Director's Message: Celebrating 40 Years of CTS and Our Partners 

It has been an immense pleasure for our CTS team to celebrate 40 years of work, partnership, and impact throughout 2026. 

As you’ll see in this annual impacts report — An Enduring Legacy of Research, Education, and Engagement — we’ve continued to carry out the mission and vision established by our organization in 1986. The work reflected here shares direct ties to the people, efforts, and achievements that have made CTS a vital leader in transportation across Minnesota and beyond. 

One of my own favorite aspects of our 2026 theme, “CTS at 40: Driving Innovation, Accelerating Discovery, Fueling Talent,” are the reflections from longtime CTS friends, partners, and past team members. Their words have captured so much of what has made this organization and our work so unique. 

In addition to celebrating four decades of our work, we also have focused this year on understanding where transportation research and education can help take us tomorrow. Alongside partner agencies and peer academic centers, we’ve been sharing our successful projects and hearing from experts about the importance of further strengthening collaborative ties between the University, public transportation agencies, private sector partners, and our communities. This conversation has been anchored by three critical conversations. 

At our November 2025 conference, our colleague and former USDOT official Robert Hampshire helped kick off this discussion by sharing lessons from his time leading USDOT’s Research Office. Then in May, Henry Liu, a former colleague who now leads the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and Mcity, joined us to reflect on how he sees universities positioning themselves to lead toward the transportation system of tomorrow. This conversation will continue at our 2026 research conference with a panel of university peers talking about our shared agenda for driving research into impact. 

The current CTS team is so appreciative of the work that our predecessors have undertaken to establish us where we are today. Looking ahead, we’re excited to continue building on that work each day. Here’s to 40 more years of impact and innovation!   

— Kyle Shelton, CTS Director