Dayton Engineer
New Chair Selected for Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
Dr. Deogratias Eustace, professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, will assume the role of department chair on July 1.
Eustace has been at the University of Dayton for about two decades. He is a Professional Engineer and his work relates to the transportation engineering specialty within the broader civil engineering discipline. Before his employment at UD, he held positions at URS Corporation and Kansas State University.
He has been a true servant leader, having served in many roles including chair of Faculty Development Committee, chair of the Graduate Studies Committee, director of Graduate Programs, member of the Senate and now as a member of the Executive Committee of the Academic Senate.
Eustace is the director of the Transportation Research Group and Transportation Lab, which focuses on traffic control and analysis, system planning, model development and testing, intelligent transportation system evaluation, highway safety assessment and crash data analysis.
He holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Kansas State University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Eustace succeeds Dr. Robert Liang, who served as chair for eight years, leading the department through critical pandemic times. The department saw several successes under Liang, including a significant increase in enrollment, a stellar accreditation visit and several positive steps in sponsored research and scholarship productivity.
Dr. Liang will be supporting the transition until his retirement from UD in May of 2025.