Claudia Zapata
Dr. Zapata was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Arizona State University in August 2006. She received her Ph.D. degree in Geo-Environmental Engineering from ASU in 1999. Dr. Zapata’s research primary interest is in the area of unsaturated soil behavior. She has focused on fluid flow and volume change modeling for expansive soils, with applications related to the behavior of pavement subgrades and slabs-on-grade foundation design. At ASU, Dr. Zapata has been actively involved in the development of the new mechanistic-empirical guide for Design of New and Rehabilitated Pavement Structures, in the assessment of pavement performance due to environmental factors and in the study of fluid flow and volume change properties of expansive soils under slabs on grade residential foundations.
Civil Engineer, Associate Professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University (ASU), current Associate Director of the National Center for Infrastructure Transformation (NCIT) under the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), and Deputy Director of the Engineering Research Center for Bio-Mediated and Bio-Inspired Geotechnics, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Career Highlights include her active participation in the development of the most recent Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide in the United States; the development of models to incorporate environmental effects and problematic soil behavior into current pavement design practices; and the creation of a database containing properties of over 35,000 unsaturated soils across the United States, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
Dr. Zapata is the author of more than 90 technical publications related to research on the behavior of unsaturated soils, characterization of expansive soils, thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of soils under static and repeated loads, empirical modeling of fluid flow and soil volume change applied to pavement structures and residential foundation systems; environmental effects on soil behavior; and soil improvement induced by microbes and biological enzymes, as well as geotextiles.
Dr. Zapata has received numerous awards, including the prestigious Carl Monismith Award 2025 from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for her outstanding contributions to research in Pavement Engineering; the Victoria Foundation Award 2021, honoring Latino faculty working to increase the participation of underrepresented populations in engineering; and the Community Service Award 2011 for her significant contributions to advancing pavement and materials programs and technology in Arizona, presented at the ASU Pavement Materials Conference and the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Honorable Mentions include her nomination for the Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award at ASU in 2019 and 2020; her recognition in the Top 5% of Superior Teaching by the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering in 2019; and her nomination for the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award by the ASU Campus Inclusion Committee in 2015.
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2. Impact of Climate Change on Road Maintenance Budgets and Practices
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