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The author isAdministrator, Researchand InnovativeTechnologyAdministration,Washington, D.C., andan ex officio member ofthe TRB ExecutiveCommittee.

Five years ago, Congress passed the Nor-man Y. Mineta Research and Special Pro-grams Improvement Act, which createdthe Research and Innovative Technology

Administration (RITA) within the U.S. Departmentof Transportation (DOT). RITA coordinates theDepartment’s multimodal research and educationprograms, advances the deployment of cross-modaltechnologies into the transportation system, suppliescomprehensive transportation statistics research andanalysis, and supports education and training intransportation and transportation-related fields.

RITA is positioned to help researchers communi-cate across modes to share research and best practicesin support of the nation’s transportation goals. TheObama Administration is committed to making policy and investment decisions based on sound

science and rigorous analysis. Secretary of Trans-portation Raymond H. LaHood has stronglyembraced this philosophy and has championedcross-disciplinary, multimodal research and analysisas the foundation for transportation policy making.RITA is working closely with its partners within theU.S. DOT operating administrations to advance theSecretary’s priorities: safety, livable communities,environmental sustainability, state of good repair,and economic competitiveness.

A Tour of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration

Implementing Transportation Solutions to Define a New EraP E T E R H . A P P E L

(Photo above:) RITA’s 5-year ITS Strategic ResearchPlan focuses on enhancements to the transportationsystem through technology and connectivity, such asvehicle-to-vehicle systems that allow vehicles tocommunicate with each other on the road and thathave shown the potential to reduce crashes.

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Harnessing ResourcesRITA is harnessing U.S. DOT resources in a vigilantpush for collaborative research and innovative trans-portation solutions—solutions that will define a newera and transform America’s transportation system.The Transportation Research Board (TRB) commu-nity is invited to partner in this effort. RITA staffmembers are involved in a variety of roles at TRB;53—or 7 percent of the administration’s staff—areinvolved in 93 different TRB activities, including lead-ership roles on standing committees at the council,group, and section levels; and with the CooperativeResearch Programs and the Second Strategic HighwayResearch Program (see sidebar, below). This level ofinvolvement will continue and will increase.

RITA has made great strides in fulfilling SecretaryMineta’s vision. Much more can be accomplished,however, to ensure that RITA effectively addressesthe nation’s transportation challenges. RITA’s missionis crucial in ensuring that U.S. DOT’s research invest-ments produce results for the American people.

RITA is structured to bring together importantresearch, technology, and data collection assetswithin U.S. DOT, including

u The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS);u The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Joint Program Office;u The Office of Positioning, Navigation, and

Timing (PNT);

From the RITA staff, 53 individuals—7 percent of the employ-ees—are involved as volunteers in TRB, filling 93 roles:

u For the Executive Committee: 1 member;u For Technical Activities: 1 council chair, 1 council member,

1 group chair, 2 group executive committee members, 4 sectionexecutive committee members, 3 committee chairs, 1 commit-tee vice chair, 4 committee secretaries, 37 committee members,and 4 committee young members;

u For Cooperative Research Programs panels: 1 with the Air-port Cooperative Research Program; 10 with the National Coop-erative Freight Research Program (NCFRP); 11 with the NationalCooperative Highway Research Program; and 7 with the Tran-sit Cooperative Research Program; and

u For the Second Strategic Highway Research Programexpert task groups: 2 members.

In addition to its sponsorship of NCFRP since 2006, RITA hassponsored the following activities at TRB from 2005 to 2010:

u Commodity Flow Survey Data Users Conference and PeerExchange (July 2005);

u Freight Demand Modeling: A Conference on ImprovingTools for Public-Sector Decision Making (cosponsor; September2006);

u Meeting Freight Data Challenges Workshop (July 2007);u Information Assets to Support Transportation Decision

Making Peer Exchange with the AASHTO Standing Committeeon Planning (April 2007);

u University Transportation Centers (UTC) Spotlight Confer-ence on Radio Frequency Identification (October 2006);

u UTC Spotlight Conference on Research Issues in FreightTransportation: Congestion and System Performance (October2007);

u UTC Spotlight Conference on the Impact of ChangingDemographics on the Transportation System (October 2008);and

u UTC Spotlight Conference on Developing a ResearchAgenda for Transportation Infrastructure Preservation andRenewal (November 2009).

Planning is under way for the following:

u UTC Spotlight Conference on Transportation Systems forLivable Communities (October 2010);

u Commodity Flow Survey Workshop (November 2010);and

u TRB policy study on Strategies for Improved Passengerand Freight Travel Data (cosponsor).

RITA and TRB A Growing Partnership

A 2007 conference on Research Issues in Freight Transportation—Congestion and System Performance featured a poster session in theatrium of the National Academies’ Keck Center.

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u The Office of Research, Development, andTechnology (RD&T);

u The Transportation Safety Institute (TSI); and u The Volpe National Transportation Systems

Center.

These programs provide valuable transportationdata, research, education, and training for informedpolicy and decision making; combined, they allowU.S. DOT and RITA to become more than the sum oftheir parts.

Bureau of Transportation StatisticsDecision makers need data, information, and analy-ses to develop relevant and valuable transportationpolicies and programs for the nation. Data are at theheart of critical decisions that affect the Americanway of life. Comprehensive transportation data playa crucial role, from tracking the airline industry’sefforts to reduce flight delays to analyzing the move-ment of passengers and freight across the country.

BTS provides key insights into the interconnec-tions of the transportation system with the U.S. econ-omy and livelihood. BTS collaborates with U.S. DOTmodal administrations and with other agencies, suchas the Census Bureau, to offer products and servicesessential to the transportation community.

Tools for Decision MakersBTS also provides lawmakers with a lens into thedynamics of America’s transportation networks,revealing how people, goods, and vehicles movethrough the system, as well as measuring the impactof social, economic, and environmental factors onsystem performance. Through the TransportationStatistics Annual Report and the National Trans-portation Atlas Database, BTS supports nationalefforts to improve the transportation system. BTSairline data—such as reports on flight delays or airtraffic trends—supply tools for policy makers, theairline industry, and consumers evaluating the safetyand performance of the aviation industry.

The Commodity Flow Survey (CFS) is a crucialtool for evaluating freight movement across thenation’s ports, railways, roads, and airways. The vol-ume of goods—including hazardous materials ship-ments—that flows across U.S. transportationnetworks is ever increasing; decision makers requirerobust, high-quality data to evaluate the safety, secu-rity, and performance of these flows.

BTS assembles economic indices to measure thetrends in the U.S. economy; the Transportation Ser-vices Index, for example, synthesizes data on pas-sengers, vehicles, and goods moving across thetransportation system. As the nation’s commerce

grows and transcends borders, comprehensive dataabout international freight traffic and its movementacross borders and through the transportation systembecome essential. The BTS Transborder and BorderCrossing data provide measures of these trade ele-ments.

To reach their full potential, however, BTS datamust match up with the emerging needs of decisionmakers. To improve its data products and servicesand position them to meet user needs, BTS continu-ously engages stakeholders and customers througha variety of outreaches. BTS works closely with TRBon several of these efforts, such as the CFS data usersworkshop scheduled for November 2010, theNational Research Council–appointed Committeeon Strategies for Improved Passenger and FreightTravel Data, and the North American TransportationStatistics Interchange.

The North AmericanTransportation StatisticsData Interchange in June2009 brought togetherrepresentatives fromMexico, the UnitedStates, and Canada toshare data.

Freight trucks at theprimary inspection line at the United States–Canada border. BTSassembles and analyzeskey data about themovement of freightacross U.S. borders.

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Information PlatformBTS employs a variety of communication methods toconnect customers to the most recent transportationstatistics. The National Transportation Library, theBTS website, and a Twitter network disseminate sta-tistical information.1 BTS also sponsors the AdvisoryCouncil on Transportation Statistics, which exam-ines the quality, consistency, objectivity, and rele-vance of the agency’s statistics and analyses.

The National Transportation Library serves as aplatform for organizing critical transportation infor-mation and for ensuring that stakeholders, the pub-lic, and other consumers have access to relevantresources. As a national transportation knowledgewarehouse, the library maintains extensive digitaland print collections—all available through its web-site—and supports many of the federal government’smost complex data and statistical projects.

To ensure that BTS is best aligned with stake-holder needs, however, more proactive outreach tocustomers is needed. BTS is redoubling its efforts torequest and to listen to feedback from its customersto improve products and to develop new ones tomeet the needs of the transportation community.These listening sessions and other outreaches will becritical to position BTS to support complex trans-portation decision making.

Intelligent Transportation SystemsJoint Program OfficeIn 2008, more than 37,000 Americans lost their lives,and another 2.3 million were injured in vehiclecrashes on America’s highways. Additional fatalitiesand injuries occurred across the other modes oftransportation. Vehicle crashes remain the leadingcause of death among persons 4 to 34 years old. Yetefforts to reduce roadway fatalities and injuries facean emerging challenge that Secretary LaHood hasvowed to fight—driver distraction.

Advancing Safety TechnologyAdvances in safety technology—particularly forcrash avoidance—show promise in contributing tounprecedented safety on the roads, on the rails, infleets, in the air, in pipelines, and on the waterways.The ITS program, managed by RITA and with part-ners across U.S. DOT, in academia, and in the inter-national transportation community, is pioneeringresearch and development into systems that canachieve once-unimaginable safety benefits across allmodes of transportation. The ITS program alsofocuses on the benefits of technology for mobility

and for the environment.U.S. DOT has a legacy of cooperative research with

major automobile companies, producing innovativesafety advances. Although improved safety features invehicles have made it possible for people to survivecrashes that once were considered fatal, the ITS pro-gram is now advancing vehicle, transportation man-agement, and roadway applications that move beyondmitigating crash severity to preventing crashes.

ITS technologies and applications that capture real-time data about weather and road conditions, trafficpatterns, and other elements critical to safe and effi-cient transportation management will change howoperators and users approach travel. State and localtransportation agencies will have a new arsenal ofcost-effective traffic management tools to ease gridlockand improve the quality of life in their communities.

Strategic Research PlanReleased in January 2010, the 5-year ITS StrategicResearch Plan, 2010–2014 outlines a comprehensivevision that builds on progress made and that positionsthe program for continued progress. The theme of theplan is Transforming the Nation’s Transportation Sys-tem Through Connectivity. The connectivity thatdefines the information age will have a similar impacton travel; harnessing this technology will benefit allAmericans. Crafted with extensive input from stake-holders across the transportation enterprise, the planmoves beyond research, development, and demon-stration to lay the groundwork for the deploymentand integration of ITS in the United States.

At the core of this research plan is IntelliDriveSM, amultimodal initiative to enable vehicles to communi-cate wirelessly with each other and with transportation

1 See sidebar, page 11, for a list of RITA websites that offeradditional information about these and other initiativesdescribed in this article.

A prototype of IntelliDriveSM, a multimodal initiativeto enable vehicles to communicate wirelessly witheach other and with transportation infrastructure,was tested in Detroit, Michigan, in 2009. Theonboard equipment collects, stores, and transmitsweather data—future equipment will be smaller andintegrated into the car design, instead of taking uptrunk space.

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infrastructure to alert drivers to—and to help pre-vent—potential crashes and to provide other safety,mobility, and environmental enhancements. Specifi-cally, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) systems that enablevehicles to communicate with each other on the roadhave shown the potential to prevent up to 82 percentof the most severe vehicle crashes. V2V will create anawareness-driven environment for drivers.

V2V systems can alert drivers safely and reliablyto imminent dangers on the road, such as suddentraffic stops ahead or a car in the blind spot during alane change. The research will determine how todeliver warnings effectively to vehicle operators toenhance safety and to minimize driver distraction.

The plan focuses on proven technologies andaccommodates developments that may support orimprove on current research and development. Ded-icated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) wasestablished to underwrite time-critical safety appli-cations like V2V; the plan ensures that DSRC remainsthe core technology. By answering the remainingquestions for the program, the planned research willact as a catalyst for the implementation of Intelli -Drive by enabling deployment.

The ITS strategic plan also provides state andmunicipal agencies with tools and applications toenhance the management and performance of thetransportation system and to use their resources mostefficiently. The 5-year program supports technologytransfer and the development of the knowledge andskills of ITS professionals across the country. Theplan envisions a transportation future that will besafer, greener, and more mobile.

Office of Positioning, Navigation, and TimingAll modes of transportation rely on the Global Posi-tioning System (GPS) and its augmentations and onother PNT capabilities to provide safe and reliableoperation of transportation systems. Increasingly, theuse of the precise time available via GPS is support-ing communication systems, finance and banking,freight logistics, and energy and other critical infra-structure systems on which shippers and carriersrely. RITA’s Office of PNT ensures that all civil-sectorusers—not just those in transportation—are repre-sented in technical and policy discussions about GPSand PNT across and outside the federal government.

PNT is crucial for planning and tracking ship-ments and for mapping routes; it is integral to thefuture of American transportation. For example, ITSsafety applications will require reliable and accuratenavigation to support vehicle crash avoidance andother safety features of IntelliDrive. In addition, FAA’sNext-Generation Air Transportation System will rely

on GPS to support performance-based navigation, aswell as aircraft surveillance, to improve safety in allflight phases, reduce airspace and airport congestionand environmental impacts, reduce weather impacts,and expand airspace capacity and improve the man-agement of air traffic flow through Collaborative AirTraffic Management.

RITA leads the National PNT Architecture effortin cooperation with the Department of Defense,looking to 2025 and beyond to provide more efficientand effective PNT technologies and to overcomecapability gaps, such as physically and electromag-netically impeded environments that hamper GPS.

Office of Research, Development,and TechnologyRITA’s mission involves transforming the ideal ofcoordinated, multimodal, and synergized trans-portation research and education into a reality. U.S.DOT’s modal administrations traditionally haveengaged in research that has led to historic advances.

Global PositioningSystem (GPS) satellitesare providing anexpanding range of datafor transportationsystems; the Office ofPositioning, Navigation,and Timing (PNT)conducts all-inclusivetechnical and policydiscussions about GPSand PNT applications.

RITA Adminsitrator PeterAppel and U.S.Transportation SecretaryRay LaHood conferduring the U.S. DOT’sDistracted DrivingSummit in 2009.

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Although much of the focus of this research reflectsthe agencies’ missions, opportunities arise to findsynergies across the programs.

Secretary LaHood’s effort to confront the issue ofdistracted driving represents an excellent example.Distracted driving affects every mode of transporta-tion—cars, trucks, buses, transit, trains, maritimevessels, and aircraft. When the Secretary convenedthe Distracted Driving Summit in 2009, RITAworked collaboratively with its modal partners tobring together the best thinking on the topic for eachmode. The intent was, for example, to leverageresearch on aircraft pilot distraction to addressemerging issues for drivers of other vehicles, or toleverage research by the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration to address issues confrontingthe railroad industry.

RITA is positioned not only to facilitate, sup-port, and institutionalize the coordination ofresearch between agencies or between a modaladministration and a stakeholder, but also to facil-itate communication and awareness that can iden-tify synergies across research and among people toimplement a technology.

Information ExchangeRITA seeks specific areas of common ground withinscientific disciplines or research clusters—such ashuman factors—and identifies common pursuits,research issues, and technology products that can beleveraged across modes and research projects. Ini-tiatives that expand across modal boundaries supportU.S. DOT priorities and foster technologicaladvances in the interconnected transportation sys-tem. Secretary LaHood has created an environmentthat facilitates communication among researchers inthe department and across the transportation com-

munity through such forums as the Distracted Driv-ing Summit, the U.S. DOT Safety Council, and theITS Management Council.

RITA’s Office of RD&T embraces this commit-ment to maintaining dialogues between stakehold-ers. The RD&T Planning Team comprises researchleaders from each agency and outlines avenues forcoordination and collaboration; the RD&T PlanningCouncil, composed of the modal administrators, setsRD&T policy and priorities.

The RD&T office coordinates an informationexchange to optimize the U.S. DOT’s more than $1billion annual investment in transportation research,recognizing that the benefits of research do notaccrue unless the results are implemented. The officealso works to advance transportation technology byproviding cross-modal research, analysis, and oper-ational support; managing multimodal research pro-grams; and advising U.S. DOT leadership oncross-modal research.

Sampler of InitiativesInitiatives include the following:

u Sponsored by RITA and managed by TRB, theNational Cooperative Freight Research Program car-ries out applied research on freight issues.

u The virtual Climate Change Center, an online,interactive knowledge base on transportation andclimate change, includes information on greenhousegas emissions, the potential impacts of climatechange on the infrastructure, approaches for inte-grating climate change considerations into trans-portation decision making, and ideas for adaptationand mitigation.

u The Remote Sensing and Spatial InformationTechnologies Program leverages existing and emerg-ing remote sensing and spatial information tech-nologies and technology applications—such assatellite-based GPS and topographic technologies—

The National CooperativeFreight Research Program(NCFRP) OversightCommittee met to discussupcoming projects inOctober 2009. NCFRP is acollaborative initiative ofRITA and TRB.

The Climate Change Center (www.climate.dot.gov) isan interactive online knowledge base ontransportation and climate change.

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to address multimodal issues through a university-based grant program.

u General and multimodal research is under wayon alternative fuels, and technical support is beingprovided for RITA’s leadership in hydrogen and alter-native fuels research and development. RITA repre-sents U.S. DOT on the Interagency Working Groupon Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, which is facilitating thesafe transport, delivery, and storage of alternativefuels.

Education and TrainingWithin the Office of RD&T, the University Trans-portation Centers (UTC) program funds transporta-tion research at 136 colleges and universities andprovides the education and training needed toadvance the nation’s transportation system. Theresearch and education programs address criticalnational transportation challenges while developingthe next generation of transportation professionals.

The UTCs focus on transportation issues alignedwith U.S. DOT priorities and maintain vital partner-ships with regional, state, and local transportationand transit agencies, to help find solutions to chal-lenges affecting their communities. The projects arepeer-reviewed, and the results are shared with thetransportation community through the Transporta-tion Research Information Services—housed on theTRB website2—and through other forums thatencourage collaboration. UTC colleges and univer-

sities trained 32,000 practicing transportation pro-fessionals in 2009.

The development of the U.S. transportation work-force is a priority for U.S. DOT, RITA, and the UTCprogram. In an initiative led by RITA Deputy Admin-istrator Robert Bertini, the UTC program is partner-ing with internal and external stakeholders on atransportation workforce development program toensure that the workforce of the future can addresschanging technologies, emerging environmentalchallenges, safety issues, and other evolving trends inthe transportation enterprise.

The RD&T office recently began the development2 http://tris.trb.org/.

RITA sponsors generaland multimodal researchon hydrogen andalternative fuels.

C onfirmed by the U.S. Senate asAdministrator of the Research and

Innovative Technology Administration(RITA) in April 2009, Peter H. Appel hasworked with Secretary Raymond H.LaHood to advance key U.S. Departmentof Transportation (DOT) initiatives byleveraging effective research and cross-modal coordination. These initiativesinclude the Distracted Driving Summit,which convened key transportation researchers, advocates,decision makers, and other leaders to address a growing safetyissue; the bolstering of the U.S. DOT Intelligent TransportationSystems Program to improve safety, efficiency, and environ-mental sustainability across all modes of surface transporta-tion; and the establishment of the U.S. DOT Safety Council,convening all 10 modal administrators.

Before joining RITA, Appel worked with A. T. Kearney,Inc., a global management consulting firm, heading up busi-ness improvement initiatives for clients in the private andpublic sectors, with a focus on transportation and infra-structure. Appel has more than 20 years of experience intransportation and has supported organizations in the rail-road, trucking, airline, and ocean shipping industries ingrowth strategy, supply chain improvement, postmergerintegration, public–private partnerships, and other businessand policy assignments.

He previously served as the Special Assistant to the Admin-istrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and as AssistantDirector for Pricing and Yield Management at Amtrak. Appelearned a bachelor’s degree in economics and computer sciencewith highest honors from Brandeis University and a master ofscience degree in transportation from Massachusetts Instituteof Technology.

Appel

PEOPLE IN TRANSPORTATION

Peter H. Appel, RITA Administrator

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of a strategic plan and has reached out across modesand to stakeholders to invite participation, input,and involvement.

Transportation Safety InstituteLocated in Oklahoma City, TSI conducts worldwidesafety, security, and environmental training for thepublic and private sectors across transportation dis-ciplines, with transit, aviation, pipeline, motor car-rier, highway safety, hazardous material, and riskmanagement training sessions. The program sup-ports the protection of life, property, and the envi-ronment across all modes. TSI differs from mostfederal organizations in that it receives no directappropriation from Congress. Its entire fundingcomes through a fee-for-service structure—all costsare covered by sponsored project work.

Drawing on U.S. DOT and other sources, TSI hasassembled a cadre of instructors with robust, multi-

disciplinary expertise. The more than 700 innovativecourses and seminars presented at the state-of-the-artfacilities prepare safety professionals to handle emer-gencies and other critical incidents through a hands-on, real-world training experience. For example,aircraft crash investigation classes use staged debrisfields, and another class presents a simulated sce-nario of a city bus hijacked by terrorists.

TSI has trained more than 750,000 transporta-tion safety professionals since its inception in 1971;in 2009, class enrollments totaled more than 35,000.Each year, TSI trains more than 1,000 Department ofDefense personnel, as well as 8,000 highway, enforce-ment, and motor carrier personnel in the safe trans-port and handling of hazardous materials.

TSI also trains officials from safety entities, suchas the National Transportation Safety Board, in theskills needed to conduct investigations of aviation,transit, and rail crashes. TSI offers a variety ofselected accident samples, including aircraft wreck-age and parts, as well as a large, open-bay laboratorybuilding for accident investigation exercises involv-ing large wreckage, accident scene layout, and otherhands-on activities for specialized training.

More than 85 percent of TSI courses are held off-site, and web-based training and other cost-effectiveapproaches are offered, including a new Internet cer-tification course for motor carrier safety. RITA willcontinue to work with transportation stakeholders toidentify emerging workforce development needs forTSI to address and to incorporate innovative educa-tional techniques and training technology into thecourses.

John A. Volpe NationalTransportation Systems CenterRITA’s John A. Volpe National Transportation Sys-tems Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, partnerswith stakeholders across government and the pri-vate sector to engage in research into emerging trans-portation issues and to develop solutions that meetthe challenges of a rapidly changing world. Cele-brating its 40th anniversary this year, the Volpe Cen-ter is organized into eight cross-modal Centers ofInnovation, each focused on key issues. Each Cen-ter of Innovation is modeled for cross-modal collab-oration and has the capabilities and expertise tosupport the priorities established by PresidentObama and Secretary LaHood.

Like TSI, the Volpe Center is funded through afee-for-service structure—all costs are covered bysponsored project work. Volpe has more than 500employees—including many leading experts in fieldsacross transportation research and systems—with 75sponsors for 400 projects. Strategic priorities include

The Transportation SafetyInstitute, Oklahoma City,maintains a plane crash“boneyard” that serves asa hands-on laboratory intraining.

Jay Lindly, professor, andstudent researcherZachery White investigatepupil seating patterns onschool buses, under a 3-year pilot project at theUniversity TransportationCenter for Alabama,Tuscaloosa, to assess theefficacy of lap andshoulder seat belts.

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high-speed rail, distracted driving, and next-genera-tion air traffic control systems.

Volpe has established itself as a Center of Excel-lence in the transportation community; it recentlyreceived the Regional Laboratory Award, recognizingits national and regional technology transfer activi-ties; and the Innovations in American GovernmentAward for the development of the Maritime Safetyand Security Information System (MSSIS). Created inpartnership with the U.S. Navy, MSSIS is a web-basedplatform that provides a near real-time view of mar-itime vessel activity worldwide, enhancing surveil-lance and management and eliminating costlyshipboard inspections and flyover surveillance.

The system has proved critical in strengtheningglobal sea safety—reducing piracy, human traffick-ing, and contraband smuggling. Called a “wiki on thewaves,” the program fosters an unparalleled level ofcooperation among participating nations, whichhave partnered to enforce environmental and safetyregulations, to prevent oil spills, and to reduce portcongestion and collisions.

The Volpe Center is collaborating with U.S. DOTleadership on two priorities—environmental sus-tainability and livable communities. The Volpe Cen-ter is supporting U.S. DOT efforts to provideaffordable housing and transit and to improve inter-agency collaboration on these issues, building onwork with metropolitan planning organizations onquality-of-life issues, including transportation, jobs,and education. The work supports U.S. DOT effortsto ensure that livability and environmental sustain-ability are integral to transportation decision making.

Volpe’s newly appointed Director, Robert C.Johns, has more than 20 years of experience leadingtransportation research organizations and has playeda leadership role within TRB, currently as chair of theTRB Technical Activities Council—he is well pre-

pared to build on the Center’s successes. Johns iscommitted to a new emphasis on workforce devel-opment at Volpe and will continue to strengthen tiesto TRB and to the UTC communities by exploringpartnership opportunities.

Moving ForwardThese six components of RITA—some that haveexisted for decades, others that have emerged in thepast few years—are positioned to work in coordina-tion with each other and with stakeholders acrossU.S. DOT and the transportation community toaddress emerging challenges. The nation’s trans-portation challenges are increasingly difficult, and inan era of constrained resources and rapidly changingtechnology, RITA looks forward to collaborating withthe TRB community to make the best and most inte-grated use of research, data, and education to con-front these challenges.

u Bureau of Transportation Statistics, www.bts.govu Bureau of Transportation Statistics on Twitter,

twitter.com/TransportStatsu Climate Change Center, www.climate.dot.govu Intelligent Transportation Systems, www.its.dot.govu ITS Strategic Research Plan, 2010–2014,

www.its.dot.gov/strat_plan/strategic_plan2010_2014/u John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center,

www.volpe.dot.govu National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Architecture,

http://pnt.rita.dot.gov/major_initiatives/national_pnt_architecture.html

u National Transportation Library, www.ntl.bts.gov

u Research, Development and Technology Office, www.rita.dot.gov/ordt

u Research and Innovative Technology Administration,www.rita.dot.gov/

u Transportation Safety Institute,www.tsi.dot.gov

u University Transportation Centers,www.utc.dot.gov

A laboratory simulator isused to conduct researchon locomotive cabtechnology integration atthe Volpe Center.

Volpe Center DirectorRobert C. Johns conductsa meeting of the TRBTechnical ActivitiesCouncil, which he chairs.

Selected RITA Websites