Raoul Salas, a graduate student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University (FIU), has been selected to receive the International Road Federation (IRF) Fellowship—a highly competitive and distinguished global honor awarded to only a select group of emerging experts in transportation each year.
Raoul becomes the first FIU student to receive this prestigious fellowship, marking an exceptional milestone for both his academic journey and the department. Throughout his graduate studies, Raoul has consistently demonstrated excellent academic abilities, strong research capability, and a high level of responsibility. Under the supervision of Dr. Carlos M. Chang, Raoul’s work has advanced from traditional pavement performance modeling to the application of probabilistic artificial intelligence techniques.
His research includes the development of Bayesian Neural Networks embedded with Fuzzy Logic, aimed at identifying cost-effective maintenance and rehabilitation strategies that optimize pavement service life and enhance infrastructure resilience under varying climate and traffic conditions.