A conference in Scotland nearly six years ago led Jaeik Lee to the RailTEC program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a PhD candidacy. Lee worked at KORAIL, the largest railway company in Korea, for three years after earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Pusan National University. He then returned to school to earn a master’s degree in railway engineering in August 2020, at Seoul National University of Science and Technology. The master’s degree program afforded Lee the opportunity to attend a Railway Engineering Conference during the summer of 2019 where he heard a presentation from the UIUC Civil and Environmental Engineering Department about geotechnical engineering. Lee’s interest was piqued. “I needed to find out more about what UIUC was doing,” he said. “When I Google searched, there weren’t a lot of universities doing rail infrastructure research.”
Lee not only found RailTEC but also Assistant Professor Riley Edwards who teaches rail-related courses and conducts research within the RailTEC program. “I wanted to do the research he was doing with infrastructure,” Lee said of Edwards. Lee’s plans to arrive on the UIUC campus for the Fall 2020 semester, however, were derailed by the pandemic. Although his fall classes were online, Lee was able to travel to UIUC to attend classes on campus starting with the Spring 2021 Semester.
Recalling his first impressions of the United States, Lee said, “I thought Chicago was huge and cutting edge, but this area (Central Illinois) is small and rural.” Still, Lee and his wife, who joined him in the U.S. two years ago, enjoy the diverse cultures on campus. “I think the Korean restaurants here are okay, but my wife can cook better,” he laughed.
In early February, Lee defended his dissertation, “Railroad Turnout Frog Profile Geometry and Elasticity Optimization Using Revenue Service Wheel Profiles.” Lee explained his research entails improving turnout performance by optimizing its geometry and elasticity, thereby increasing reliability and reducing maintenance costs. Although Lee passed the defense of his dissertation, his research work is not over yet. “I will keep working on research related to turnouts as well as under tie pads (UTPs) under various track and train operating conditions,” he said.
Lee said he has enjoyed working alongside the RailTEC research team comprised of Professor Edwards and research engineers Marcus Dersch and Arthur Lima. “Riley, Marcus and Arthur are a great, great team,” Lee said. “They are great people.” Lee plans to continue working in academia as a post-doctorate in the RailTEC program. “It’s a great honor and a great opportunity to be a part of RailTEC,” he said.