Students and faculty from National University Rail Center of Excellence (NURail CoE) partner universities attended the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) 2025 Annual Conference & Expo on 14-17 September at the Indianapolis Convention Center in Indianapolis, IN.
One NURail CoE graduate student from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (UIUC), Coleman Froehlke, gave a presentation in the Track Technical Session on Tuesday, 16 September on his research titled “Identifying Frozen Ballast and the Impact it has on Rail Gaps – A Laboratory and Numerical Study”.
UIUC post-doc Jaeik Lee also gave a presentation in the Track Technical Session on his research titled “Turnout Frog Profile Optimization Through Dynamic Interaction Modeling with Revenue Service Wheel Profiles”.
A special conference track geared towards students included an exclusive tour with the Indiana Railroad, a young industry professionals panel discussion, a students-only networking reception with industry representatives, and a collegiate quiz bowl. The two NURail CoE student teams from UIUC took first and third places in the student quiz bowl competition.
In addition to attending conference sessions, NURail CoE had a booth in the exhibit hall where students were asked to volunteer their time. This gave them an outstanding opportunity to network with industry professionals and to tell them about NURail CoE’s mission to develop solutions that will lead to a safer, more efficient, and reliable passenger and freight rail transportation system in the United States. The next AREMA annual conference will be held 13-16 September 2026 in Kansas City, MO.