Ph.D., P.E.
Associate Professor; Director
Hoehn Room 331
(205) 934-8435
Department: Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering
Education:
- BSCE, Drexel University
- MSCE, Virginia Tech
- Ph.D., Virginia Tech
Christopher J. Waldron is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering. He brings a diverse mix of public and private sector experience with him to UAB that give a unique perspective to his teaching and research. While pursuing his undergraduate degree, he worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in the Roadway Management Division, where he assisted with the development and implementation of life-cycle cost analysis techniques to prioritize infrastructure spending, and he worked for INTECH Construction in Philadelphia as an assistant project engineer where he oversaw and managed the daily operations of several subcontractors.
After completing his graduate degrees, Waldron worked as a bridge engineer at FIGG where he worked on the design, load rating, and construction support of many signature bridges, including the Allegheny River Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA (PA Turnpike over the Allegheny River), the Veteran’s Glass City Skyway Bridge in Toledo, OH (I-280 over the Maumee River), the Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Observatory in Prospect, ME (US-1 over the Penobscot River), and the I-35W St. Anthony Falls Bridge in Minneapolis, MN (I-35W over the Mississippi River.)
Waldron was born in Hollywood, Florida, but has also spent five or more years in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Alabama living in such diverse cities as Blacksburg, Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.S. from Drexel University in Philadelphia and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, all in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Structural Engineering. While at Virginia Tech and since coming to UAB in 2008, Dr. Waldron has taught 14 different classes ranging from the sophomore level to the Ph.D. graduate level in the areas of mechanics, structural analysis, concrete design, and construction management. He has taught Statics, Mechanics of Materials, Advanced Mechanics of Materials, Structural Analysis, Advanced Structural Analysis, Reinforced Concrete Design, Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design, Senior Design, Elastic Stability of Structures, Concrete Materials, Engineering Economics, two Construction Methods and Equipment courses, and Estimating and Bidding.
While pursuing his graduate degrees, his research focus was the application of new and improved materials to bridge construction. For his Master’s research he performed experimental verification of the strength, stiffness, and mechanical behavior of fiber-reinforced polymer girders developed by Strongwell, Inc. that were subsequently used as the main load carrying elements of the Route 601 Bridge over Dickey Creek in Sugar Grove, VA. Waldron’s Ph.D. research involved the characterization of the long-term creep and shrinkage properties of several high strength/high performance concrete mixtures being implemented by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to better estimate the effects of long-term prestress loss in girders cast using these concrete mixtures.
Since coming to UAB, he has continued to focus his research efforts on improving the design and construction of bridges. He has completed projects investigating the effects of heavier trucks and higher truck volumes on the bridge network and investigated ways to improve the accuracy of bridge load rating through the use of weigh-in-motion data and by calibrating finite element models of the bridge with load tests. He has also worked on projects to aid in the design of prefabricated and fast-track construction techniques for bridges.
Waldron is married and has four children: three boys and a girl. He enjoys spending time with his family, watching home improvement shows, fixing things, and being outdoors.