In 2002, the Infrastructure Technology Institute was proud to name Jill Roboski as its Student of the Year.

Jill is working on ITI-supported research with Professor Richard Finno while earning her PhD degree in Geotechnical Engineering. She received a cash prize and had her expenses paid to the Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington, DC in January 2003, where she received her award from US Department of Transportation Research and Special Programs Administrator Ellen G. Engleman.

Jill is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in May of 1999 from the University of Alabama in Civil Engineering. In the summer of 2001, Jill received her Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Northwestern University. Her master's thesis, "Development of Soil Parameters for Constitutive Modeling in Chicago Clays", characterized for the first time the effective stress-strain properties of the relatively compressible Chicago glacial clays. Numerous triaxial compression and extension tests were conducted on samples obtained during a field investigation conducted at the site of the Chicago Avenue and State Street subway station renovation project.

As an independent study, Jill worked on defining the load transfer characteristics of micropiles in dolomite using a commercial finite element code, PLAXIS. This finite element analysis was compared with strain gauge data from four test piles. The analysis supported the theory that the interface between the outside diameter of steel and the grout controlled the distribution of axial load transfer with depth, not the interface between grout and rock.

Jill is presently pursuing her PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at Northwestern University. Her dissertation focuses on a deep excavation in downtown Chicago, the site of the new Lurie Medical Research Center. The support system for this 40 foot deep excavation includes a sheet pile wall, and three levels of tie backs. Extensive field data, including vertical and lateral survey points, vibration monitoring, and inclinometers is being used to update two-dimensional predictions of excavation response using a commercial finite element code. This field data is also being used to develop new criteria for allowable deformations of existing utilities.

Jill was also selected as the recipient of the 2002 ASCE Illinois Section Geotechnical student scholarship. During the years of 1999-2000, Jill was awarded a scholarship from the ADSC: The International Association of Drilling Foundations and was awarded the Walter P. Murphy fellowship.