CUTC Honors Leaders and Students

Three leaders in transportation academia, six students, and one long-time industry advocate were honored Jan. 9 by the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) for their outstanding contributions to transportation research and education.
 
Norman Mineta, former U. S. Secretary of Transportation, and Dr. Edd Hauser, director of the Center for Trans›portation Policy Studies at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, were each honored with Lifetime Achievement in Transportation Research and Education Awards at a CUTC banquet in the Nation’s Capital.
 
Mineta was chosen in the non-academic category for his outstanding contributions throughout his professional career to transportation research and education. The award honors individuals who have served primarily in government, business or non-governmental organizations. Hauser received the award for distinguished contributions to university-level transportation education and research.
 
Other honorees included:

CUTC-American Road & Transportation Builders (ARTBA) New Faculty Award: Presented to tenure-track educators in recognition of outstanding teaching and research contributions: Dr. Vikash V. Gayah, assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University;
 
CUTC-ARTBA Administrative Leadership Award: Honors individuals in a staff or non-tenure-track faculty position who have made outstanding administrative leadership contributions to the field of transportation: Ines Aviles-Spadoni, coordinator of research programs at the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development & Education Center (STRIDE) at the University of Florida Transportation Institute (UFTI);
 
Milton Pikarsky Memorial Award: Presented to two graduate students in the transportation field for the best doctoral dissertation and M.S. thesis with an emphasis on science and technology: Dr. Alexandre Jacquillat, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Michael Levin, the University of Texas at Austin;
 
Charlie V. Wootan Memorial Award: Given annually to two graduate students in the transportation field for the best doctoral dissertation and M.S. thesis with an emphasis on policy and planning: Dr. Maite Pena-Alcaraz and Samuel J. Levy, both of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and
 
The Neville A. Parker Award: Recognizes the best non-thesis paper in the field of policy and planning in transportation studies: Rebecca Walters of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San José State University, and Yu (Julie) Qiao of Purdue University. 
Fifty of the most outstanding students from University Transportation Centers across America were also honored for their achievements and promise of future contributions to the transportation field.
 
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx delivered the evening’s keynote address, including comments on the passage of the five-year Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in December, the first long-term surface transportation bill signed into law in a decade.
 
“University Transportation Centers play an essential role in helping us create a 21st century transportation system that addresses current and future challenges,” Secretary Foxx said. “We are thrilled that Congress has reaffirmed the significance of these programs by authorizing a new UTC competitive grant program in the five-year FAST Act bill they passed last year.”