Each University Transportation Center names a Student of the Year.

In 2004, the Infrastructure Technology Institute was proud to name Tanner Blackburn as its Student of the Year.

Tanner received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics, magna cum laude with high departmental honors from Middlebury College, Vermont, in May of 1998. Tanner received his Master of Science in Civil Engineering degree from Northwestern University in April, 2002. His master's thesis, 3D Finite Element Analysis of TDR Cable-Grout-Soil Mass Interaction During Localized Shearing, employed a commercially available, finite element software package to determine optimal cable and grout design for deploying Time Domain Reflectometry technology in soft soils.

Tanner is currently completing his Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering at Northwestern University. His dissertation research, conducted with the assistance of ITI, concentrates on developing advanced instrumentation for performance monitoring of deep excavations and analyzing three-dimensional soil response to deep excavations in soft clays. This project required extensive monitoring of the excavation for the Ford Engineering Design Center, constructed on the Northwestern University campus, which will be the future home of the Infrastructure Technology Institute. Tanner worked closely with ITI research engineers to successfully monitor the performance of the internally braced support system and the response of the soil and adjacent structure.

Prior to pursuing his MS and PhD degrees Tanner worked as a designer for Project Design Consultants, a land development site design company in San Diego, and as an engineer-intern for Hayward Baker in the Chicago area. Tanner was the recipient of the 2003 ASCE Illinois Section Geotechnical Group graduate student scholarship and the Walter P. Murphy fellowship in 2000-2001.