Construction Materials

The Construction Materials Area within the Missouri S&T Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental (CArE) Engineering offers a program of study designed to cover a diverse range of construction materials types, properties, processing, and performance. Activities in the area include teaching, research, and continuing education.

Coursework at the graduate level can be viewed below or by visiting the CArE Engineering Department's website. Recent research had centered on the design and behavior of pavement structures and materials such as asphalt mixtures, aggregate durability, aggregate particle shape, stabilized and unstabilized aggregate bases, pavement drainability, concrete mix design methods, slag concrete, effect of test method variable, and subgrade behavior. Continuing education features current topics involving both asphalt and concrete. Visit Missouri S&T's Distance and Continuing Education Department's website for complete details.

Both MS and PhD degrees programs are available in the Construction Materials area. And, both external and internal fellowships are available. Additional information about the graduate program can be obtained by visiting the CArE Engineering Department's website.

Graduate Curriculum

An MS degree-with thesis requires 24 credits of coursework plus 6 hours research credit. At least two courses must be from out of department and at least two courses must be at the 400-level. Typically, students who obtain an MS in materials have an accompanying emphasis depending on their career goals, such as transportation/materials, geotechnical/materials, construction engineering/materials, independent testing lab/materials, and structural engineering/materials.

Missouri S&T is rich in the diversity of materials-related course offerings within the areas of Civil Engineering, as well as in from other departments, such as Geological Engineering, Geology, Mining Engineering, Metallurgy, Ceramic Engineering, Engineering Mechanics, as well as Engineering Management and Mathematics/Statistics.

Depending on the graduate candidate's career goals, a typical program might look like one of the following:

Faculty

    David N. Richardson, P.E., Ph.D.

    Associate Professor of Civil Engineering
    Missouri University of Science and Technology

EDUCATION

B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla, 1971
M.S., Civil Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla, 1973
Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Missouri - Rolla, 1984

EXPERTISE

Dr. Richardson is active in the field of Construction Materials. The thrust of his research has been focused on transportation materials which includes the subgrade as well as concrete, asphalt, and aggregate pavement materials. Special areas of interest include aggregate durability, shale durability, pavement design, mechanical properties of concrete, mechanical properties of asphalt paving mixtures and granular base materials, drainage characteristics of pavements, concrete gradation optimization, Superpave topics, and Quality Control/Quality Assurance of pavement materials.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Dr. Richardson is active in professional society committees, serves as a consultant to private organizations, and has lectured and given presentations on topics related to construction materials properties, testing, and construction methods. He has directed over 55 conferences and 134 short courses related to concrete, asphalt, and aggregate materials, as well as pavement design and construction.

PROFESSIONAL CHRONOLOGY

Technician, St. Louis County Highway Department, Materials Laboratory, part-time (1969-1971)
Graduate Student, Missouri University of Science and Technology (1971-1973)
Project Manager and Laboratory Director, Johnson Engineers, Inc. (1973-1975)
Owner, Richardson Testing Laboratories (1975-1996)
Partner, Long and Richardson Consulting Engineers (1977-1980)
Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Missouri S&T (1984-90)
Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Missouri S&T (1990-Present)

MEMBERSHIPS

American Concrete Institute
Association of Asphalt Pavement Technologists
American Society of Civil Engineers

PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION

Arkansas, Missouri

AWARDS

Teaching: ASEE National New Engineering Educator; ten Missouri S&T Outstanding Teaching Awards; Campus Faculty Teaching Award.
Research: ASCE Materials Division Best Paper
Overall: Missouri S&T Academy of Civil Engineers Faculty Achievement Award; two Outstanding Advising Awards

Contact Info

126 Butler-Carlton Hall

Rolla, MO 65409

Tel: (573) 341-4487

Fax: (573 341-4729

dnr@mst.edu