Recent ICT/UIUC Alumni Spotlight: Shihui Shen, PhD 2006
Shihui's (and her machine's) tireless work evaluating the fatigue and healing behavior of hot-mix asphalt mixtures contributed to the now complete ICT project R39-1, Validation of Extended Life HMA Pavement Design. As part of this research project, Shihui and her advisor, ICT Associate Director Dr. Sam Carpenter, developed a Ratio of Dissipated Energy Change (RDEC) approach which is fundamental for evaluating asphalt materials fatigue and healing behavior. Their study also demonstrated the existence of a fatigue endurance limit and healing behavior, which is to be incorporated into the Mechanistic Empirical pavement design procedures.
Towards the end of the five years she spent at ATREL, Shihui was able to witness the increase of activity after the inception of ICT. She says, "It's great to see ATREL is growing so fast since the establishment of ICT. When I was doing tests at ATREL in 2001, there were normally less than five people there on weekdays. Now if you go to ATREL, you can easily find 10-20 or even more students busy working on their projects."
Even though ATREL was busier, the fatigue testing machine perhaps got a break after Shihui completed her research in 2006 and started her new career (in 2007) as an Assistant Professor for Transportation/Geotechnical Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University (WSU). So far, she has taught 4 courses: Pavement Design (undergrad), Highway Materials Engineering (undergrad), Introduction to Transportation Engineering (undergrad), and Advanced Characterization of Highway Materials (graduate). She is also doing research related to highway materials characterization and developing an online course on the topic of sustainability in transportation infrastructure.
Shihui says about her job, "I never get bored. I am doing all kinds of things every day, from teaching to doing research, from meeting students to discussing projects with a funding agency, from doing data analysis to writing proposals and reports. I feel joy and satisfaction when I see the students smiling at me in the class because they understand the course, when my graduate students and I finally figure out a key point in our research, and when I hear the news that a proposal was awarded."
Shihui says her time at UIUC was one of the best experiences of her life. "I feel so fortunate to have had a wonderful advisor in Dr. Carpenter who led me into an interesting topic of research, which has given me lots of room to expand into my current research at WSU. It was at UIUC that I learned how to be a researcher. From doing laboratory testing to searching for literature, from doing data analysis to challenging myself with new ideas and findings, from having discussions with professors in the group to collaborating with peer students and other people outside of my area, from gaining knowledge from so many courses offered by UIUC faculty to catching up new research progresses through attending various conferences and seminars, from writing technical paper and reports to presenting our research findings to other people; I use these skills every day at WSU." Also, while at UIUC, Shihui received a scholarship to study abroad that took her to the pavement research center at University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
These days, Shihui is enjoying the landscape of Washington, which is very different than Illinois. "Here it is special in its Palouse Geography, and it's very pretty in summer and fall. We have lots of hills and "mountains" (compared to Illinois). It's very suitable for outdoor activities year-round. In summer, we go fishing, hiking, biking, swimming, and camping. In winter, we love to go skiing; we have several very good ski resorts within 2 to 3 hours drive."
Shihui's husband, Hai Huang, is also a student of the UIUC transportation program; he studies under the supervision of Professor Erol Tutumler. They have a 3-year old daughter, Sarah.
Photos: (top) Shishi Shen; (middle) Shihui working with her students on an asphalt binder dynamic shear rheometer test to look at the fatigue and healing properties of asphalt binder; (bottom) Shihui and her family in Zhouzhuang, China in October 2008. This is a trip they made with Professor Carpenter. The group was invited by Professor Huang, Xiaoming, vice dean of transportation at College of Southeast University.
