Mark W. Burris, Ph.D., P.E.

Associate Research Engineer

Short Biography

Dr. Mark Burris is the E.B. Snead Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, and an Associate Research Engineer at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. He received his Bachelor of Engineering, Co-op Program, degree in 1993 from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, his Master of Science in Engineering in 1995 from the University of New Brunswick, and his Ph.D., Civil Engineering degree in 2001 from the University of South Florida.

Dr. Burris's main area of interest is traveler behavior in response to pricing, particularly congestion (or value) pricing. He has been, and continues to be, involved in many projects in this area and has published extensively in this area of research. He has served in an evaluation and monitoring role for projects around the country, including the Houston Value Pricing Project and the Lee County Variable Pricing Pilot Project. He has also lead many studies and surveys on how travelers will react to innovative tolling projects and the costs and benefits associated with those projects.

His research has provided a better understanding of traveler behavior in response to tolls and helped to improve our ability to predict this reaction. Due to his experience in this area he was asked to serve on the NCHRP panel overseeing a research project on "Estimating Toll Road Demand and Revenue" was invited by the FHWA to attend an "Expert Forum on Road Pricing and Modeling" and is currently serving on an expert panel for the FHWA's "Benefit/Cost Methods for Operations Planning" project. He is the chair of TRB's Transportation Economics committee, a member of TRB's Congestion Pricing committee and a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Prior to joining Texas A&M in August 2001, he was a senior research associate at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) in Tampa, Florida. While at CUTR, Dr. Burris led the monitoring and evaluation of the Lee County Variable Pricing Pilot Project. This project examined the impact on traffic of tolls that varied by time of day on two bridges in Lee County, Florida. As one of the few facilities in the world with variable tolls this provided an excellent opportunity to study congestion pricing in practice.

In 2008 Dr. Burris was awarded the Charles H. Barclay, Jr. ` 45 Faculty Fellow by the Texas A&M College of Engineering. In 2007 he won the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) New Faculty Member Award which is an annual award to one tenure track faculty member to recognize outstanding teaching and research in transportation. Also in 2007 he received the Zachry Teaching Award for outstanding teaching in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering. In 1999 Dr. Burris received an award for the Best Paper, "Lee County Variable Pricing - Early Findings" from the 7th TRB Conference on the Applications of Transportation Planning Methods. In 1998 he was recognized as "Young Transportation Engineer of the Year" by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, Florida Section.

Education

• Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of South Florida, 2001.
• M.S., Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick, 1995.
• B.S., Civil Engineering, Technical University of Nova Scotia, 1993.

Experience

• Associate Research Engineer, TransLink Research Program, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, October 2005 - Present.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A & M University, 2001 - Present.
• Assistant Research Engineer, TransLink® Research Center, Texas Transportation Institute, October 2005 - October 2005.
• Assistant Research Scientist, TransLink® Research Center, Texas Transportation Institute, August 2001 - October 2005.
• Senior Research Associate, Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida, 2001.
• Research Associate, Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida, 1995 - 2001.
• Graduate Research Assistant and Teaching Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick, 1993 - 1995.

Affiliations

• Member, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Value Pricing Subcommittee.
• Member, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Transportation Economics Committee.
• Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2002 - Present.
• Member, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Transportation Education Council, 2001 - Present.
• Member, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), 1991 - Present.

Honors & Awards

Best Paper, 7th TRB Conference on Applications of Transportation Planning Methods, 1999, for the paper, Lee County's Variable Pricing Project.

Young Transportation Engineer of the Year, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Florida Section, 1998.

Academic Courses Taught

Transportation Engineering. Texas A & M University, Spring 2003, Spring 2002, Fall 2002, Fall 2001.

Transportation Systems Engineering Management. Texas A & M University, Fall 2002.

Transportation Engineering I. University of South Florida, Summer 2001, Fall 2000, Summer 1999.

Transportation Engineering II. University of South Florida, Spring 2001.

Traffic Systems Engineering. University of South Florida, Spring 2000.

Engineering Mechanics: Statics. University of New Brunswick, Spring 1994, Fall 1994, Fall 1993.

Selected Publications

V.D. Goodin, M.W. Burris, T.J. Lomax, T.S. Geiselbrecht, R.E. Brydia, J.C. Pourteau. Pre-Determining Performance Based Operational and Toll Rate Setting Measures. 0-6396-S. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. 2011.

J.C. Lowery, M.W. Burris, T.S. Geiselbrecht, V.D. Goodin. Reaction to Value Pricing by Different Suburban Populations. Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2221, 2011, pp. 74-82.

V.D. Goodin, M.W. Burris, T.J. Lomax, T.S. Geiselbrecht, R.E. Brydia. Operational Performance Management of Priced Facilities. 0-6396-1. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. March 2011.

L. Zhou, M.W. Burris, R.T. Baker, T.S. Geiselbrecht. Impact of Incentives on Toll Road Use by Trucks. Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2115, 2009, pp. 84-93.

L. Zhou, M.W. Burris, R.T. Baker, T.S. Geiselbrecht. The Impact of Incentives on Toll Road Use by Trucks. Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers. Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC. 2009.

V.D. Goodin, M.W. Burris, C.M. Dusza, D. Ungemah, J. Li, S.A. Ardekani, S. Mattingly. The Role of Preferential Treatment for Carpools in Managed Lanes. Research Report. 0-5286-2. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. June 2009.