UNO graduate receives Fulbright Grant to study tunnel-boring equipment

Dallas Rolnick previously studied the 64-kilometer tunnel and its construction methods while taking part in the UNO-Innsbruck International Summer School.
Dallas Rolnick previously studied the 64-kilometer tunnel and its construction methods while taking part in the UNO-Innsbruck International Summer School. | File photo
After an intensive selection process, University of New Orleans graduate Dallas Rolnick won a Fulbright Grant that will allow him to join a research team at the University of Leoben in Austria for a year to study tunnel-boring machines.

“Austria leads the world in tunneling research and construction and the University of Leoben is home to Austria’s premier tunneling program,” said Rolnick. “The Brenner Base Tunnel is a globally significant construction project. As an engineering student planning a career in tunnel construction, I couldn’t hope for a better opportunity.”

The Brenner Base Tunnel boring machines, upon which Rolnick will help conduct field testing, are part of the University of Leoben’s efforts to improve tunnel boring machine capabilities and improve the accuracy of forecasting in tunnel excavations. Rolnick believes that, if successful, this equipment will become standard on tunnel boring machines used around the world.

Rolnick previously studied the 64-kilometer tunnel and its construction methods while taking part in the UNO-Innsbruck International Summer School, for which he received a research scholarship from the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation.