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June 2008
Leaders honored at CTS annual awards luncheon
CTS presented the following awards at its Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon on April 24 in Minneapolis. Robert Johns, CTS director, began the event with a report of CTS accomplishments and plans, and then moderated the first four award presentations.
Johns, Randy Halvorson, Richard Braun
Richard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award: Former CTS director Richard Braun presented the award to Randy Halvorson, senior associate with Cambridge Systematics and former division director for program management at Mn/DOT. Braun said Halvorson was an "original-idea person" and a champion for Mn/DOT research programs. Halvorson credited his success to a four-step process he learned from Braun: Understand the importance of research, support research financing even in hard times, give staff the freedom to innovate, and nurture the department's relationship with the University.
Johns, Connie Kozlak, Mary Hill Smith
Ray L. Lappegaard Distinguished Service Award: In her introduction, CTS Executive Committee member Mary Hill Smith called recipient Connie Kozlak the "quintessential professional leader in her field and a friend to anyone who knows her." Kozlak is the systems planning and programming manager for the Metropolitan Council and chair of the CTS Transportation Planning and the Environment Council, and she has been a long-time mentor for the Master's in Urban Planning Program at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Kozlak said that while she enjoys her discussions with researchers, she especially enjoys her work with students. "It's what's needed," she said. "We're all going to retire some day."
Johns, Cathy Petersen, Richard Murphy
William K. Smith Distinguished Service Award: Richard Murphy Jr., chair of the CTS Executive Committee, presented the award to a "most-deserving candidate," Cathy Petersen. Petersen is the principal for CJ Petersen & Associates, a research, training, and consulting firm, and is the author of three books on international trade. She was a founding co-chair of the CTS Logistics Task Force and continues her work with CTS through the annual freight and logistics symposium. "We began bringing people together and had great success," she said.
Johns, Fred Corrigan, Colleen Landkamer
Distinguished Public Leadership Award: Previous recipient Colleen Landkamer presented the award to Fred Corrigan, executive director of the Aggregate & Ready Mix Association of Minnesota. "Fred is a community builder and works tirelessly to get things done," Landkamer said. "Whether in Minnesota or internationally, Fred makes a difference." Corrigan said he is proud to chair the CTS Executive Committee, adding that CTS and the University "play a critical neutral role in these years of partisanship."
Gina Baas, CTS communications and outreach director, then presented the education awards.
David Levinson, Nebiyou Tilahun, and Gina Baas
Matthew J. Huber Award for Excellence in Transportation Research and Education: Two students received awards--Nebiyou Tilahun and Raul Velasquez. Tilahun is in the final year of his civil engineering Ph.D. program and has done "much innovative work," said David Levinson, his advisor. Tilahun's work on the value of different features of bicycle facilities, which made up his master's thesis, was incorporated into National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) report 552: Guidelines for Analysis of Investments in Bicycle Facilities. Tilahun said the Huber award encourages him to continue his work in the field.
Mihai Marasteanu, Raul Velasquez, and Baas
The other winner this year is Raul Velasquez, who is also working toward his Ph.D. in civil engineering, under advisor Mihai Marasteanu. Velasquez has worked as a research assistant on many projects related to pavement engineering and pavement design and was a teaching assistant in civil engineering classes. "Raul is an excellent student, and I am lucky to have a student like him." In turn, Velasquez said he had "won the lottery" by having Marasteanu as his advisor.
Mike Manser, Mick Rakauskas, and Baas
ITS Institute Student of the Year Award: The U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration presents an outstanding student of the year award to each of its University Transportation Centers (UTCs). The recipient of the 2007 award at the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute, a UTC housed at CTS, is Michael "Mick" Rakauskas. He received the award at the annual Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington, D.C., in January and was also recognized at the April ceremony. Rakauskas is a research fellow with the HumanFIRST Program and a Ph.D. candidate in the psychology department's cognitive and biological program. He was nominated by Mike Manser, director of the HumanFIRST Program. "I expect Mick to have a significant impact in the research world in the next few years," Manser said.
Baas also announced that three students completed their graduate certificate in transportation studies this spring: Jose Fischer, HunWen Tao, and Andrew Schlack.