Reflections on CTS at 40: Frank Douma

Frank Douma was the recipient of CTS's 2026 Richard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award. Excerpts from his acceptance speech are presented here and in this video.

When I was a struggling first-year law student, and Lee Munnich, Barb Rhode, Candace Campbell, and Gary DeCramer all decided to hire me as a research assistant on a project called ITS and the Environment. We were planning one of our first events and thinking about who could be the luncheon speaker and Gary said, "I wonder if Dick Braun would do it." He gave a very eloquent discussion of why he worked to get the Center for Transportation Studies started. 

I was able to work at MnDOT for a few years, Ginny Crowson and Darryl Anderson hired me to work on telework. Darryl really instilled in me and did a great job of articulating the value of having the University do transportation research. He pointed out that not only do we get great deliverables for the project, which are important, but we also help build a longstanding expertise within the state. Probably, I think most importantly, we start to instill the idea in students that they can come and learn and get a career in transportation. 

I also want to point out that it's been great to work with the folks at CTS. Bob Johns was a wonderful partner for many, many years. So we were there, Laurie McGinnis, Gina [Baas] — I think you started working at CTS just before I started working full time at Humphrey. It's been a joy to work with you this time as well. 

Just to look at the names of the folks who have received these awards, if there's ever been a hall of fame in transportation research in Minnesota, this must be it. 

And to work in transportation research is wonderful, because you're not just working in the lab, and you're not just implementing. You're working side by side with the practitioners who might implement what you've done, but also push you further on what are the needs and what are the new new ideas you might want to consider.

June 2026

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