Outstanding Young Alumni Award
James W. Bryant, Jr.,
1999 M.S. Civil Engineering, 2001 Ph.D. Civil Engineering
Senior Program Officer, Transportation Research Board

Dr. James W. Bryant, Jr. earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering in 1999 and 2001 respectively from Virginia Tech's Via Department

of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received a B.S. in civil engineering from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1996.



Upon graduation from Virginia Tech, Dr. Bryant joined VMS, Inc. a national roadway maintenance contractor. As project engineer he managed projects in Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C.



The application of this extensive roadway maintenance experience was put to use in the transportation asset management when

he joined the Virginia Transportation Research Council (now the Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research) in Charlottesville as a research scientist. Dr. Bryant developed the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Asset Management Research

Program. The program research areas included pavement preservation, performance-based contracting, asset management data collection, and decision support systems.



Dr. Bryant was promoted to program manager for the contract maintenance unit of VDOT's Asset Management Division (now the Maintenance Division) in Richmond in 2005. He developed and implemented VDOT's first competitively low-bid performance based maintenance contracts for roadway maintenance and operations throughout Virginia and was directly responsible for VDOT's $150 million maintenance contracting program. Within two years, contracts had been awarded for over 60% of Virginia’s interstate system.



Since February 2007, Dr. Bryant has been a senior program officer at Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC. He serves as the lead staff for the Renewal focus area of the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2), and is currently responsible for over $32 million of research projects focused on the renewal and construction of transportation infrastructure. He is responsible for the development of research program plans and implementation plans through collaboration with experts from federal, state, and local government

agencies, foundations, schools and other non-profit organizations.



Dr. Bryant is a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife Melba Bryant, DDS and two wonderful children James Bryant (III) and Nathanial Bryant.