Ashraf AboArafe
Professor Abd El Halim Omar Abd El Halim was one 5 nominees in the category “Expertise” for the first Arab Ambassadors’ Awards intended to honor Arab descent Canadians with outstanding achievements in their respective fields. The ceremony took place in June, 2013 at the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Research Interests
Dr. Abd El Halim is a tenured Professor at Carleton University. He has been the Director of the Centre for Geosynthetics Research Information and Development, C-GRID since 1987. Professor Abd El Halim is the inventor of the asphalt roller AMIR that has revolutionised the field of pavement construction. During the past 18 years at Carleton, Professor Halim has established Carleton University as an international leading research centre in the fields of transportation engineering, asphalt pavements, and the use of Geosynthetics in civil engineering applications. His research has generated more than $3.5 million in grants and research contracts from Canadian, American, Australian and Egyptian clients. He is the author or co-author of more than 270 Journal/Conference papers and technical reports. Apart from the development of a new compaction technology for asphalt as well as concrete road pavements; work in the field of asphalt compaction has resulted in the invention of a new roller, AMIR, Prof. Abd El Halim’s research is also being carried out on the development of engineering applications, using new products such as geogrid reinforcement, transportation-related topics, economic analysis, and strength of materials.
Honours and Awards
Dr. A.O. Abd El Halim was awarded the 2005 Sandford Fleming Award by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) for his remarkable contributions to the development and practice of transportation engineering in Canada. The award was presented on June 3 at the 2005 Awards Banquet hosted by the CSCE at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel in Toronto. He is a well known keynote speaker, reviewer, and the member of several important committees having been named the 1999 Top Newsmaker by the USA magazine, Engineering News Record. He also won the NOVA award by the Construction Innovation Forum, the Nobel prize for construction innovation, making him the first civil engineer to receive both awards in the same year. In recognition of his achievements, Professor El Halim was elected a Fellow to the CSCE in 1998.
- 2010 Canada Academy of Engineering Fellowship, June
- 2009 Transportation Academic Merit Award, 2009 Transportation Association of Canada, October
- 2009 Government of Egypt list of 37- Distinguised Egyptians Abroad, Cairo, July 28
- 2009 Best paper Award MAIREPAV2009, Torino, Italy
- 2005 Sanford Fleming Award, 2005 CSCE for Transportation Engineering
- 2000-2001 Student Choice Awards, Best Professor for 2000/2001. The International Students Centre
- 1999 The Egyptian Authority for Industrial Production’s award for Innovation
- 1999 NOVA award for Innovation in Construction
- 1999 Engineering News Record Top News-Maker of the Year
- 1998 Earl Kee Award for Best Paper presented at CTAA
- 1998 Carleton Research Achievement Award ($10,000)
- 1997 Japanese International Fellowship
- 1996 Keefer Medal for 1996 best paper in the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering
- 1994 Earl Kee Award for Best Paper presented at CTAA
- 1992 Editor’s Award for Best Paper, CTAAW, 1992
- 1992 Carleton Research Achievement Award ($10,000)
- 1992 L.W. Gold Publication Award for Best Research Paper, NRC
- 1991 Editor’s Award for Best Paper, CTAA
- 1988 Scholarly Achievement Award, Faculty of Engineering, Carleton University
- 1982 The President’s Gold Medal, for best research paper in the 1982 RTAC Conference, Halifax, Canada
- 1982 Sandford Fleming Foundation Teaching Assistantship Award, for teaching assistantship excellence, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada
- 1981 RTAC Scholarship, Roads and Transportation Association of Canada
- 1975-1976 Civil Engineering Department Award for Teaching Assistantship, Alexandria University, Egypt for 1974 and 1975
- 1973 Harbour’s Award for Outstanding B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt
- 1973 Distinction and Best Fourth Year Project, B.Sc., Alexandria University, Egypt
- 1967-1972 Undergraduate Government Scholarship, Alexandria University, Egypt for 1967, 1969, 1970 and 1972
