Karen Kelley Dixon, Ph.D., P.E.
Research Engineer
Roadway Safety Program - TTI Headquarters and Research Building, Room 270Texas A&M Transportation Institute
The Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX -
ph. (979) 845-9906 Ext. 59906 · fax (979) 845-6006
k-dixon@ttimail.tamu.edu
Short Biography
Dr. Karen Dixon has recently joined the Texas A&M Transportation Institute as a Research Engineer. She has more than 29 years of experience associated with safety and transportation engineering and design. She is the author or co-author of over 80 technical papers or research reports including a highway design textbook. She is a registered engineer in the states of Texas and Arizona.Dr. Dixon worked as a site development, highway, and interchange designer for many years before returning to the academic environment. She is a nationally recognized highway safety expert. She is the PI for NCHRP 03-99 (Developing Access Management Application Guidelines) and is co-PI for NCHRP 15-43 (Developing the 2nd Edition of the TRB Access Management Manual). She chaired the TRB Research Subcommittee for development of the AASHTO Highway Safety Manual. She is currently the chair of the CMF Subcommittee for the TRB Safety Performance committee. Through her experience in the design of transportation facilities and site development, she brings her practical experience to her practice-based research efforts.
Dr. Dixon has performed a wide variety of research efforts that have focused on the various elements of the access management process. She has been the recipient of the TRB KB Woods best paper award for Design and Construction, the TRB Best Practice-Ready Paper award, and several best of session or best committee paper awards. The central focus of her research is to find ways to improve the design, operation, and safety of transportation facilities for all road users. In her role as PI for developing national training for the HSM, Dr. Dixon created a series of "smart spreadsheets" to help practitioners learn the HSM predictive methods for rural two-lane and multilane highways as well as for the urban and suburban arterial facilities. These "smart spreadsheets" are widely used for practical safety evaluations and are frequently cited as the most straightforward way to learn the safety predictive methods introduced in the Highway Safety Manual. Dr. Dixon recently completed the State of Oregon Access Management Best Practices Manual (available in the near future on the ODOT website). She also recently completed a project where here team developed safety performance functions, based on access location and land use, for urban and rural arterials in Oregon.
Education
- Ph.D., Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University. Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1995.
- M.S.C.E., Civil Engineering, North Carolina State University. Dept. of Civil Engineering, 1993.
- B.S.C.E., Civil Engineering, Texas A & M University, 1983.
Experience
- Research Engineer, Roadway Safety Program, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, July 2012 - Present.
Professional Registration
Professional Engineer in Texas, Registration No. 16904.
Professional Engineer in Arizona, Registration No. 22879.
