How To Get Involved In A TRB Standing Committee: Secrets From The Pros-Part 3

Overview

TRB standing committees drive the research agenda and look beyond the state of the practice to address important research problems that may affect the transportation world in the near and far future. They identify research needs, provide information to the transportation community, review papers for presentation and publication, encourage the incorporation of appropriate research findings into practice, and develop special programs, conferences and workshops.

The TRB Young Members play a crucial role in promoting and implementing research proposed by these committees and in bringing innovation and a youthful perspective to trending topics. Therefore, there is a need to engage Young Members in the creation of the research agenda and involve them in the committee activities. The best way to achieve that is for Young Members to join a standing committee as a friend or member and volunteer their experience and expertise. The TRB’s Young Member Council is willing to pave the road for Young Members who seek information regarding the standing committee themes, involvement criteria, and required skills to perform well in committee activities and contribute effectively to their ongoing research.

In this webinar, the Operations and Preservation Group standing committees will present their themes and missions, some of the exciting challenges they are currently addressing, and their agenda for involving Young Members in their committee. The webinar will include a series of presentations delivered by the committee chairs and members followed by an interactive question/answer section, where the presenters will enthusiastically respond to Young Members’ questions and give them an overview of how they can contribute and get involved in their exciting activities. See part 1 of this webinar here! See part 2 of this webinar here!

Learning Objectives:

Offer the audience the chance to learn about different available committees, their goals, and their challenges
Provide information on how to interact with the TRB standing committee representatives
Deliver an opportunity for the Young Members to learn how to volunteer for and get involved in committee activities
Determine the best way for Young Members to contribute to the future of committee’s research

Instructors:

Moderators

Leila Hajibabai (TRB Operations and Preservation Group (OPG) Young Member Council)
- Dr. Leila Hajibabai is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. She has completed her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Transportation Systems, at the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign in 2014 and has received two M.Sc. degrees, one in Industrial Engineering and the other in Civil Engineering. Her research program focuses on operations research applications in transportation Systems with specific emphasis on resilient and economic city logistics concerning human-made decisions and emerging technologies. Her objective is to provide effective and practical methodologies that improve the design and operation of complex transportation systems at various spatial and temporal scales. Dr. Hajibabai is a member of Transportation Research Board (TRB)’s Standing Committee on Maintenance Equipment (AHD60) and Section on Maintenance and Preservation (AHD00). She is a co-chair of the Operations and Preservation Group of the TRB Young Members Council. Dr. Hajibabai has actively participated in various professional activities of the ADB30 Transportation Network Modeling Standing Committee of TRB. She is also a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Nikola Ivanov (TRB Operations and Preservation Group (OPG) Young Member Council)
- Nikola Ivanov serves as the Deputy Director at the Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory (CATT Lab) where he manages operations and technical development, and oversees every aspect of software implementation from conception to deployment.
  Nikola has extensive experience with big data and information visualization, focusing on translation of data into actionable information. Over the last decade, Nikola has worked with state and federal agencies to build situational awareness tools for transportation operations and safety, emergency management, and security applications, using big data.
  Nikola is an active member of the National Academies of Science Transportation Research Board where he chairs a subcommittee dealing with Data for Transportation Operations. At the University of Maryland CATT Lab, Nikola is the primary data architect for the Regional Integrated Transportation Information System utilized by hundreds of transportation, safety, security, emergency management, and intelligence agencies across the United States.
  Nikola received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering, Master’s degree in Systems Engineering, and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Engineering Management from the University of Maryland.
James Bryant (TRB Staff)

Presenters

Max Perchanok (Maintenance and Preservation Group)
- Max Perchanok works for the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), Province of Ontario, Canada. He is based in Toronto.
  
  In his current position as Coordinator for Innovation and Sustainability, Provincial Highways Management Division, he is responsible for funding research by universities and other external partners in the areas of highway maintenance, construction and operations, investment planning, materials and standards. He is also responsible for promoting innovative approaches in the Division’s internal technical functions and processes.
  
  In his previous positions as Research Coordinator for the Maintenance Management Office and Research Scientist for Research and Development Branch, he managed projects focussed on improving winter maintenance standards, practices and service levels, especially related to the effective use of road salt.
  
  He has represented the Ministry on international research and technology partnerships such as AURORA, ClearRoads, Transportation Association of Canada, AASHTO’s Winter Maintenance Technical Service Program and National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Panels. He is active on the U.S. National Academies’ Transportation Research Board (TRB) as Chair of the Maintenance and Preservation Section, and is past Chair and member of the Winter Maintenance Committee, and current member of the Surface Transportation Weather Committee.
  
  Prior to joining MTO he worked as a technical consultant for planning and engineering of transportation systems in the Arctic and mountain regions of North America.
Laurie Radow (TRB Committee on Critical Transportation Infrastructure Protection)
Judy Corley-Lay (TRB Committee on Pavement Preservation)
- Judith Corley-Lay is the Director of the National Center for Pavement Preservation. She had retired followed 27 years working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation in the areas of pavement design, pavement data collection and pavement management. She currently chairs the TRB technical committee on Pavement Preservation, AHD18.
Tina Greenfield (TRB Committee on Winter Maintenance)
- Tina Greenfield is the Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) Coordinator for the Iowa Department of Transportation. She oversees the installation and maintenance of the Iowa DOT’s RWIS weather stations, conducts road weather training for the DOT’s winter maintenance personnel, and analyzes the Department’s salt use and winter operations performance and processes. Tina is the current chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Winter Maintenance Committee and represents her agency for the Aurora pooled fund research consortium. She graduated from Iowa State University with a Master’s degree in meteorology before joining the Iowa DOT in 2004.

Target Audience:

This webinar is intended for Young Members. It will indeed provide exposure to a wide audience who are interested in TRB activities whether they are a first-timer, young professional, or student.