Marcus Scott Dersch
- Principal Research Engineer
(217) 333-6232
1240 Newmark Civil Engineering Bldg
Primary Research Area
- Transportation Engineering
Research Areas
Education
- M.S. Civil Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2010
- B.S. Civil Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2009
Academic Positions
- Senior Research Engineer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC), 2014 – Present
- Research Engineer, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Railroad Engineering, 2011 – 2014
Professional Registrations
- Professional Engineer (P.E.), (Illinois) 2015
Professional Societies
- American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association Vice Chair of Committee 30 - Ties (2017-Present)
- American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association Secretary of Committee 30 - Ties (2014-2017)
- American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association Member (2010-Present)
- Transportation Research Board (TRB) Member (2011-Present), Member and Communication's Coordinator of Railway Maintenance Committee (2011-Present), Member of Railway Design Committee (2011-Present)
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (2011 - Present)
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Assisted with research on railroad ballast by sieve analysis and direct shear testing and assisted with tri-axial strength strength testing of different materials at Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory, (ATREL).
Graduate Research Opportunities
Managed research studying polyurethane coated ballast and investigated its feasibility for use in demanding locations. Authored and presented technical papers related to the findings of the research at conferences and research meetings.
Primary Research Area
- Transportation Engineering
Research Areas
Selected Articles in Journals
- Rapp, C.T., M.S. Dersch, J.R. Edwards, C.P.L. Barkan, B. Wilson and J. Mediavilla. 2013. Measuring rail seat pressure distribution in concrete crossties; experiments with matrix-based tactile surface sensors. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2374: 190-200.
- Van Dyk, B.J., M.S. Dersch, J.R. Edwards, C.J. Ruppert, Jr. and C.P.L. Barkan. 2014. Load characterization techniques and overview of loading environment in North America. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. 2448: 80-86.
- Kernes, R.G., A.A. Shurpali, J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch, D.A. Lange and C.P.L. Barkan. 2014. Investigation of the mechanics of rail seat deterioration and methods to improve the abrasion resistance of concrete sleeper rail seats. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. 228 (6): 581-589.
- Greve, M.J., M.S. Dersch, J.R. Edwards, C.P.L. Barkan, H. Thompson, T. Sussmann and M. McHenry. 2015. Examination of the effect of concrete crosstie rail seat deterioration on rail seat load distribution. Accepted, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board.
- Williams, B.A., D. Holder, J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch and C.P.L. Barkan. 2015. Quantification of the lateral forces in concrete sleeper fastening systems. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. DOI: 10.1177/0954409715616997.
- Van Dyk, B.J., A.J. Scheppe, J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch and C.P.L. Barkan. 2015. Methods for quantifying rail seat loads and a review of previous experimentation. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. DOI: 0954409715569862.
- Van Dyk, B.J., J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch, C.J. Ruppert and C.P.L. Barkan. 2016. Evaluation of dynamic and impact wheel load factors and their application in design processes. Online, Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. DOI:10.1177/0954409715619454.
- Wolf, H.E., Y. Qian, J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch and D.A. Lange. 2016. Temperature-induced curl behavior of prestressed concrete and its effect on railroad crossties. Construction and Building Materials. 115 (2016), 319 - 326.
- Greve, M.J., M.S. Dersch, J.R. Edwards, C.P.L. Barkan, J. Mediavilla and B. Wilson. 2016. Effect of particle intrusion on rail seat load distributions on heavy haul freight railroads. Online, International Journal of Rail Transportation. DOI: 10.1080/23248378.2016.1157048.
- Lin, X., J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch, T.A. Roadcap and C.J. Ruppert, Jr. 2017. Load quantification of the wheel-rail interface of rail vehicles for the infrastructure of light rail, heavy rail, and commuter rail transit. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. doi: 10.1177/0954409716684266.
- Van Dyk, B.J., J.R. Edwards, M.S. Dersch, C.J. Ruppert Jr. and C.P.L. Barkan. 2017. Evaluation of dynamic and impact wheel load factors and their application in design processes. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit. 231 (1): 33-43, DOI:10.1177/0954409715619454.
- Bastos, J.C., M.S. Dersch, J.R. Edwards, and B.O. Andrawes. 2017. Flexural Behavior of Concrete Crossties Under Different Support Conditions. Journal of Transportation Engineering
Other Honors
- Staff Award for Excellence (2014)