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May 2009
CTS honors leaders, students at annual meeting
CTS presented the following awards at its Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon on March 25 in Minneapolis.
Robert Johns, CTS director, opened the event and introduced CTS associate director Laurie McGinnis, who gave a report of CTS accomplishments over the past year and sketched plans for the next one. Johns returned to the podium to moderate the presentations of the distinguished service awards.
Laurie McGinnis |
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Richard Braun, Gene Skok, Robert Johns
Mike Sheehan, Doug Weiszhaar, Robert Johns
Robert Johns, Ron Have, Catherine Petersen
Richard Murphy Jr., Ron Erhardt, Robert Johns
Gina Baas, Shan Hu, Xun Yu
Gina Baas, Evan Ribnick, Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos
Lee Munnich, Katie Roth, John AdamsRichard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award:
Former CTS director Richard Braun presented the award to Gene Skok, a retired research associate and adjunct professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. Skok is “a solid rock,” Braun said, “a technical person who hung in there on every job he’s been given...He comes through every time in a mild manner.” Skok voiced his appreciation for the honor, “especially [because it is] named after Dick Braun.”
Ray L. Lappegaard Distinguished Service Award:
Former recipient Mike Sheehan said this year’s Lappegaard recipient, Doug Weiszhaar, “is truly a mentor for all of us.” Weiszhaar is vice president for special projects at WSB & Associates and previously served as deputy commissioner/chief engineer of Mn/DOT and as county engineer in Stearns County and Chisago County. “It is a great honor to be recognized by peers and former recipients,” he said.
William K. Smith Distinguished Service Award:
Last year’s recipient, Catherine Petersen, presented the award to Ron Have, president of Freightmasters, Inc. Have chairs the Minnesota Freight Advisory Committee and is a member of the Transportation Advisory Board of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Have’s “spirit of volunteerism and creation of community embodies his life,” Petersen said. Have recommended volunteering to everyone: “You get a lot more than you give.”
Distinguished Public Leadership Award:
Ron Erhardt, a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1991–2008, received this year’s award. Erhardt chaired the Transportation Policy Committee from 2003–2006 and authored numerous transportation bills, including the constitutional amendment to dedicate the motor vehicle sales taxes to transportation. Richard Murphy Jr., former chair of the CTS Executive Committee, presented the award, noting Erhardt’s “dedication to the field and his [desire] to learn and have an impact,” he said. Erhardt humorously recounted how he came to chair the House transportation committee despite the concern of his party’s leadership that he would offer a bill to raise taxes.
Gina Baas, CTS assistant director for education and outreach, presented the education awards. New this year, CTS divided its student awards into two categories: the Matthew J. Huber Award, honoring students in engineering, science, and technology fields, and the new John S. Adams Award, honoring students in policy and planning fields. The Huber Award is named in honor of the late Professor Emeritus Matthew J. Huber (civil engineering); the Adams Award honors Professor Emeritus John Adams (geography, public affairs), a significant contributor to transportation-related research, education, and outreach activities, Baas said, and a long-time supporter of CTS.
Matthew J. Huber Award:
Two students received awards this year. Shan Hu is a master’s candidate in engineering management (mechanical engineering) at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Her work focuses on nonintrusive detection of driver drowsiness through a sensing system that monitors the heart rate of vehicle drivers. This project is currently one of four national finalists in the 3rd Collegiate Student Safety Technology Design Competition. Her advisor, Xun Yu, joked that the “problem” with Hu, his first graduate student, is that she raised his expectations: “I don’t know if I can have any other so good.” Hu said she is glad her research contributes to the field of transportation.
Evan Ribnick is a doctoral candidate in electrical engineering at the Twin Cities campus. His research, centered around computer vision and image processing, has focused extensively on transportationrelated applications, including a specific project sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security to develop an automatic surveillance system to protect busy transportation hubs. His advisor, Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos, said Ribnick is a “dream student” who has been published in some of the best academic journals. “He is a true scholar and a very professional individual,” he added. Ribnick said that as a researcher, he wants to develop technology that’s useful and applicable in the real world. “This award indicates that we’re headed in the right direction,” he said.
John S. Adams Award:
One student received the 2009 Adams Award: Katie Roth, a candidate in the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs with an expected graduation in May. Her research has focused on innovative parking pricing and public attitudes toward congestion pricing and other transportation finance mechanisms. She served as president of the University’s Interdisciplinary Transportation Student Organization in 2007–08. Her advisor, Lee Munnich, noted that Roth presented findings of a Twin Cities congestion pricing study at the 2009 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board.
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 2008 award at the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Institute, a UTC housed at CTS, is Eddie Arpin, a recent graduate from the University of Minnesota with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. Arpin began working for the University of Minnesota’s Intelligent Vehicles (IV) Laboratory in September of 2006. At the same time, he began his thesis research on developing a vehicle-positioning system to work in urban environments, advised by ITS Institute director Max Donath. Arpin is currently employed as a research fellow at the IV Lab, working on a driver-assistive system for transit bus drivers. Arpin began working for the University of Minnesota’s Intelligent Vehicles (IV) Laboratory in September of 2006. At the same time, he began his thesis research on developing a vehicle-positioning system to work in urban environments, advised by ITS Institute director Max Donath. Arpin is currently employed as a research fellow at the IV Lab, working on a driver-assistive system for transit bus drivers.
Baas also announced that five students completed their graduate certificate in transportation studies this spring: Reuben Collins, Ryan Gaug, Thomas More, Tyler Patterson, and Ryan Wilson.
The ceremony concluded with the presentation of the Research Partnership Award.