NEXTRANS Center Hosts Inaugural Summit

High-level stakeholders in the Federal, State and Local Governments, Industry, University and the Non-profit sectors met on May 5 at Purdue University during the inaugural summit of the NEXTRANS Center. The summit, titled Exploring Partnerships for Innovative Transportation and Logistics Solutions, examined holistic approaches for addressing the issues of congestion, mobility, safety, infrastructure addition, maintenance and renewal by leveraging technology, financing and public-private partnerships.

The plenary session of the day-long program opened with a presentation from NEXTRANS Center Director Professor Srinivas Peeta.  Professor Peeta articulated the need for innovative and holistic solutions for the multidimensional challenges and triggers in the transportation sector and observed that integrated approach may be the only sustainable option.  His talk was followed by two presentations on National Transportation Vision and Challenges for the Future.   Administrator Paul Brubaker of USDOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) focused on the issue from the Federal Government perspective.  Dr.  Michael Walton, Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and the immediate past Chairman of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), focused on the issue from the Industry perspective.

The plenary was followed by a networking hour showcasing the collective expertise of the NEXTRANS center’s partner institutions through display booths and student poster presentations.  Administrator Brubaker interacted with NEXTRANS Center students from Purdue University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and The Ohio State University as well as undergraduate students from Purdue’s Environmental Engineering program and high-school students from Crawfordsville, Indiana.  He also visited display booths presented by Purdue’s Discovery Park, Research Park, and Technical Assistance Program, Illinois Center for Transportation, The Ohio State University Transportation Research Labs, and Martin University.

Transportation, Logistics, and Economic Development was the title of a panel discussion that followed the networking hour.  The discussion was moderated by Dr. Kumares Sinha, Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue University.  Panelists making presentations were INDOT Deputy Commissioner John Weaver, ODOT Deputy Director Howard Wood, IDOT Engineer of Material and Physical Research David Lippert, WisDOT Administrator for Transportation Investment Management Dr. Mark Wolfgram, and MDOT Bureau Director for Highway Delivery John Friend.  They were joined by Rich Cooper and Randall Blankenhorn, Executive Directors respectively of the Ports of Indiana and the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Karl Browning was the Master of Ceremony for the Luncheon Program, which featured a major address by Purdue’s Vice Provost for Engagement Victor Lechtenberg.  After describing some of the major initiatives through which Purdue was transforming itself as a 21st century Research University, Dr. Lechtenberg elaborated on the vision of the NEXTRANS Center.  He highlighted its quest for attaining sustainability by partnering with academia, industry and government and linking innovation with education and technology transfer.  The Luncheon program was followed by a small award ceremony that recognized the achievements of high-school and undergraduate students and critical contribution to the Center start-up by its transitional team.

The afternoon portion of the program featured government-industry-university dialogue on integrated solutions focusing on four critical areas of focus for the NEXTRANS Center: (1) Intermodalism; (2) Integration Across Goals; (3) Leveraging Technology; and (4) Public-Private Partnerships.  Representing the government side in these four parallel sessions were Keith Bucklew (INDOT), Dr. Thea Graham (FAA), Don Foley (Indiana Economic Development Corporation) and Thomas Marchessault (RITA).  Dave Semenuk (Walmart), Dr. Mike Tzamaloukas (DASH Navigation), Harry Voccola (NAVTEQ) and Dr. Fidel Saenz de Ormijana (Ferrovial Agroman) contributed the industry perspectives.  The academic views were represented by Professors Laurence Rilett (University of Nebraska – Lincoln), Hani  Mahmassani (Northwestern University), Ben Coifman (The Ohio State University), and Michael Walton (University of Texas at Austin). Summary from each discussion were presented in the final session of the program by Dr. Laurence Rilett, Dr. Hani Mahmassani, Dr. Mark McCord (The Ohio State University), and Dr. Robert Bernhard (University of Notre Dame).

More than 165 participants attended the summit, which drew faculty and students from the major partner Universities as well as NEXTRANS Center’s educational partner Martin University. Representatives from four other UTCs, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Toledo and Northwestern University joined transportation faculty from other universities in the Midwest region to exchange views and discuss opportunities for collaboration.  Attending the summit from the public sector were officials from USDOT’s RITA, FAA, and PHMSA, state DOT’s in region V and various local and regional planning agencies.  Summit Sponsors included Purdue Discovery Park, Bingham McHale, NAVTEQ, UPS and Hellman Logistics. 

Click here for additional information including copies of presentations.