Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty

Tim Tyler

Trine University - Allen School of Engineering & Computing
B.S. and M.S. West Virginia University., Ph.D. Virginia Tech
260.665.4821  |  email
Fawick 111

Although I have enjoyed working for consulting geotechnical engineering firms on the East Coast and the Midwest, I enjoy being a civil engineering educator more. Why? Because it is always amazing to see young freshmen entering college with very little understanding of what civil engineering is about and to see them progress through the years to gain a solid understanding of the basics of the profession. My focus is geotechnical engineering, which deals with the application of soil mechanics. Almost every civil engineering project is built on the ground, through the ground, or with the ground! Young engineering students are surprised to learn the importance of knowing the technical side of soil! Some of the classes that I teach are Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Pavement Design, Site Development, and Solid Mechanics.

Some of my other activities include part-time consulting with Patriot Engineering in Indianapolis, and I am the faculty advisor for Trine’s student chapter of Engineers Without Borders. We recently completed a water supply project, and I was able to accompany several students to Ecuador on three separate trips to work on the project. We are now looking for a new project for the chapter to start. For fun, I enjoy amateur (“ham”) radio, amateur astronomy, providing daily weather data to the National Weather Service, reading, gardening, and being outside in the sunshine.