HighLight Heading
May 2004
CTS presents awards at April 13 annual meeting
Richard Braun, John Adams
Natalio Diaz, Robert Johns
Richard Murphy, Howard Gochberg, Robert Johns
Bernie Lieder, Robert Johns
Richard Bolan, Yufeng Guo, Marti
Carol Shield, Eray Baran, Marti
Gary Davis, Kate Sanderson, Marti
Richard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award: Citing an "armload of credentials," former CTS director Richard Braun presented the award named in his honor to John S. Adams. Adams is currently professor and chair of the Department of Geography and a faculty member at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He assisted in the establishment of the Graduate Certificate in Transportation Studies program and was a lead researcher in the CTS-coordinated Transportation and Regional Growth (TRG) Study. Adams said it is "wonderful to have a job where you do what you like to do every day," and that he was pleased to play a part in the TRG Study.
Ray L. Lappegaard Distinguished Service Award: CTS director Robert Johns presented the award to Natalio Diaz, director of Metropolitan Transportation Services, a division of the Metropolitan Council. A great satisfaction of his 30 years in the field, Diaz said, is the variety of people he's worked with, such as Ray Lappegaard. "I go to work every day to the best job I've ever dreamed of for myself," he said.
William K. Smith Distinguished Service Award: For his introduction, CTS Executive Committee chair Richard Murphy said he had to edit Howard Gochberg's biography considerably "because he's done so much for us and the community." Gochberg, faculty member in logistics and supply chain management at Metropolitan State University, was involved with the creation of the CTS Logistics Task Force. "It's a real honor to be recognized by a group like this," he said, and encouraged CTS to continue exercising its role in logistics research and education.
Distinguished Public Leadership Award: Johns presented the award to Bernie L. Lieder, a 20-year member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and retired county engineer. While in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Lieder has chaired the Transportation and Transit Finance Committee and co-chaired the State Advisory Council on Major Transportation Projects. "It's been a long road and a good one," he said. "We must be concerned with all [transportation] modes to keep us the great state that Minnesota has been."
Matthew J. Huber Award for Excellence in Transportation Research and Education: Cheri Marti, CTS assistant director, presented the award to two students: Yufeng Guo, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning student at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, and Eray Baran, a Ph.D. candidate studying structural engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering. Baran has done master's and/or Ph.D. research under professors Catherine French, Carol Shield, and Arturo Schultz.
Calling Eray a "fantastic grad student," Shield explained that Baran studied the effects of cracks in bridge girders while they are being cast; Mn/DOT now uses these findings when deciding whether to accept or reject new girders. "I'm looking forward to Eray making life safer for all of us in Minnesota," she said. Baran added that it is a "great pleasure to see research on bridge engineering acknowledged by experts at CTS." Professor Richard Bolan, who recommended Guo for this award, lauded Guo's leadership abilities demonstrated as president of the new Interdisciplinary Transportation Student Organization (ITSO). Guo said students need more connection to others outside their own disciplines to perform better in the future. "Transportation studies is fascinating to me," Guo said, "since it affects our lives and communities."
ITS Institute Student of the Year Award: Katherine (Kate) Sanderson, a graduate student enrolled in the civil engineering Ph.D. program, received the ITS Institute's 2003 Outstanding Student of the Year Award at the annual TRB meeting in Washington, D.C., in January. Her advisor, Professor Gary Davis, introduced her at the luncheon and noted that her thesis research on the extent of highway expansion needed to accommodate future travel demand was featured on local television news. Sanderson said she has an "absolute passion with transportation," and hopes to "give back to this fantastic transportation community."