APTech is delighted to announce that Mr. Derek Tompkins, Ph.D., P.E., recently joined our State and National Agencies program area as a Senior Engineer. Derek comes to us with over two decades of experience in pavement engineering and research. He has led or played a key role in many pavement engineering projects and has published numerous papers, articles, and reports on a range of technical topics. In addition, Derek has served as a private technical consultant to owners, designers, developers, and contractors to evaluate road and airfield concerns including structural design, construction techniques, soil and pavement materials, and pavement rehabilitation and reclamation.

“Derek came in and quickly put his expertise to work,” said Kurt Smith, Director of the State and National Agencies program area. “In just a short period of time he has contributed to several of our key research projects and has also assumed the lead role on two new undertakings.”

In his pavement engineering research, Derek has served as the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on nine state and federally funded research projects. These projects included agency efforts to develop and adapt mechanistic-empirical (ME) design procedures and to evaluate field and laboratory tests of pavement materials.

Additionally, Derek played a key role in national research projects such as the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 Project R21 (SHRP2 R21), Composite Pavement Systems, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 1-51, A Model for Incorporating Slab/Underlying Layer Interaction into the MEPDG Concrete Pavement Analysis Procedures, both of which evaluated, revised, and improved models for structural response and distress prediction in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials ME procedure.  

His technical leadership in pavement research efforts also guided the development and implementation of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s design procedure for rigid pavements, “MnPAVE-Rigid.”

When Derek isn’t conducting pavement research, he can be found gardening, performing unnecessary earthwork by hand for gardening, and happily receiving large gifts, as depicted in the photo.

Learn how APTech previously supported SHRP2 R21 research efforts to implement new composite pavement system technologies nationwide.