Zhanping You joined the faculty at Texas A&M University, Kingsville, in January 2004 as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. He accepted a position at the rank of Assistant Professor in December 2005 in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering at Michigan Technological University. He earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 2003. He served as Director of the Center of Excellence for Transportation Materials for a few years, which is in partnership with the Michigan Department of Transportation and Michigan Technological University for a few years. He was entitled Donald and Rose Ann Tomasini Assistant Professor of Transportation Engineering. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009, to Professor in 2014, and to Distinguished Professor in 2019. His research interests include the design, construction, and maintenance of pavements, micromechanics for road materials, discrete element modeling and finite element modeling techniques, construction materials (asphalt, aggregate, asphalt concrete), alternative materials for civil engineering, and recycled materials for civil engineering.