TTI Experts Address the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 is changing everything we know. That includes transportation. Our most severe public health crisis in a century is drastically reshaping how we work, learn, worship and recreate. It’s also transforming how we — and the products we need every day — are moved safely and efficiently from one place to another.
In the midst of our national emergency, transportation can assume conflicting roles, paradoxically facilitating the spread of disease while at the same time supporting our ability to fight and recover from it. This underscores our need to contemplate mobility needs in a way that bolsters public health considerations.
TTI researchers are leading these important discussions on topics ranging from telework to freight supply chains to public transit. Their thoughts are collected on a web page, https://tti.tamu.edu/covid-19/, which is updated frequently. Visit the page to learn what TTI experts are saying about the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on our transportation system and, by association, our global culture.
Epps Presented with Lifetime Achievement Award, Inducted into AMAP Hall of Fame
TTI Executive Associate Director Jon Epps accepted the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Modified Asphalt Producers (AMAP) Feb. 12. The AMAP board of directors also inducted Epps into the AMAP Hall of Fame. AMAP promotes the value of asphalt modifiers and additives, and serves the industry as a clearinghouse of information about existing modifiers and modifier technologies as well as innovations in the field. AMAP gave Epps the AMAP 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award “in recognition of lifelong leadership advancing asphalt paving technologies.”
“I’m honored to receive this award from AMAP and be an inductee to the association’s Hall of Fame,” says Epps. “What’s important is giving back to the industry that means so much to me.”
With over 50 years in this industry, Epps has authored or co-authored more than 500 research publications in fields such as soils stabilization, recycling, design of flexible pavements, polymer modification, warm-mix asphalt, sustainable pavements, and structural testing. He has also encouraged up-and-coming generations of engineers and asphalt technologists to increase the industry’s knowledge base for building sustainable asphalt pavements.
Everett Crews, AMAP president and director of research and development pavement technologies at Ingevity, notes, “We’re witnesses to Epps’s devotion to professional service in our industry, and he continues to mentor and inspire others to follow in his footsteps.”
The Safe System Approach with Wunderlich
Robert Wunderlich, P.E., Institute of Transportation Engineers fellow and director of the TTI Center for Transportation Safety, discusses the Safe System approach to reducing serious injuries and fatalities on roadways. He highlights the various aspects of the Safe System, including roadway design that reduces user error and lowers impact forces, and explains what transportation professionals can do to help implement a Safe System approach.
Listen at https://www.spreaker.com/user/ite-talks-transportation/robert-wunderlich.
Kuhn Elected ITE International Vice President, Named A&M System Regents Fellow
TTI Senior Research Engineer Beverly Kuhn was elected the 2021 international vice president of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Kuhn, head of TTI’s System Reliability Division, will take office in January 2021.
Kuhn’s expertise covers a number of transportation fields, including advanced transportation operations, connected infrastructure, active transportation and demand management. She’s led cutting-edge research projects for the U.S. Department of Transportation and various state departments of transportation around the country, among other sponsors. The work has led to roadways that are better designed, less congested and safer to travel.
Since joining ITE as a student 35 years ago, Kuhn has been active at every level and is currently an ITE Fellow. As international vice president, Kuhn will work with the International Board of Direction and the membership to further embrace diversity, enhance collaboration among transportation stakeholders, and fully leverage the expertise and perspective of ITE’s councils and committees. Her vision is to enhance the integral role transportation plays in the prosperity of our communities and citizens.
“I believe ITE can help ensure our members and our neighbors are not only included but heard in a meaningful dialogue so that their needs are met, and they can realize the future they want for themselves and their families,” says Kuhn. “As transportation professionals, we play a key role in helping make their success a reality.”
Kuhn has also been named a Regent’s Fellow by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and will be honored with the Regents Fellow Award during a ceremony scheduled for this summer.
In addition to her vast experience helping solve transportation problems through research, Kuhn has shared her knowledge with students by teaching courses in transportation and civil engineering. Besides volunteering her time and expertise for transportation-affiliated associations, Kuhn has shown her devotion to humanitarian causes with her service to numerous Texas A&M and College Station, TX, organizations — a long list that includes the Texas A&M University Council of Principal Investigators and Boy Scout Troop 102.
“I am honored to receive the Regents Fellow Service Award,” Kuhn said of the prestigious recognition. “I chose a research career in transportation in an attempt to help make our transportation system better and improve the lives of our neighbors. I am humbled to be recognized by the A&M System for my efforts to serve my community and the state of Texas, and to make the world a better place.”
Lomax Receives TSPE 2019 Engineer of the Year Award
TTI Research Fellow Tim Lomax received the Texas Society of Professional Engineers (TSPE) Brazos Chapter 2019 Engineer of the Year Award Feb. 18. Founded in 1936, TSPE, a part of the National Society of Professional Engineers, encourages and supports engineers across Texas in 24 local chapters and 8 student chapters.
Lomax received the award for his efforts scoping and implementing the Kyle Field Football Game Transportation Plan and assisting local agencies in communicating the status of several large, ongoing local transportation projects. He’s the 10th TTI engineer to receive the award.
“I’ve been lucky to work with many great professionals across a range of disciplines at our excellent local partner agencies,” says Lomax. “My TTI research colleagues have been very supportive in these efforts — particularly David Schrank, Bill Eisele and Shawn Turner.”
Lomax’s career in urban mobility research spans more than 35 years. He is perhaps best known for his leadership in producing TTI’s Urban Mobility Report and contributes to regional and statewide congestion analyses and often helps to generate solution strategies.
“The Brazos Chapter of TSPE is excited to present this award to such a deserving member of our local engineering community,” says Susan Monnat, vice president of TSPE’s Region II.
