Minnesota’s Department of Transportation (MnDOT)‘s Minnesota Cold Weather Pavement Testing Facility named “MnROAD”, has been a classroom and research facility for many graduate students over the years. Julie Vandenbossche, Associate Professor-the Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) has been one of the stand-outs! After getting her B.A. and M.S. at Michigan State University, Vandenbossche enrolled in the University of Minnesota and eventually ended up at MnROAD.
Vandenbossche did her Ph.D. research at MnDOT. She stated, “The facility itself was the whole reason I came to Minnesota.” Her Ph.D. work involved warping and curling and included measuring the shape of the slabs in the first concrete pavement cells constructed at MnROAD.
WHITETOPPING: Vandenbossche worked for MnDOT for five years, where her first project included instrumenting a concrete road paving in Olmstead County. To better understand construction issues that were occurring, she used thermocouples to monitor strength gain in the concrete. Her work in building and monitoring white-topped cells at MnROAD has had national ramifications. It “had a huge effect on getting those types of overlays adopted and accepted around the country,” she said.
BUY-IN: One of her mentors at MnROAD was Dave Rettner, now President-American Engineering Testing (and an Associate Member-National Road and Research Alliance (NRRA)). At the time, Rettner was with MnDOT; and because he worked out in the districts, he had a wealth of contacts with private contractors for research projects at MnROAD. From Rettner, Vandenbossche learned the importance of working with industry—where buy-in from contractors was a very important part of her education. “Absolutely everything I do research-wise, I try to use that approach,” she said.
DATA: For Vandenbossche, the data from MnROAD continues to be the most serviceable gift. “The majority of projects (including projects here at Pitt) that I have worked on, since [my time at MnROAD], have used MnROAD data in one form or another,” she said. Especially fond of the data from some of the earliest test sections, she acknowledges that many of the cells have dramatically exceeded their performance expectations, and said the quality of the data from those sections is very high. Vandenbossche said 3 things contribute to the quality of this data:
- Experimental design
- Sufficient cell length to establish an average
- Quality, quantity, and accessibility of the data
Twenty years later, she is a huge advocate for MnROAD and hopes it continues its commitment to high quality data. “The success I have had since I have left can be attributed back to MnDOT—with respect to trying to get stake holders involved throughout the process, so that my research initiatives are driven by actual needs, and the solutions provided are implementable,” concluded Vandenbossche.
For the NRRA News release on Julie Vandenbossche, please go to: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/mnroad/nrra/newsletter/currentissue.html?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=#julie
For the October 2017 ISCP article with Julie Vandenbossche titled “Team of 4 at Pitt—the Most Focused on Research, Improvement, & Long Life of Concrete”, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/2017/10/30/team-of-4-at-pitt-the-most-focused-on-research-improvement-long-life-of-concrete/
For the May 2017 ISCP article with Julie Vandenbossche as Keynote Speaker, titled “2017 NRRA Pavement Workshops & Conference Held May 23-24: Summary & Link to Presentations”, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/2017/05/30/2017-nrra-pavement-workshops-conference-held-may-23-24-summary-link-to-presentations/
Home Page Photo: 2017 Pavement Conference at MnROAD
Julie Vandenbossche with Matt Zeller, Maria Masten, & Len Palek