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December 2007 Faculty Focus: Kim Roddis
By Julia Parmley The collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis last August raised concerns about the safety of the nation’s infrastructure, and many have been turning to Kim Roddis, chair of GW’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, for answers. In September, Roddis gave a presentation to staff members of the U.S. House of Representatives about the safety of bridges in the United States. Roddis explained the size of the problem to staff who support lawmakers on the Hill. Approximately 14 percent, or 80,000, of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient, meaning the bridge is closed or restricted to light vehicles because of its deteriorated structural components. While not necessarily unsafe, these bridges must have limits for speed and weight. An additional 12 percent are functionally obsolete, meaning the bridge has older design features and, while it is not unsafe for all vehicles, it cannot safely accommodate current traffic volumes, and vehicle sizes and weights. This research on highway bridges, as well as teaching classes and serving as department chair, are all in a day’s work for Roddis. Selected as department chair after a nationwide search in 2004, Roddis came from the University of Kansas, where she was the first woman to receive tenure and to achieve the position of full professor in the School of Engineering. Roddis says GW was looking for a chair with research related to transportation and teaching background in structural steel. “I felt like I was a puzzle piece that was the right shape,” she says. For Roddis, the pieces have been coming together since she informed her family at the age of eight that she wanted to attend the United States Naval Academy to be an engineer like her father. Roddis eventually set her sights on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology instead, where she took an architecture class during her freshman year and discovered “structural engineers have all the fun.” In between her undergraduate degree in 1977, her master’s in 1987, and her doctorate in 1988, all from MIT, Roddis worked in heavy industry and general construction. She performed structural design on power plants, hospitals, and bridges, often one of a few women in nonsecretarial positions at the sites. After her doctorate, Roddis accepted a faculty position at the University of Kansas, where she remained until 2004. At GW, Roddis teaches a graduate course in structural steel and design, a civil and environmental engineering introduction course for first-semester freshmen, and a metal structures course for seniors—all classes that she says she loves teaching. But despite the demands of teaching and her position, Roddis still finds time to continue her bridge research, which she describes as “so much fun.” While bridges are now designed to survive for 75 years, Roddis says cracks often form in existing bridges earlier than was anticipated at the time of their design. When diagnosing a bridge that has cracks, Roddis creates a computer model of the bridge and runs simulations that show how its history of use affects its strength and structure. The computer models she builds help Roddis to determine if the fatigued bridges can be “retrofitted,” or fixed using reusable parts. Roddis conducts some of her research at GW’s Virginia Campus, the site of the department’s Center for Intelligent Systems Research and National Crash Analysis Center. When Roddis isn’t in the classroom or the laboratory, she’s spending time with her family: husband, Lindsey, whom she met at MIT; daughter Hillary; and son Blaise. Roddis also enjoys gardening and playing computer games with her son. Roddis says she feels her students share her desire to improve the world. “I think many students choose engineering at GW because they want to make the world a better place,” she says. “They tend to have broader interests and care about the effects of their work. I’m hoping the material I teach here can lead to better policies.”
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