The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) stands at the edge of an exciting new chapter as long-time director, Dr. Christopher P.L. Barkan, has retired and transitioned to a part-time research faculty position, and J. Riley Edwards, Ph.D., P.E., CEE Associate Professor and Senior Associate Director of the NURail CoE, has assumed the role as George Krambles Director of RailTEC effective August 16. Riley was recently promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with indefinite tenure and was appointed as the first Sergio A. Pecori Faculty Scholar in Civil Engineering.
The Sergio A. Pecori Faculty Scholar in Civil Engineering position is a prestigious endowed honorary title at Illinois within The Grainger College of Engineering. It is awarded to an outstanding faculty member, typically within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) or closely tied to RailTEC. It is personally funded and named after Sergio “Satch” Pecori, a prominent Illinois alumnus (BS ’73, MS ’74) and the Chairman and CEO of Hanson Professional Services Inc., who is known for his philanthropic contributions, leadership in civil engineering, and support of RailTEC and CEE at Illinois.
Looking to the future of RailTEC brings excitement for new growth, stronger teamwork, and fresh goals. Riley’s vision includes:
- Research – Combine faculty expertise with emerging rail sector opportunities in data science, AI, automation, and onboard instrumentation for vehicle and track condition assessment. Disseminate results through further engagement of rail industry experts by hosting research results exchanges on campus at Illinois and at railroad and supplier headquarters.
- Education – Expansion of RailTEC’s educational offerings to broaden the breadth and depth of coverage – especially through the addition of vehicle-track interaction and graduate-level course content.
- Service – Continued faculty, staff, and student involvement in service opportunities to strengthen the rail industry and facilitate technology transfer – such as AREMA, TRB, APTA, and major international rail transportation and engineering conferences.
“Research and education in rail engineering requires a systems approach to develop well rounded students and generate translational research results. We are at a critical and exciting point in the rail transportation sector to do just this. We have increased access to new inspection methods and novel inspection data, increased inspection frequencies, and opportunities to answer questions with data we never dreamed of a decade ago.
I am excited for the future of RailTEC, and our opportunities to provide both students educated in rail fundamentals and actionable research results. We have a tremendous opportunity to further advance safe and efficient rail transport by drawing upon the collective expertise of faculty at Illinois and through our NURail Center of Excellence partners.”
– Dr. J. Riley Edwards, CEE Associate Professor, George Krambles Director of RailTEC, and Senior Associate Director of the NURail CoE
Riley obtained his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a Masters and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Illinois. He oversees research and advises graduate and undergraduate students concentrating in Railway Engineering. His research interests are railway track and component design and performance and span from rail transit to heavy axle load freight railroad applications.
In addition to Riley, RailTEC’s latest faculty member, Yuanchen Zeng, Ph.D., will be joining Illinois this fall as an Assistant Professor in CEE. Yuanchen had been at Delft University of Technology where he held a postdoctoral research position in their Railway Engineering section since completing his Ph.D. there in December 2023. He also holds a Ph.D. in Vehicle Operation Engineering from the State Key Laboratory of Rail Vehicle Systems at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China. For more information on Yuanchen, click here to read the RailTEC article announcing his hire. Yuanchen has taken over as the lead instructor for CEE 408, Railroad Transportation Engineering, and will be developing new course content related to his areas of expertise in the future.
Additionally, RailTEC is fortunate to have adjunct instructors Conrad Ruppert, Jr. and Min-Ja “James” Shi teaching CEE 412, High Speed Rail Engineering. Both Conrad and James have extensive knowledge of rail engineering through their prior careers in industry.
Chris quote about confidence in future of RailTEC.
RailTEC’s strong research staff continue being led by Marcus Dersch, Ph.D., P.E., Senior Principal Research Engineer, and Arthur de Oliveira Lima, Senior Research Engineer.
Marcus joined RailTEC in 2011 and holds a B.S. (2009), M.S. (2010) and Ph.D (2022) in civil engineering from Illinois. While pursuing his degrees, he completed research focusing on fouled railroad ballast performance and ballast performance improvement techniques. Marcus worked for Union Pacific Railroad as an engineering intern in 2008, obtained his Professional Engineer’s License in 2015, and is the former Chairman of AREMA Committee 30 (Ties and Fasteners) (2020-2023). His current research interests are railway crosstie and fastener design, longitudinal rail stress management, and railroad ballast performance.
Arthur joined RailTEC in 2018 as a Research Engineer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Vicosa (2015) in Brazil with a portion of his studies conducted at the University of Waterloo in Canada. He holds a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Illinois (2017) focusing on railroad infrastructure related research. Arthur’s research interests involve all aspects of rail civil infrastructure, from either the materials, components, or structures perspective.