Journey from Undergraduate to Graduate Student

1. Journey from Undergraduate to
Graduate Student
Gabriela Perales

2. Outline
Research:
• Structural Health Monitoring System
• Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP)
• Research Experience for Undergraduates (UTCRS)
• Illinois Center for Transportation
Internships:
• Texas Department of Transportation
Graduate school:
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln

4. Structural Health Monitoring System
• Greatly reduces risk of catastrophic failure.
• Provides advance warning of growing
structural problems.
• Causes:
• Corrosion degradation
• Materials degradation

5. Micron Optics
• Temperature
• Strain

6. Arsenal Bridge
• Government Bridge
• Connects Rock Island, Illinois and Davenport,
Iowa
• Goal → to monitor integrity and behavior of
structure, and effects due to high traffic and
heavy truck loads

7. 7

8. Texas Department of Transportation
• Summer 2013
• Encino, Texas

9. Long Term Pavement Performance

10. LTPP

11. LTPP

12. University Transportation for Railway
Safety (UTCRS)
• Vehicle Violations
• Sensors
• Smartsensor Advance
• Smartsensor HD
• Autoscope kit

13. UTCRS Research

14. Investigation of Relationships Between
AIMS Shape Properties and VST Friction
Values
• Illinois Center for Transportation
• Objective: analysis of second-generation Aggregate
Imaging System (AIMS-II) and Micro-Deval (MD) shape
properties and variable speed test (VST) friction data
• Statistical analysis on aggregates to obtain threshold for
classifying aggregate angularity and texture into
acceptable and non-acceptable zones
• Clusters used:
• K-means cluster analysis
• Two-step cluster analysis

15. Continuation

16. Publication
• Mahmoud, Enad, and Gabriela Perales.
Investigation of Relationships Between
AIMS Shape Properties and VST Friction
Values. Tech. no. FHWA-ICT-15-006.
Illinois Center for Transportation, Feb.
2015. Web. Mar. 2015.

17. Extracurricular Activities
• HESTEC
• Undergraduate Research Initiative
Conference
• Society of Woman Engineers, Secretary
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
• Student Think-Tank for Innovation and
Research

18. Why pursue a masters degree?
• Intellectual growth
• More job opportunities
• “Free” education
• Detailed course work
• Higher starting salary

19. Grad Student Achievements
• Mentor the new UTCRS students.
• Meet US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx
and Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer.
• Attended the International Highway Engineering
Experience Program (IHEEP) conference as a
student presenter. (September 2015)
• Attended the American Railway Engineering and
Maintenance-of-Way Association(AREMA)
conference. (October 2015)
• Currently working on my thesis
• Awards: Student of the Year

20. Gabriela Perales
Research Assistant
Phone: (956) 624-2543
Email: gperales@huskers.unl.edu