Dave Jones Scholarship 2020

My interest with asphalt started in my junior year of my undergraduate career. I was taking a Civil and Environmental Engineering Materials course, and I was particularly interested in the topic of asphalt. Throughout the rest of my undergraduate career, I focused on studying and working with Civil Engineering materials, and I am now pursuing a graduate degree in asphalt technology. I worked on a project with my adviser during my final semester of my undergraduate career considering the weight of asphalt distributor trucks driving on specific road types. Even though I was just recording the weights of trucks for the specific types of roads and comparing the trucks that were considered overweight to the properly loaded trucks, it was interesting to learn about the effects of overweight trucks on the asphalt pavements.
Following this project, I started my graduate career in asphalt technology under my adviser. My graduate program is in Civil Engineering focusing on asphalt technology. I am pursuing my masters degree by doing a research project and a thesis. My thesis is focused on finding the effects of varying the amounts of skid aggregate in the asphalt pavements and how that affects the friction of the surface. To begin the process of finding the skid resistance, or friction, of the asphalt, I began by finding the theoretical maximum specific gravity of each of the four specific mixtures. The asphalt was obtained through a local asphalt technician. The sets were classified as the following: Per Design, All Skid, Opposite Skid, and No Skid. These classifications sound exactly what one would think, Per Design is following a typical 9.5 mm Superpave mix with one skid aggregate, All Skid is a mix containing only skid aggregates, Opposite Skid is taking the Per Design skid aggregate and making into skid quality and making the other non skid quality aggregates into skid aggregates, and No Skid meaning that there are no skid aggregates in the mixture. Once the theoretical maximum density was calculated, three samples were made of each classification of mixture at a 7% Air Content to closely resemble the air content of roadways.
To begin the testing, initial British Pendulum measurements were taken. The British Pendulum Tester measures the skid resistance of the asphalt using a rubber slider mounted on the machine arm. The British Pendulum measurements are taken by placing one asphalt sample under the tester arm, with the rubber slider having a contact path of five inches. With a spray bottle, thirty sprays of water is sprayed onto the surface of the sample and the pendulum arm is released. This is to condition the sample with water to resemble a road with rainwater. Five more sprays of water is added to the sample and the arm is released. This measurement is recorded. This process is done four times total, getting four measurements for the sample. This is done for all twelve samples. The samples are left to dry and then placed into a polishing machine provided to our project by the West Virginia Department of Highways that follows machine specifications listed in ASTM E 707. The polishing machine is an apparatus made with four go-kart tires that are placed flush with the surface of the asphalt. The purpose of the polishing machine is to mimic the wear of traffic on an actual roadway. The machine tires run in a circular motion around a center axis on top of the samples in increments of multiple cycles, wearing off or spreading the binder of the asphalt samples. The cycles are: 2,000 cycles, 4,000 cycles, 8,000 cycles, and 12,000 cycles. The British Pendulum Tester is used after each of these cycles to find the skid resistance after being polished. As the total amount of cycles increases, the amount of skid resistance of the samples decreases. The purpose is to find what type of skid aggregate sample keeps the best skid resistance for the largest amount of cycles and apply the data to the corresponding mix design.

I have had many previous experiences with the highway industry. I have had three internships with the West Virginia Department of Transportation, each one being in a separate summer of my undergraduate career. Through each internship, I was fortunate enough to be placed on projects in the field. There I was able to see civil engineering projects take place, and from there, it solidified my focus on working with the transportation side of civil engineering. My first summer working with the West Virginia Department of Transportation was so great for learning about the industry. I was able to observe a bridge overlay project. There, I not only got to see a bridge deck get stripped away of the old concrete and replaced with new concrete, but also got to witness the approach slab being placed. I was amazed at how quickly the new asphalt could be placed and traffic could immediately travel on it. The following summer as an intern for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, I worked on a rehabilitation project of bridge piers with a Fiber Reinforced Polymer wrap. This involved replacing the reinforcement and concrete of the piers and then wrapping them in the Fiber Reinforced Polymer wrap. The last summer with the West Virginia Department of Transportation, I was on a temporary bridge project. This experience included watching an Acrow modular steel bridge be erected and set in place for an emergency bridge replacement project that was to be built and set in place in under one month. Additionally, during my last semester of my undergraduate career, I worked as an intern for the company Pennoni. There, I was placed to review sets of plane and performing calculations of various roadway projects. Currently, my graduate studies are focused toward the highway industry, as I am researching the different effects of various amounts of skid aggregates in asphalt pavements and how they affect skid resistance.

Throughout my undergraduate career, I was a member of the Honors College at West Virginia University. Upon graduation, I was recognized as Magna Cum Laude, University Honors Scholar for my Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. I have also passed The Fundamentals of Engineering exam for my EI certification, which I take as a great award or honor of academia. Throughout my undergraduate career, I was on the dean's list for a majority of the semesters, and I was on the President’s List for the last three semesters. The President’s List is for students obtaining a 4.0 GPA in a single semester. I was involved with many extracurricular activities, with which I like to consider in awards. I was the captain of my college’s concrete canoe team for two years, and I was very proud of my team both years for working hard to earn third place in the regional competition during my junior year of college as captain. During my senior year of college, I was captain of the team again, and I was able to lead the team to placing second in the regional competition. I was particularly proud of these awards, as West Virginia University has only placed as high as fourth place in the competition in recent years.

I have always been very interested in building things and doing hands on activities. I grew up playing with Legos and building all types of structures with them, which was probably an indication that I would one day have a career in Civil Engineering. Through my undergraduate career, I was involved with the materials side of Civil Engineering because I liked beginning with an idea and putting it into action. Not only was it an extracurricular activity, but being on the concrete canoe team was a great interest of mine. I enjoyed coming up with ideas with my team members and then building the canoe from bow to stern of the boat. Afterwards we would race the concrete canoe with other schools in the surrounding areas. Outside of school, I like to do different crafts at home or play soccer with my friends. I am always trying to find a new type of craft to make, as I love the challenge of learning new skills, and I like to see the end result of the projects. I also like to play sports, whether it’s intramural sports at the university or just a random game with my friends. I played soccer in high school as the goalkeeper and normally play in that position today, which is a great challenge in itself, but helping my team win is a great accomplishment to me. I love activities and hobbies that present a challenge and show an end result.

Starting my sophomore year of college, I was heavily involved with West Virginia University's chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). I started just as a member of ASCE, and then soon after joining, I became the Outreach Coordinator for the organization. After that position, I became President of the chapter and the Captain of the chapter’s Concrete Canoe Team. In my graduate career, I am not an officer or leader in this organization anymore, but I am still involved with the Concrete Canoe Team in aiding the new captains with their canoe. I am also a member of West Virginia University’s chapter of Chi Epsilon. Chi Epsilon is the American civil engineering honor society. I held the officer role of Editor during my senior year.