Rate My Professor Carin Roberts-Wollmann

Carin Roberts-Wollmann, Professor Emerita in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, served the university for over 26 years until her retirement in 2025. She received her B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1983, M.S. in 1990, and Ph.D. in structural engineering in 1993 from the University of Texas at Austin, becoming the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in structural engineering there. Prior to academia, she was the first female construction engineer hired by Austin Bridge Company in Dallas, serving as field engineer on the precast segmental viaduct project in San Antonio known as the San Antonio 'Y.' Since joining Virginia Tech in 1999 as the first woman in the structural engineering and materials program area, she held key leadership roles including Associate Department Head for Graduate Studies, Coordinator of the Structural Engineering and Materials program area, and Director of the Thomas M. Murray Structures Laboratory. She mentored over 100 master's and doctoral students, many of whom became leaders in academia and industry, taught hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, developed the course 'Bridges, Builders, and Society,' and led study abroad programs exploring engineering marvels in Europe.

A nationally recognized expert in structural concrete, Roberts-Wollmann's research focused on reinforced and prestressed concrete, concrete time-dependent behavior, field testing of bridges, bridge behavior, and design. She secured more than $11.8 million in external research funding, authored 46 journal articles, 33 conference papers, 39 research reports, and multiple chapters in American Concrete Institute design guides, with several research-based design recommendations incorporated into Virginia Department of Transportation bridge standards. Key publications include 'Characterization of the Punching Shear Capacity of Thin Ultra-High Performance Concrete Slabs' (2005) and 'Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Bars as Top Mat Reinforcement for Bridge Decks' (2002). She earned Fellow status in the American Concrete Institute and Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, served two six-year terms on ACI Committee 318, chaired the ACI Committee on Prestressed Concrete and the Transportation Research Board Committee on Concrete Bridges, and was honored with professor emerita status by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.