Dr. Luis Amador Jimenez, P.Eng., PhD (Civil Engineering), M.A. (Economics), MBA (Public Contracts)

Short Biography

Dr. Luis Amador is the former Minister of Public Works and Transportation of Costa Rica (May 2022-March 2024), he is an Associate Professor, he joined Concordia in 2010. Former Undergraduate Curriculum Director (2013-2015) and Former Undergraduate Programs Director (2017-2022). He earned his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering at the University of New Brunswick in 2010, a Masters of Arts in Economics from Concordia University, a Masters in Business Administration in 2006 and two Bachelors; one in Civil Engineering (2002) and another one in Business Administration (1997) from Universidad Fidelitas in Costa Rica. Former Member of the Board of Directors of Costa Rica Roads Administration (CONAVI). Worked as Director of Engineering Services and Community Planning at the Urban Municipality of Kindersley in Saskatchewan, and as Director of Technical Studies for the Costa Rica Construction Association. He was a lecturer for about three years at Universidad Fidelitas (2002 to 2005). He also lectured at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) during fall 2008. His expertise is in the areas of Pavement Engineering and Transportation Asset Management. His professional experience also includes the development of Trip Generation and Parking Rates Analysis and Road Safety Management Systems for Qatar, the update of Guidelines and Procedures for Transportation Studies in Qatar and the massive data collection and analysis for the update of Qatar Transportation Master Plan. He was a PROMETEO researcher for the government of Ecuador. He is the author of the book "Civil Engineering System Analysis" (CRC press, 2016), and co-author of Asset Management Decision-Making for Infrastructure Systems (Springer 2022). Dr. Amador received the following awards:

1. Nason Prize 2007-2008. University of New Brunswick. Best Paper in Transportation Policy Analysis. Sole Author.
2. Best Young Professional Paper at the 2011 Conference of the Transportation and Development Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Sole Author.

Courses

• CIVI 471 - Highway and Pavement Design
• CIVI 341 - Civil Engineering Systems
• CIVI 6451 - Pavement Design
• BCEE 371 – Surveying
• CIVI 6401 – Transportation System Analysis
• CIVI 6461 - Pavement Management Systems
  
• CIVI 390 - Civil Engineering Design Project 
• ENGR 301 - Engineering Management Principles and Economics
• BCEE 6001 - Graduate Seminar in Building and Civil Engineering

Supervised students

• Mr. Jawad Ta'amneh
• Mr. Zakariya Gadi
• Mrs. Zeinab Fathi
• Mr. Kamran Sha

Past students

• Mr. Amir Pooyan AFGHARI, MASc., Ph.D. Postdoct at TU Delft (Netherlands)
• Mr. Sharam (Mohammed) HEYDARI, MASc, PhD. Lecturer at Southampton University, UK
• Mr. Ahmadreza FAGHIH-IMANI, MASc
• Mr. Mohammed AL_DABBAGH, MASc
  
• Ms. Nagham MATOUT, MASc
• Ms. Mariam MEITE, MASc.
• Mr. Reza MAGHSOUDI, MASc.
  
• Mr. Md Shohel AMIN, Ph.D., Lecturer at Conventry University and researcher at Aston University, UK.
• Mr. Mustafa ALDULAIMI, Ph.D.
  
• Mr. Christopher AQUILES, MASc.
• Mrs. Mahnush HEYDARI, MASc.
  
• Ms. Nathalie OUM. Ph.D.
• Mr. Soliman ABU SAMRA, Ph.D.  
• Mr. Reza GHOBADPOUR, MASc.
• Mr. Reza RIAHI SAMANI MASc.

Supervised students awards

• Shohel AMIN, Runnerup 49th Canadian Transportation Research Forum 2014
  
• Shohel AMIN, Canada Steamship lines in Transportation Studies 2013
• Shohel AMIN, Canada Steamship lines in Transportation Studies 2013
  
• Shohel AMIN, Bourse Alain Lamoureux 2013
• Nathalie OUM, Bourse Hervé Aubin 2012
• Shohel AMIN, Runner-up Student Paper Award, TRANSLOG 2012
• Ahmadreza FAGHIH IMANI, Runner Up NARSC 2012
  

Research

• Pavement Engineering: Pervious Pavements, Chipsealed Roads, HMA, Airport Pavements, Low volume roads.
• Pavement Performance Modeling
• Road Safety and Highway Planning including Roadway Lighting
• Land Use and Transport Modeling for Transportation Asset Management
• Road Management Systems: Soft-computing techniques for clustering homogeneous groups and learning treatment effectiveness
• Civil Infrastructure Management Systems: Spatial-Temporal Coordination of Activities and Re-optimization
• Optimization Techniques for Multi-objective Across-Assets Management Systems
• Bayesian Statistics and Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation for Reliability-based performance modeling (safety, deterioration, mobility, accessibility)
• R-studio applications for Transportation Management
• Multimodal Trip Generation
  
• Public transport accessibility
  
• Policy Analysis: Funding Civil Infrastructure, Infrastructure and Economic Development
  
• Incorporing Natural Hazard Vulnerability into Road Management Systems

Current grants and research contracts

• Principal Investigator, Trip Generation and Parking Rates, 2017-2020
• Principal Investigator ( 3 researchers), Road safety and lighting evaluation, Road Safety Research Program, FQRNT-MTQ-FRSQ, 127500$, 2012-2015
• Principal investigator on the Study of Land use and Transport modeling for Transportation Asset Management, Discovery Grant, NSERC, 115000$, 2012-2017
• Principal Investigator on the connection of Road Safety and Road management systems. Start-up, Concordia University, $50,000 (2010-2012)
• Principal Investigator. Infrastructure Management Systems for the Town of Kindersley, $20,000 (2011-2012)

Books

Articles in refereed publications

Conference Proceedings

• 1.       Maghsoudi, R. and Amador, L. 2016. Capacity-Based Optimal Allocation ofStorm Pipe Replacements: Considering Effects of Climate Change and Urbanization.To be presented at the 93th Annualmeeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies,Washington, DC.

  2.            Nabavi, M.,Saunier, N., Miranda-Moreno, L., Bruneau, N., Amador, L. 2016. Effects of Road Lighting onBicycle and Pedestrian Accident Frequency: A Case Study in Montréal. To bepresented at the 93th Annual meeting of theTransportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC.

  4.       Aldulaimi, M. andAmador Jimenez. 2016. A method to calibrate roadway lighting warrants. To be presented at the 93th Annual meeting of the Transportation ResearchBoard of the National Academies, Washington, DC.

  5.       Amador, L., and Matout, N. 2015. A low Cost method to develop an initialpavement management system. 93th Annualmeeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies,Washington, DC.

  6.       Amador, L., and Matout, N. 2015. A low Cost solution to estimatepavement roughness condition. 92th Annualmeeting of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies,Washington, DC.

  7.       Amin, M. S. R.*, Amador, L. 2014. A Performance-BasedPavement Management System for the Road Network of Montreal City – a ConceptualFramework. 12^th International Society for Asphalt Pavements (ISAP)conference on Asphalt Pavements, June 1–5, 2014, Raleigh, North Carolina

  8.       Amin, M. S. R.*, Amador, L. 2013. Spatio-temporal modeling of the impact of climatechange on road accidents - A Case Study of New Brunswick. Federal Committee onStatistical Research Conference, November 4 – 6, Washington D.C., USA.

  9.       Amin,M. S. R.*,Amador, L. 2013. A Multi-Criteria Pavement ManagementSystem for the Rural Road Network of Bangladesh. CSCE 2013 General Conference,May 29 – June 1, Montreal.

  10.   Amin, M.S.R.*, Alecsandru, C.^ξ and Amador-Jiménez, L. 2013. Micro-simulationof gap acceptance by turning vehicles at a signalized intersection in auniversity campus. 48th CTRF Annual Conference, Canadian TransportationResearch Forum. Halifax,June 2013.

  11.   Amin, M.S.R.*, Amador, L., Reimer, W. ^ξ and Tamima, U. ^ξ 2013.Prediction of inter-provincial trade flow traffic to supportmulticriteria pavement management. 48th CTRF Annual Conference, CanadianTransportation Research Forum. Halifax,June 2013.

  12.   Foomani, M.G.*, Amador,L., and Khodabakhshi,A.H.^* 2013. Multi-objective speedoptimization for heavy good vehicles in interrupted transportation networks.48th CTRF Annual Conference, Canadian Transportation Research Forum. Halifax, June 2013.

  13.   Amin, M.S.R.*,Alecsandru, C. ^ξ andAmador-Jimenez, L. 2013. The impact of bicycle path on theroad user's decision at an in-campus signalized intersection.Proceedings of the CMRSC-XXIII, 23rd CanadianMultidisciplinary Road Safety Conference. Montreal,May, 2013

  14.   Sayyadi, G.*, Amin, MSR.* and AmadorJimenez, L. A Multivariate Analysis of Road Safety Accident Index. Proceedingsof the CMRSC-XXIII, 23rd CanadianMultidisciplinary Road Safety Conference. Montreal,May, 2013

  15.   Amador Jimenez, L.and Faghih-Imani, A.* 2013. From strategic optimization to tactical plans:coordinating treatments on road infrastructure. 91th Annual meeting of theTransportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, DC.

  16.   Amin, M.S.R.* and AmadorJimenez, L. 2012. Spatial Analysis of Sustainable Urban Development Indicatorsfor Montreal City. Third International Conference ofthe Constructed Environment. Vancouver, BC.

  17.   Rodrigues, J.D.*, Chaverri, J. ^ξ and Amador, L. 2012. Strategic Pavement Management: Costa Rica’scase study. International Conference on ManagementSciences 2012, Dubai, UAE.

  18.   Willis C. ^ξ, and Amador Jimenez, L. 2012. A maturity approach forbusiness climate from a global perspective. InternationalConference on Management Sciences 2012, Dubai, UAE.

  19.   Amin, M.S.R.* and AmadorJimenez, L. 2012. How much forest is Required to Absorb Interprovincial Truck Flow inducedGHG emissions?. 4thTRANSLOG (Transportation and Logistics) Conference, Burlington, ON

  20.   Amin, M.S.R.* andAmador-Jimenez, L. 2012. Carbon footprintof induced Traffic from highway 25 extension project. 59^th Annual North AmericanMeetings of the Regional Science Association International. Ottawa, ON.

  21.   Faghih-Imani, A.* and Amador Jimenez,L. 2012. Spatial Temporal Coordination ofMaintenance and Rehabilitation Works in Transportation Asset Management. 59^thAnnual North AmericanMeetings of the Regional Science Association International. Ottawa, ON.

  22.    Amin, M.S.R.* and Amador Jimenez, L. 2012. Simulation of land use change and building construction of new roadinfrastructure. 59^th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science AssociationInternational, Ottawa, ON

  23.   Amin, M.S.R.*, Alecsandru, C. ^ξ and AmadorJimenez, L. 2012. Calibration of identical behavior of differentvehicles for gap acceptance at a signalized intersection before and afterbicycle lane construction. 59^th Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International,Ottawa, ON

  24.   Amin, M.S.R.*, Oum, N.* andAmador. 2012. Qui gere le marché de l’habitation de Montreal?.  Presented at the 80th Congres of the AssociationFrancophone pour le savoir (ACFAS). Montreal.

  25.   Amador-Jimenez.2012. Integral Infrastructure Management: Measuring Economic and PerformanceBenefits of Trade-Off Analysis. Presented at the 9th National Conference on Transportation AssetManagement. San Diego, CA

  26.    Amador-Jimenez, L, and Afghari, A.* 2012. Lifecycle Optimization and Tradeoff Analysis amongcompeting objectives for a road corridor. 91^stAnnual meeting of the Transportation Research Board. Washington, DC.

  27.    Amin, M.S.R.* andAmador-Jimenez, L. 2011. Who makesinevitable conversion of the agricultural lands into urban uses at theperipheries of a Megacity?. Presented at the Second InternationalConference of the Constructed Environment. Chicago,U.S.

  
  

  28.    Amin, M.S.R.* and Amador-Jimenez, L. 2011. Land use and transport modeling to supporttransportation asset management: case study of the new Brunswick road networkand it`s regional interactions. Presented in the joint 58th North AmericaRegional Science Conference and Second Conference of the Regional Science ofthe Americas.Miami, FL.

  29.    Amador-Jimenez, L. and Mrawira, D ^ξ. 2011. “Bayesian Regression in Deterioration Modeling:Revisiting the AASHO RoadTest Rut Depth Model”. Proceedings of the 90^th Annual Congress ofthe Transportation Research Board. Washington D.C.

  30.   Amador-Jimenez, L.2011. Relating Land Use and Transport modeling with transportation assetmanagement. Proceedings of the 1^st Congress of the Transportation and Development Institute of the AmericanSociety of Civil Engineers. Chicago, U.S.

  31.   Mrawira, D^ξ. Kachua, S.^ξ, andAmador-Jimenez, L. 2010. “Across Asset Trade-off Analysis and Framework forAdjacency Consideration in Long-term Planning for Transportation AssetManagement”. 89^th Annual Meeting of the TransportationResearch Board Washington. D.C.

  32.   Amador-Jimenez, L.2009. “Multilevel Bayesian AccidentPrediction Modeling for Multi-objective Road Management Systems”. Proceedings of the XV Ibero-Latin American AsphaltPavement Congress. Lisbon, Portugal.

  33.    Mrawira D.^ξ, Amador-Jimenez, L. 2009. “Cross-Assets Trade-off Analysis: Why Are We StillTalking About It?".Proceedings of the 88^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board Washington. D.C.

  34.   Mrawira D.^ξ, Amador-Jimenez, L. 2008. “Breaking the Silos in Asset Management:Comprehensive Optimization in Long-Term Planning over multiple asset types”. Proceedings of the 3rd European Pavement and Asset Management Conference.Lisbon,Portugal.

  35.   Amador-Jimenez, L.,Mrawira D.^ξ 2008. “AssetPerformance Modelling: What to do when you only have two condition data points”. Proceedings of the 87^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board Washington. D.C.

  36.   Mrawira D.^ξ, MacNaughton J.^ξ, &Amador-Jimenez, L. 2008. “Pushing the frontier of Asset Management: usingtrade-off analysis across asset-types to support agency’s budget exercise”. Proceedings of the 7^th InternationalConference on Managing Public Assets. CalgaryAlberta.

  
  

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