Presented by Blake Whitman, PhD, PE, CPESC – Assistant Professor, Middle Tennessee State University
Blake is an Assistant Professor in the School of Concrete and Construction Management at Middle Tennessee State University. He specializes in construction site erosion and sediment control design and implementation, heavy civil project management, and MS4 analysis. Blake earned his Ph.D. (2018), M.S. (2014), and B.S. (2012) in civil engineering from Auburn University. He has experience as a project manager within the private construction industry, as well as with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He developed and implemented a methodology for surveying and analyzing the MS4 infrastructure at Fort Benning, GA, and has conducted research focusing on small- and large-scale testing techniques for improving the performance of sediment barrier practices. His current research efforts focus on evaluating and improving erosion and sediment control practices installed on DOT construction sites, evaluating the hydraulic performance of wattle ditch checks, using RTK GNSS and LIDAR to analyze sediment transport, and improving educational outreach within the construction industry.