March 3, 2016  

Purdue Road School brings GE CEO, State Street update to campus

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —The State Street project and a speech by one of Indiana’s biggest companies are on the agenda for the 102nd annual Purdue University Road School Transportation Conference and Expo next week.

The event begins Monday (March 7) with afternoon sessions and continues until Thursday (March 10) with meetings and sessions throughout the day at Purdue Memorial Union and Stewart Center.

Darcy Bullock, a civil engineering professor and director of the Joint Transportation Research Program, says this year’s keynote speaker is Jamie Miller, president and chief executive officer of GE Transportation and senior vice president of GE.

Miller, who speaks on Wednesday (March 9), offers a good cross-cut of the transportation connections in Indiana, Bullock said.

“You think about GE’s locomotives and the amount of freight - $600 billion moves through Indiana every year,” Bullock said. “And you think about the engines being made here in Lafayette that are going to go on the Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX and COMAC C919. There are a lot of ties here.”

Miller said digital is one of the biggest shifts of our time. The Industrial Internet is yielding intelligent machines, workplace connectivity and advanced analytics that are fueling speed and efficiency across sectors.

 "More than ever, our success is critically aligned to that of our customers," she said. "Through digital technology, we are able to bring direct and immediate improvements to our customer's operations."

Transporation and its role in economic impact on the community will be part of an opening-day speech by Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski. He will be preceded by Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Brandye Hendrickson with updates expected on new INDOT investments.

 “This is an exciting time in the industry as the focus shifts to maintaining and modernizing Indiana’s roads and bridges,” Hendrickson said. “The initiatives, techniques and ideas shared at Road School allow state and local technicians to develop their abilities and better serve the traveling public.”

An update on the State Street project in West Lafayette also will be given.

With Purdue Road School coming on the heels of the state legislative session, co-chairman John Haddock said the status of funding will be a hot topic.

“You can’t say enough how important investing in transportation infrastructure is and the impact in Indiana,” said Haddock, director of the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program.

As many as 150 sessions are scheduled this year with 300 speakers. Workshop attendance ranges from 20 people to as many as 300.

Bullock said pavements and bridges sessions tend to draw some of the biggest crowds because a lot of money is currently being spent in those areas. Sessions on aviation will return this year, and good turnouts are expected for workshops on rules and ethics as well as working with the media.

Purdue Road School is co-sponsored by the JTRP and the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program in partnership with the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Purdue Road School traces its origin to 1913, when W.K. Hatt, head of Purdue's School of Civil Engineering, initiated a conference to help county surveyors and city engineers develop and maintain Indiana's roads and streets. At the 1914 conference, a resolution was passed calling for a yearly school for county road superintendents. In 1915 the conference officially became known as Purdue Road School.


More information on Road School, including the full schedule, is available at https://roadschool.purdue.edu

Writer: Brian L. Huchel, 765-494-2084, bhuchel@purdue.edu 

Sources: Darcy Bullock, 765-494-2226, darcy@purdue.edu 

Tony Denhart, university relations leader, GE, 317-574-8298, tony.denhart@ge.com 

Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47907, (765) 494-4600

© 2015-22 Purdue University | An equal access/equal opportunity university | Copyright Complaints | Maintained by Office of Strategic Communications

Trouble with this page? Disability-related accessibility issue? Please contact News Service at purduenews@purdue.edu.