C. Michael Byers
BSCE 1976, MSCE 1977
Executive Director
Indiana Chapter
American Concrete Pavement Association (ACPA)
Born and raised in southern Tippecanoe County near Purdue, C. Michael Byers' interest in civil engineering and construction began early in life as he toured, with his father, the many new buildings being built at the time on the Purdue campus. As a civil engineering student, he put this interest to work with a major in structural engineering and minor in construction management.
After graduation, Byers took project management positions at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati and Promacon, a school construction management firm in Indianapolis. His decade in the construction industry led to what appears to have been a "calling" to represent the concrete paving industry working with federal, state and local agencies. In that capacity, he provides technical assistance, specification and research development related to concrete pavement and material rheology. He has been executive director of the Indiana Chapter of ACPA since 1988.
Through his work with industry, Byers has served on more than 40 study advisory committees for research projects involving Purdue faculty and students. These have addressed topics ranging from durability enhancement of Portland cement concrete (pcc) to evaluation of appropriate opening to traffic strengths. Many of the new performance-enhancing concrete pavement/materials discoveries are being implemented into current concrete paving practices.
Byers has served on the Transportation Research Board-Concrete Pavement Construction Committee and numerous national concrete pavement industry technical committees and task forces. With an interest in outreach and advancement of the concrete industry, he has spearheaded the joint industry, Purdue and INDOT creation of the Applied Concrete Research Initiative at Purdue University. He also championed an industry-endowed ACPA Scholar Program for Concrete Pavement and Material Science, which provides grants to CE faculty and an endowed scholarship program that supplements support to two students studying concrete materials.
Byers lives in Zionsville, Ind. He enjoys golfing and attending Purdue sports events with family members.