Steven B. Chase, Ph.D., is a research professor of civil engineering at the University of Virginia, where his work focuses on the critical national problem of aging civil infrastructure.

Chase’s research encompasses condition assessment and analysis of highway bridges and his interests include development and application of nondestructive and non-invasive evaluation of civil structures through the use of mechanical, vibration, ultrasonic, acoustic, thermal, electromagnetic, optical, and radiographic methods. Chase’s research also involves the translation of the data obtained from nondestructive evaluation methods into quantitative and actionable information that can be used for management of large inventories of civil infrastructure assets. This includes the emerging areas of structural health monitoring and smart structures.

Chase joined the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Virginia in August 2008 after a distinguished 30-year career with the Federal Highway Administration, where he made significant contributions in the areas of nondestructive evaluation of highway bridges, bridge management, and bridge engineering research. Several notable contributions included the establishment and direction of the Nondestructive Evaluation Validation Center and the Bridge Management Information Systems Laboratory at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center and the conception and implementation of the Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program on which CAIT was the PI.