MTC Asset Newsletter Winter 2005

MTC Student of the Year

Iowa State University graduate student Justin Doornink was named the MTC student of the year for 2004.

Doornink, a two-time Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship winner (2003 and 2004), was selected based on a number of criteria including scholarship (papers and presentations), quality of academic work, and involvement in student organizations.

Doornink, who is currently working on his PhD, focuses on structural engineering research with real world applications. As part of his doctoral research, Doornink developed a fiber optic structural health monitoring system to monitor the performance of Iowa's first high-performance steel bridge.

He is currently developing a structural health monitoring system to identify developing fatigue cracks in fracture-critical bridges. For his master's research, Doornink investigated the use of decommissioned railroad flatcars in low-volume road bridges, which has provided a much needed cost effective bridge replacement alternative for Iowa county bridges.

Throughout his graduate work, Doornink has published in several national and international publications and given several presentations. His most recent presentation was at the Second International Conference on Bridge Maintenance and Safety in Kyoto, Japan, and his most recent publication was in the 2004 International Symposium on Advancements and Trends in Fiber Optics in Chongqing, China.

In addition to working as a research assistant, Doornink was also an instructor for an introductory structural analysis class at Iowa State University during the 2004 spring semester. Doornink has also worked for the Iowa Department of Transportation and Modjeski and Masters Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Doornink earned his BS in civil engineering in 2001 and his MS in civil engineering (specializing in structural engineering) in 2003 from Iowa State University.

See past award winners from across the country.