Eshan Dave graduated with a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at UIUC in 2009. He was advised by Dr. Buttlar. After graduation, Dr. Dave worked with Dr. Buttlar as a Post-Doctoral Researcher.
Eshan Dave
Recently, Dr. Dave accepted position as Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota, Duluth Campus in the Department of Civil Engineering, a new department with its first graduating class expected in 2012. He is excited to be a member of this rapidly growing department. Dr. Dave continues to primarily work in the field of pavement engineering and infrastructure materials, and is in the process of developing a dedicated undergraduate track for students with interests in pavement engineering. He is currently teaching the infrastructure material class.
Dr. Dave is also staying active in research activities in Minnesota. He says, “Minnesota has very cold climate and thus it extreme climatic conditions take significant toll on the highway and airfield pavement performance. Even before leaving from University of Illinois I was studying thermally induced cracking in asphalt pavements located at Minnesota’s road research facility, MnROAD. Thus, from research perspective, it seemed like an easy transition. Furthermore, the research engineers at the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) were very supportive of the idea.”
Before his departure, Dr. Dave worked on ICT project R27-79 “Designing, Producing & Constructing Fine-Graded Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) on IL Roadways.” Prior to the formation of ICT, Dr. Dave was a graduate research assistant on ITRC IA-H1 FY02, which later became the topic of his master’s thesis.
Of his time spent at UIUC and ICT, Dr. Dave says, “The time that I spent at ICT’s ATREL facility was one of the best educational and professional development periods in my life. I learned so much in context of not only how to run experiments or collect data, but how to conduct research, how to develop research ideas and how to develop a plan that leads to fruitful research in the field of pavement engineering.”
“The faculty members at ICT including my advisor Prof. Buttlar, director of ICT Prof. Al-Qadi and everyone else played major role in my “growing up” as a researcher as well as teacher. The opportunities that they provided with the availability of research facilities, avenues for presentation of my research (such as, ICT seminars) as well as conferences conducted through ICT and foremost the valuable advice that I received from them were all part of my education and development while at University of Illinois.”