Pavement Sustainability & Life-Cycle Assessment

Chaitanya
Ganesh Bhat, Ph.D. Head of Sustainability Engineering & Research,
Asphalt Institute

A leading specialist in life-cycle assessment for pavements — author of the national standards, builder of the federal tools, and the voice industry, government, and academia call on from Washington to Mumbai to Brussels.

Selected work & research LinkedIn ↗ Download CV ↓

Fairfax, Virginia Portrait of Dr. Chaitanya Bhat

Trusted across

Federal Highway Administration Transportation Research Board U.S. EPA Eurobitume SABITA · South Africa IIT Bombay ACLCA

Profile

From parameter uncertainty
to national policy

Dr. Chaitanya Bhat leads sustainability engineering and research at the Asphalt Institute, where he sets the technical and strategic agenda for how an entire industry measures and reduces its environmental footprint.

His work sits at an unusual intersection: rigorous enough to satisfy peer reviewers, yet practical enough to be adopted by federal agencies and 25 state departments of transportation. He chairs the committee writing the rules for asphalt binder Environmental Product Declarations in North America — the disclosures that now underpin the Inflation Reduction Act and Buy Clean procurement policies.

Earlier, as lead author of the 2022 ACLCA PCR Open Standard, he authored a framework that program operators across the country still use to govern environmental reporting. His doctoral research built the data structures that make life-cycle assessment usable in real pavement design decisions.

He moves fluently between the lab, the standards committee, and the boardroom — advising manufacturers, federal programs, and global industry bodies from the U.S. to India, South Africa, and Europe.

Dr. Chaitanya Bhat presenting at the Asphalt Institute Annual Meeting — Presenting at the Asphalt Institute Annual Meeting, 2025

At a glance

Role

Head of Sustainability Engineering & Research, Asphalt Institute 2025–

Focus

Life-cycle assessment · EPDs · green procurement · energy-transition strategy

Cert.

LCA Certified Professional (LCACP) 2020 · Machine Learning for Environmental Engineering, Columbia 2026

Based

Fairfax, Virginia · Washington, D.C. metro area

Education

Ph.D., Civil & Environmental Engineering

Michigan Technological University2020

M.S., Civil & Environmental Engineering

Michigan Technological University2018

B.E., Civil Engineering

B.V.B. College of Engineering & Tech., India2015

Certifications & Continuous Learning

Credentials earned,
not assumed

A practitioner who keeps sharpening the toolkit. Each credential below reflects a deliberate investment in the rigor, methods, and emerging techniques that keep this work credible — from the certification that governs life-cycle assessment practice to the latest in machine learning for environmental engineering.

Certified Professional

Life-Cycle Assessment Certified Professional (LCACP)

American Center for Life-Cycle Assessment

The credential that certifies professional competence in conducting and reviewing life-cycle assessments — the methodological backbone of every standard, tool, and EPD program in this portfolio.

Awarded 2020

University Certificate

Machine Learning for Environmental Engineering

Columbia University · Columbia+

A forward-looking credential bringing data-driven and machine-learning methods into environmental engineering — extending the analytical toolkit as the field's questions grow more complex.

Completed May 2026

Dr. Bhat visiting the MIT campus — Staying close to the research community — on campus at MIT

Career

A decade across
industry, federal & academia

Jan 2025 — Present

Head of Sustainability Engineering & ResearchNow

Asphalt Institute · Lexington, KY

Oversees tactical and strategic sustainability programs across the Asphalt Institute and its Foundation; leads global education for the asphalt binder supply chain and shapes policy dialogue with public and private procurement stakeholders.

Nov 2021 — Jan 2025

Sustainability Engineer

Asphalt Institute · Lexington, KY

Chaired the Asphalt Binder Product Category Rule Committee and led North America's EPD program for asphalt binder to meet IRA and Buy Clean legislation. Directed the Foundation's flagship study on the petroleum asphalt supply chain under energy-transition scenarios.

Mar 2021 — Nov 2021

Research Civil Engineer

Engineering & Software Consultants · Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, FHWA

Supported the federal sustainable-pavements team: validated life-cycle cost analysis tools, reviewed pavement-vehicle interaction models, and developed guidance for consistent Product Category Rules and EPDs in public procurement.

Aug 2016 — Oct 2020

Graduate Research Assistant

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Michigan Tech

Conducted FHWA- and MDOT-funded research on pavement life-cycle assessment, parameter uncertainty, and infrastructure data modeling — work that fed directly into the FHWA LCAPave tool.

May 2018 — Aug 2018

Contracted Researcher

National Asphalt Pavement Association · Lanham, MD

Evaluated the feasibility of a construction-stage Product Category Rule and defined its interim system boundary and data-collection approach.

Leadership & National Projects

Work that became
the standard

Apr 2022 — Present

Asphalt Binder EPD Program

Built North America's Environmental Product Declaration program for asphalt binder, helping members meet the IRA and state Buy-Clean policies. Chairs the Product Category Rule committee spanning manufacturers, API, EPA, FHWA, FAA, and NAPA.

Chair · Program Lead

Mar 2020 — Nov 2021

ACLCA PCR Open Standard

Lead author of the 2022 ACLCA PCR Open Standard, now used as a framework by program operators such as SmartEPD to develop product category rules nationwide. Recognized subject-matter expert on the topic.

Lead Author

Jan 2024 — Jan 2025

Asphalt Supply-Chain & Energy Transition

Led a cornerstone strategic study with Wood Mackenzie analyzing the petroleum asphalt binder supply chain under energy-transition scenarios, coordinating the Foundation's Sustainability Oversight Panel and communicating outcomes industry-wide.

Project Lead

Aug 2018 — Oct 2020

FHWA LCAPave Tool

First-of-its-kind federal pavement life-cycle assessment tool, now used as an educational instrument by 25 state DOTs under the FHWA Climate Challenge. Compiled background data and built the data-quality methodology at its core.

Core Developer

Dec 2022 — Oct 2024

NCHRP 10-123 Panel

Panel member and pavement-sustainability subject-matter expert for a national research effort incorporating quality assurance into green public procurement, alongside FHWA and state DOT participants.

Panel Member

Jan 2026 — Present

Alternative Feedstock Analysis

Leads a forward-looking techno-economic and material-flow study on alternative feedstock sources — steering the industry to think consequentially about decarbonization beyond narrow, siloed goals.

Initiative Lead

Dr. Bhat addressing a full room on pavement sustainability

From the podium

Turning life-cycle science into decisions people act on

Whether it's a federal working group, an industry conference, or a university lecture hall, the goal is the same — make the methodology clear enough that engineers, regulators, and executives can use it.

Global Speaking & Training

Invited across
four continents

Keynotes, federal working groups, industry panels, and university seminars across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia — translating sustainability science for the people who set policy and build infrastructure.

United StatesFHWA · TRB · EPA · ASTM · NAPA · ACLCA

EuropeEurobitume

AfricaSouth African Bitumen Association

AsiaIIT Bombay

CanadaTransportation Association of Canada

Dr. Bhat moderating an industry panel at the podium — Moderating an industry sustainability panel

Dr. Bhat speaking at the Asphalt Institute podium — Asphalt Institute Annual Meeting

Seminar group photo at IIT Bombay — Seminar with graduate researchers, IIT Bombay

Dr. Bhat presenting the sustainability evolution timeline — Walking members through the EPD roadmap

Dr. Bhat on the Asphalt Institute Foundation panel — Asphalt Institute Foundation panel

Speakers including FHWA and DOT representatives — With FHWA & U.S. DOT co-speakers

Summer seminar audience, 2026 — Summer Seminar, 2026

Jul 2026Keynote — Fundamentals of AI & Machine Learning in the Asphalt SectorPetersen Conference

Jan 2026Voices of the Future: A Dialogue on Emerging TopicsTRB

Dec 2025Environmental Product Declaration Tool: Path Forward & ReviewAsphalt Institute

Sep 2025Industry Panel on Asphalt SustainabilityNAPA

Jul 2025Keynote — Petroleum Asphalt Supply-Chain under Energy TransitionPetersen Conference

Jun 2025Tactical & Strategic Sustainability InitiativesIIT Bombay

Research Products

Published & peer-reviewed

Life Cycle Information Models: Parameterized Linked Data Structures to Facilitate the Consistent Use of Life-Cycle Assessment in Decision Making

Bhat, C., Mukherjee, A. & Meijer, J. — J. Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements, 147(4), 2021

Life Cycle Thinking-Informed Approach to Support Pavement Design Decision Making

Bhat, C.G. & Mukherjee, A. — J. Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements, 146(4), 2020

View on ASCE Library ↗

Sensitivity of Life-Cycle Assessment Outcomes to Parameter Uncertainty: Implications for Material Procurement Decision-Making

Bhat, C.G. & Mukherjee, A. — Transportation Research Record (TRB, National Academies), 2019

View on SAGE Journals ↗

2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance — Process and Methods Toolkit

Bhat, C.G., Adhikari T., Mellentine J., et al. — American Center for Life Cycle Assessment, 2022

Challenges in Meeting Data Needs for Use of Environmental Product Declarations in Pavement Design and Construction

Mukherjee, A., Bhat, C. & Harvey, J. — FHWA-HRT-20-022, Federal Highway Administration, 2020

Sustainable Highway Construction Guidebook

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine — The National Academies Press, 2019

View at NAP ↗

Implementation of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for Assessment of Transportation Infrastructure: Phase II

Brooks, C., Dobson, R., … Bhat, C., et al. — SPR-1674, Michigan Department of Transportation, 2018

From Trade-Offs to Equivalent Solutions: A Life Cycle Thinking Informed Approach to Design Decision Making

97th Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington D.C.

Mapping of Unit Product System/Processes for Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment

Int'l Symposium on Pavement, Roadway, and Bridge Life Cycle Assessment 2020, Sacramento, CA

Technical and Organizational Challenges to Developing Product Category Rules for Asphalt Pavement Construction

Int'l Symposium on Pavement, Roadway, and Bridge Life Cycle Assessment 2020, Sacramento, CA

Feasibility Study for Construction Stage Product Category Rule

White Paper — Bhat, C. & Mukherjee, A., National Asphalt Pavement Association, Lanham, MD, 2019

Industry Writing

Translating the science
for the industry

A regular contributor to Asphalt magazine, the Asphalt Institute's publication, where Dr. Bhat makes sustainability science legible to the engineers, agencies, and producers who put it into practice.

SustainabilityOct 2025

In the room where it happens

Where standards, industry, and federal policy meet

Much of the work happens in conversation — with members, agencies, and partners who together decide how the asphalt industry measures and reduces its footprint.

Dr. Bhat engaging with members at the 2025 Annual Meeting

Recognition

Honors & service

★

Rising Star Award

American Center for Life Cycle Assessment

Sep 2022

★

Dean's Award for Outstanding Scholarship

Civil & Environmental Engineering, Michigan Tech

Oct 2020

★

Graduate Research Excellence Award

Civil & Environmental Engineering, Michigan Tech

Apr 2020

★

3-Minute Thesis Award — Top 4

2019 TRB Annual Meeting competition

Jan 2019

National professional membership

Sustainable Pavements Technical Working Group — FHWA American Center for Life-Cycle Assessment (ACLCA) Sustainable & Resilient Pavements Subcommittee — TRB

Let's talk sustainability, standards, or strategy.

Open to speaking engagements, advisory roles, research collaboration, and conversations with academic and industry partners.

@ Email
[email protected] in LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/chaitanya-bhat ☎ Phone
(906) 281-8387 ↓ Curriculum Vitae
Download PDF

ChaitanyaGanesh Bhat, Ph.D. Head of Sustainability Engineering & Research,Asphalt Institute

From parameter uncertaintyto national policy

At a glance

Education

Credentials earned,not assumed

Life-Cycle Assessment Certified Professional (LCACP)

Machine Learning for Environmental Engineering

A decade acrossindustry, federal & academia

Work that becamethe standard

Asphalt Binder EPD Program

ACLCA PCR Open Standard

Asphalt Supply-Chain & Energy Transition

FHWA LCAPave Tool

NCHRP 10-123 Panel

Alternative Feedstock Analysis

Turning life-cycle science into decisions people act on

Invited acrossfour continents

Published & peer-reviewed

Translating the sciencefor the industry

Biogenic carbon and its relevance within asphalt binder sustainability

Webinar discusses asphalt binder supply chain

Asphalt Sustainability — Pavement Management Systems

Asphalt Sustainability — Contracting mechanisms, Part 2

Contracting mechanisms, project delivery & green public procurement

Asphalt Sustainability: Can all LCAs be considered as EPDs?

Is it possible to develop "pavement-level" PCRs and EPDs?

Pavement sustainability has four pillars