The ASCE Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI) is pleased to announce Manuel Bejarano, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, of AtkinsRéalis, as the 2024 recipient of the Airfield Pavement Practitioner Award. The award was established to honor and recognize practicing engineers employed in the airfield pavement engineering profession with demonstrated leadership and achievement in airfield pavement projects.
Manuel Bejarano is a Senior Engineer at AtkinsRéalis Aviation Group. He has 23 years of combined experience in the design, evaluation, rehabilitation, and construction of major infrastructure projects. Early in his career, he worked on large earth dam, oil field, and railroad projects in the area geotechnical engineering. Over the last 20 years, he has worked on more than 55 major airfield paving projects worth more than $2 billion across the United States. His experience includes commercial and military runway, taxiway, and apron airport design.
Dr. Bejarano’s field of expertise is pavements, materials, soils, infrastructure management, engineering analysis, and construction support services. He has conducted detailed engineering evaluations, supervised field explorations, analyzed field and laboratory data, and recommended alternatives for construction and maintenance of highways, ports, and airport pavements. His assistance during construction has been instrumental particularly in the interpretation of specification requirements and acceptance. He serves as subject matter expert on warranty work, claims, construction acceptance and forensic analysis. He also doesn’t miss an opportunity to mentor staff engineers in all aspects of engineering.
He earned his doctoral and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, conducting a research project for the FAA. He later worked for the University of California conducting research for Caltrans.
In his free time, he enjoys road biking and participates in at least one organized century ride each year.