaders for their accomplishments in the field of transportation research and education. He has also designed and established the first master’s degree in Engineering in Smart Cities in the United States. 

Under Dr. Aty’s leadership, UCF’s Transportation Science and Technology program has increased its ranking to 29th in the world and 5th in the country. UCF’s Civil Engineering department is ranked in the top 40 in the U.S. in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) 2020 ranking.

A member of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL), Dr. Aty was also the recipient of ARTBA’s Lifetime Achievement Safety Award in 2019. He has also received the 2020 Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.