Rate My Professor Marcus Knight

Dr. Marcus Knight is an Associate Professor in the School of Concrete and Construction Management at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where he has served for over two decades. As a key faculty member in the Concrete Industry Management (CIM) program, he instructs courses including Concrete Masonry, introduced in fall 2010, CIM 3060 Understanding Concrete Construction, and contributes to CIM 3050 Concrete Construction Methods. Affiliated with the Masonry Institute of Tennessee, Knight actively engages in industry relations, such as judging concrete masonry events at SkillsUSA and participating in outreach activities like Merit Badge University for surveying and demonstrations for international visitors from Serbian higher education institutions.

Knight's research centers on concrete durability and performance in transportation infrastructure. He served as Co-Principal Investigator on the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) project 'Acceptable Chloride Ion Limit in Concrete' (2018), collaborating with Principal Investigator Dr. Zhifu Yang. The study determined de-passivation thresholds for reinforcing steel at 0.43% to 0.56% chloride by weight of cementitious materials and for unstressed prestressing strand at 0.42% to 0.67%, with lower levels under stress; exposure conditions significantly influenced corrosion rates, and supplementary materials like Class F fly ash mitigated rust extent. His work on thin epoxy overlays for Tennessee bridges developed evaluation protocols for skid resistance, waterproofing, permeability, and chloride resistance, resulting in TDOT Qualified Product Lists (QPL 23 for waterproofing and QPL 31 for high friction surfaces) and adoption as national standards by other departments of transportation. Knight presented 'Use of Thin Overlays on Tennessee Bridges' with Jon Huddleston at the Mid-Continent Transportation Research Symposium in Madison, Wisconsin, in October 2016. Additional research includes effects of wood ash on concrete properties and evaluation of rapid-set patching materials for bridges. Knight has been a contact for faculty searches in construction management and concrete programs and was recognized in MTSU employee service awards.