The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents recently bestowed its Regents Fellow Service Award on TTI Deputy Director Dennis Christiansen and Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Southwest Region University Transportation Center Dock Burke. In 1998, the Board established the Regents Fellow Service Award Program to honor service, extension and research professionals who have provided exemplary professional service to society that has created large and lasting benefits to Texas and beyond. This is the first time that TTI has had two such appointments in one year.
Christiansen has been employed by TTI for 32 years, and currently serves as deputy director. During his early career at TTI, Christiansen led a wide range of research programs that have had a major impact on transportation in Texas and beyond. Approximately 50 publications document his contributions, which range from park and ride facilities, transportation fuel consumption, carpools and methods for estimating congestion. Christiansen is an acknowledged international expert in the area of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) systems, which he initially developed and saw implemented in Houston. Many of the concepts pioneered in Houston, which emerged from Christiansen’s research, have been duplicated throughout the country.
Burke has been with TTI for 33 years and has served as study supervisor or co-supervisor for more than fifty transportation research projects during his career at TTI. He has authored or co-authored more than eighty-five technical reports, papers and articles and delivered approximately forty technical discussions and presentations on transportation topics. His research includes a variety of policy and technical topics involving financial policy of transportation agencies, international transportation between Texas and Mexico, truck sizes and weights issues, freight commodity movements (including commodity flows and intermodal movements), and economic impact and development aspects of transportation expenditures.