Railway Geotechnics

Dr. Dingqing Li is executive director and senior scientist, Government Programs and Engineering Services, with the Transportation Technology Center, Inc, a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads. He has more than 25 years of research, testing, modeling, consulting, and academic experience in railway engineering, and has published more than 200 technical papers and reports. Dr. Li received his Ph.D in civil engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1994, and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Central South University in China. Dr. Li is a registered professional engineer, and is a member of AREMA and ASCE.



Dr. James (Jim) Hyslip

is president of HyGround Engineering (Williamsburg, Massachusetts), where he provides consulting services in the areas of railway and geotechnical engineering. Dr. Hyslip has more than 25 years of experience in railroad engineering and geotechnical consulting, including positions as track supervisor (roadmaster) and engineer of soil mechanics at the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). Additionally, he was a geotechnical engineer with GeoMechanics, Inc. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Dr. Hyslip has engineering degrees from Bucknell University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is registered in the USA as a professional engineer.Dr. Theodore (Ted) Sussmann

is a civil engineer with a focus on railroad geotechnical infrastructure engineering. He has 20 years of experience in characterizing track materials and structural response for safety and reliability evaluation, life-cycle cost assessment, and maintenance planning to support infrastructure sustainability. Dr. Sussmann teaches civil engineering at the University of Hartford, and has led track research at the Volpe Center. He was a research fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he received his B.S.C.E. (Ma