Staff

TTAP leadership

• 

  • Billy Connor, PE
  • Director
  • bgconnor@alaska.edu
  • (907) 474-5552
  • 130 JUB
  • Bio

  AUTC Director Billy G. Connor, PE retired from the Alaska DOT&PF after 30 years of service. He spent twenty years in AKDOT&PF’s research branch as a research engineer, ten of these as the Chief of Research for the department. His work covered a wide range of transportation activities including developing Alaska’s pavement design procedures, pavement management, maintenance and forensic engineering, permafrost, frost heave and thaw weakening research, hydraulic research including fish passage, rip rap design and development of Alaska’s Hydraulic Manual, and numerous other transportation related activities.

  He has chaired two TRB committees and been active in numerous other TRB committees and activities. He has also served on the AASHTO Research Advisory Committee, ASCE Technical Council of Cold Regions Engineering (currently chairing the Frost Action Committee), and numerous other state and national activities. Mr. Connor has also worked as a Construction Project Manager for AKDOT&PF, managing over $30 million per year.

  ×
• 

  • Vicky Wolf
  • Assistant Director for TTAP
  • vgwolf@alaska.edu
  • (907) 474-7330
  • 126 JUB

TTAP trainers

• 

  • Billy Connor, PE
  • AIDC Director
  • bgconnor@alaska.edu
  • (907) 474-5552
  • 130 JUB
  • Bio

  AIDC Director Billy G. Connor, PE retired from the Alaska DOT&PF after 30 years of service. He spent twenty years in AKDOT&PF’s research branch as a research engineer, ten of these as the Chief of Research for the department. His work covered a wide range of transportation activities including developing Alaska’s pavement design procedures, pavement management, maintenance and forensic engineering, permafrost, frost heave and thaw weakening research, hydraulic research including fish passage, rip rap design and development of Alaska’s Hydraulic Manual, and numerous other transportation related activities.

  He has chaired two TRB committees and been active in numerous other TRB committees and activities. He has also served on the AASHTO Research Advisory Committee, ASCE Technical Council of Cold Regions Engineering (currently chairing the Frost Action Committee), and numerous other state and national activities. Mr. Connor has also worked as a Construction Project Manager for AKDOT&PF, managing over $30 million per year.

  ×
• 

  • Kevin Bjella, MSc., P.E.
  • Research Arctic Civil Engineer
  • kevin.bjella@usace.army.mil
  • (907) 361-5171
  • CRREL
  • Bio

  RESEARCH INTERESTS
  Mr. Bjella specializes in permafrost engineering and Arctic engineering research, focusing on developing engineering tools, construction and remediation methods, to address the consequences of natural dynamics on Arctic infrastructure. He leads the ERDC-Arctic Infrastructure Research Group (AIRG), a joint group of DoD subject matter experts working to advance solutions for Arctic infrastructure design and construction. In addition to decades of Arctic experience in Alaska, high-Arctic Canada and Greenland, Mr. Bjella has extensive Antarctic project experience, over-wintering in McMurdo Station and over-wintering at South Pole Station assisting with the construction of the new South Pole Station. Mr. Bjella was involved with the testing and engineering for the Single Airfield Concept at McMurdo in 2010.
  The focus of Mr. Bjella’s research is on methods for practical, cost effective, and reliable foundation and building envelope solutions for both existing and planned infrastructure on permafrost and extreme cold regions. New methods to offset natural dynamics will require the integration of conventional frozen ground engineering techniques, with the basic science of permafrost morphology and geocryological processes. In addition to the AIRG, research topics range from the testing and modeling of thermal and physical properties of frozen ground, development of exploration tools and procedures, and interpretation of natural processes and how these affect engineering design and construction. Mr. Bjella also is the technical point-of-contact for the CRREL Permafrost Tunnel in Fox, Alaska. He oversees operation and maintenance, and the research and outreach conducted in the facility. Mr. Bjella is also the project engineer for the expansion of the Permafrost Tunnel with the fifth and final phase of excavation having been completed in Q2FY21, creating over 2000 feet of underground passages in ice-rich terrain for testing, sampling, and observation. Mr. Bjella has extensive project lead experience with numerous field and research investigations for the U.S. Dept of Defense, and State of Alaska projects.
  EDUCATION
  M.S., Civil Engineering – Arctic Engineering, University of Alaska, Anchorage, 2008
  B.S., Geological Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1996

  ×
• 

  • Matt Ulberg, PE
  • Director Montana LTAP
  • mulberg@sleemancreek.com
  • 406-531-1142
  • Bio

  Matt is the Director of a local outreach center/program at MSU-Bozeman (Montana LTAP).  Matt loves to connect with people, share knowledge and participate in active learning and discussion of relevant and sometimes irrelevant topics.   He loves to teach about the gospel of good gravel roads, and has spent his career teaching and training roadway managers and designing/ building rural road infrastructure throughout the western US and Alaska.  

  While he is a dedicated professional, Matt’s true passion is his family.  As lifelong residents of Montana, Matt and his wife, Traci, take full advantage of the challenges and opportunities that make Montanan’s unique.  Between occasional hunting, fishing and outdoor adventures with family and friends, they enjoy working hard together, straining vintage house dust through their upper respiratory tracts, avoiding construction catastrophes, and doctoring wounds or blackened fingernails from the most recent crash or attempt at fine carpentry.  Every adventure is planned, financed, and mapped out with his wife of 29 years, particularly working on construction projects, where her skills and patience are unmatched.  Together, they have designed and built two large custom homes from the ground up, are working on construction of a third and planning the fourth… almost entirely in their spare time. 

  Matt currently serves on several non-profit governance boards, has served as the President of the National Local Tribal and Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTTAPA), serves in leadership roles in his church, and has mentored many youth and adults in the areas of accidental outdoor survival skills, cooking and eating BBQ like a boss, home maintenance/ construction, Dad-jokes and all areas of outdoor recreation in Montana. 

  He doesn’t like his picture… as he is better experienced in 3D!  

  Remember, “Life is good if you don’t weaken!”

  ×