American Engineering Testing, Inc. (AET) recently welcomed Mr. Eyoab Zegeye, PhD, an experienced Pavement Engineer, to the growing Pavement Division in Saint Paul. Speaking to Zegeye’s background, AET President and Pavement Division leader David Rettner, PE, is excited about the addition to his team. “Eyoab brings a significant skill set in the areas of bituminous materials, pavement design and geotechnical engineering,” says Rettner. “We expect his addition to increase our reputation as a leader in pavement materials engineering and design and allow us to serve an even larger geographic market.”
In his role at AET, Mr. Zegeye will be responsible for the testing, characterization, and modeling of bituminous materials as well as the design and analysis of pavement and geotechnical structures. “Pavement engineering is constantly evolving and changing,” says Zegeye, “there is always something new to learn as the field continues to adopt new methods and technology to increase sustainability of materials.”
Growing up in Eritrea, Zegeye became passionate about pavement engineering and infrastructure at a young age, later transforming it into a career. “Pavement and infrastructure is the key to life,” Zegeye says, “it is the way to connect people to goods and services and the base of society.” Zegeye studied civil engineering at Polytechnic University of Turin where he received his bachelors and masters degrees. From there he worked towards his Ph.D., transferring to the University of Minnesota where he was an active participant in the national pooled fund study MN/RC 2012-23 “Investigation of Low Temperature Cracking in Asphalt Pavement” and helped develop and propose new scaling laws to be used to extrapolate test results obtained from small laboratory specimens to large scale pavement structures. After receiving his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Mr. Zegeye travelled throughout the United States, managing the Federal Highway Administration mobile asphalt testing laboratory, where he planned, coordinated, and managed large scale experimental programs using new pavement technologies.
Mr. Zegeye is an active member of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologist (AAPT), Transportation Research Board, and Global Network of Nanotechnology and its Applications to Road Materials and Pavements (GNN-RMP). He can be reached via email ezegeye@amengtest.com.
