AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC)/TRB Conduct of Research (COR)
Coordination and Collaboration Committee
Meeting Notes
02/02/11
Action items are bolded and underlined.
Members and Friends Present:
Sue Sillick, Montana DOT (Co-Chair)
Nancy Chinlund, CalTrans (Co-Chair)
Frank Law, CalTrans
Wes Lum, CalTrans
John Moulden, FHWA
Phil Roke, FHWA
David Jared, GDOT
Jennifer Gallagher, Ohio DOT
Martin Pietrucha, Penn State Univ.
Hau Hagedorn, Portland State Univ.
Alasdair Cain, RITA
Chris Hedges, TRB
Kendra Levine, Univ. of Cal-Berkeley
Leni Oman, Washington State DOT
John Moulden
1. Introductions/Housekeeping
· No changes to agenda.
· Previous meeting notes approved, with no changes.
2. FHWA Initiative to Develop a National Highway Research Agenda
John M. provided an update.
· 1st get FHWA agenda in order.
· Take inventory of national research needs. Use website for research community.
· Identify research gaps in national agenda to see who else might be addressing these underserved areas.
· John will send us something once it’s in writing.
3. RPPM Update
· RPPM review extended thru 02/28/11.
· Even if items don’t reside on website, you can link to them.
· Possible webinar (TRB, RITA) on RPPM pending, once open to everyone, to get initial exposure. Sue S. will coordinate.
· Get RPPM on agenda for AASHTO-RAC (RAC hereafter) Summer Meeting in Salt Lake City (July 25-28, 2011).
· This site is differentiated from the AASHTO SCOR/RAC website as it is intended for a broader audience (researchers and research managers), and is structured on the research cycle and coordination and collaboration in research.
4. SCOR Strategic Plan: 3.B.2 – Increase outreach to non-highway modes, beginning with AASHTO committees (e.g., Aviation and Public Transportation).
· The direction given to this task force is to “develop a plan to communicate, coordinate, and collaborate with federal agencies, AASHTO committees, and Industry.”
· Looking for volunteer to lead this effort; Sue S., Nancy C., and Leni O. offered to assist.
· Distribute to AASHTO committee chairs for all modes.
· There were no volunteers; CCTF will act on this item after some ongoing projects are completed and frees up some time.
5. RAC/CUTC Collaboration Update
· Meeting notes released this week.
· MOU circulating for signatures.
· CUTC members to be invited to RAC summer meeting and vice versa.
· CUTC members can participate in RAC Task Forces as non-voting friends; RAC Administration & Education Task Force to draft guidelines for UTC participation.
· RAC/CUTC group meeting in Salt Lake City open to all attendees; working group currently developing agenda.
· Work plan items include: (1) Discussion of need for national research agendas (NRA), Chris Hedges will develop a briefing paper on three current activities (FHWA NRA initiative, TRB policy study on the need for national research frameworks, and ongoing FHWA oversight provided by the Research & Transportation Coordinating Committee (RTCC); (2) Identify successful partnerships between RAC & CUTC, develop case studies, and develop a “Top 10 requirements for successful state-UTC partnership.” Chris H./TRB, Jason Bittner/CUTC, and Sue S./RAC are working on this task; (3) Development of guidelines on facilitating successful agreements between RAC and CUTC members in other states, Leni O./RAC, Sashi Nambisan/CUTC, and Wes L./RAC are working on this task; and (4) Sharing and disseminating info re: mission, goals, objectives, and activities of both organizations; Sandra Larson/RAC, Martin P./CUTC, Jason B./CUTC, Larry Sutter/CUTC, Skip Paul/RAC, and Steve Peppin/RAC.
6. Lab Facilities
This action item includes three concurrent activities. (1) David Kuehn is gathering information on US federal labs; (2) Western Transportation Institute in coordination with CCTF is gathering information on university lab facilities; a survey will be issued soon after all recipients are identified; and (3) There is an effort to identify European lab facilities. Also, a survey was issued to states from FHWA to identify lab facilities; CCTF needs to coordinate with this effort. Sue S. and Leni O. will follow up with David K.
7. Identifying Universities Conducting Transportation Research (outside of federally-funded UTC’s and CUTC)
· Cast a wide net. What constitutes transportation research (USDOT, Health, EPA, Aging)? Requires a lot of cross-referencing.
· UTC’s don’t reflect all universities doing transportation research.
· We may not be capturing some of other modal research; relates to SCOR Strategic Plan 3.B.2.
· ITE—1988 directory of graduate & undergraduate programs; clue to where research being done; provided faculty info too.
· Might look through RiP & TRID to determine who is doing research for DOTs and other agencies.
· RPPM or social networking may be a way to identify those doing transportation research.
· Next step: Pull list from TRB membership directory; look at TRB papers for this year.
· May be able to combine with survey (RAC/CUTC) re: successful agreements between universities & state DOT’s. Who is doing research for states?
8. Funding Guidebook
· Sue S. is working on revising the SPR portion by adding information on states that solicit for research ideas or accept proposals beyond their state.
· Alasdair C. is working on identifying USDOT programs that aren’t currently in the funding guidebook and updating those that are.
· Calendar may be added.
· Trying to come up with one-stop-shop (on RPPM), tied to Guidebook.
· Conduct of Research surveyed TRB Division A chairs: only 40% aware of Guidebook, and only 25% were using; need to think about marketing. Leni O. will discuss with Mark Norman/TRB as to how best to get the word out. Perhaps we could list tools on the annual TRB Cheat Sheet distributed at the TRB meeting. what are other useful tools?
9. International Collaboration
· ERA-NET update
o Report to SCOR previously distributed. SCOR accepted; some NCHRP funds left to participate.
o Looking into ways for us to contribute (via NCHRP) to projects of similar scope. Trying to identify pieces of one research topic that are complementary between NCHRP and ERA-NET projects (funded separately by the two organizations).
o May also have folks on panels across organizations.
o The panel is preparing report on next steps.
· One ERA-NET panel recommendation (approved by SCOR) was for the CCTF to compile an inventory of international collaborative efforts being conducted by federal agencies, state DOT’s, and universities. The recommendation also suggested that CCTF analyze models for international collaboration activities and make recommendations on best practices.
o Initial CCTF team (Nancy C., Sue S., David J. and Frank L.) met on 01/31/11 to discuss how to approach.
o David will capture presentations from the international workshop at TRB, and post on RPPM.
o Frank and Nancy will develop a RAC survey for state DOT’s to identify states that are collaborating with international partners.
o David will talk to FHWA’s Office of international Programs (OIP) to find out more about their activities.
o Alasdair C. is conducting a review of USDOT’s international activities, and would like to be included on the team for future calls.
10. TRB Sessions/Committee Meetings—FYI/Updates/Make Contacts
· Wes L. provided updates on:
o Two workshops on Sundays re: International Collaboration.
Ø Morning workshop—pavement and pavement noise. Re: asphalt concrete, nearly have all data to create noise profile for asphalt surfaces, and within few years on PCCP. Nearly ready for policy creation (Netherlands). Not so advanced in U.S.
Ø Afternoon workshop—hows and whys; focused on ongoing relationships, why they’re beneficial, despite barriers; Europe—process for starting project includes consideration of other international activities and possible funding outside before funding nationally; one disappointing factor—attendees; not many states present.
o TRB International Activities Committee—full agenda; ideas for workshops & topics discussed (steps to collaborating, removing barriers, implementing research, translating research into policy; how to work with industry; high-speed rail, global financing and rail investment, etc.); identify projects from U.S. side that might be of interest to Europe (may not be aware of ERA-NET); IFSTTAR—encompasses 1200+ researchers; 110M Euro/year; encouraged by international attendance as participants rather than observers.
· Library session. Went well, but low attendance.
· FMCSA. Strong and very active research program: agenda setting, strategic, human factors—Phil R. can provide more information.
· IP session. Went well; we all need to pay much more attention to; you may end up paying for something you invented, if you’re not prepared; MDSS pooled-fund study lead by SDDOT - states not subject to IP infringements, but went after vendor, who settled; IP needs to be discussed at AASHTO-RAC and TRB.
· Information Services. Increasing breadth of organizations entering information into RiP; need to identify who should be entering; more international entries desired; Sue S. received a report from TRB with entities entering data into RiP; Sue S. will send this to Alasdair C. so he can work on USDOT agencies.
· Conduct of Research. POG group looking at how research helps policy develop in the U.S.
· T2 committee. Moving ahead with Goals 1 & 2 of strategic plan. Communicating Value of Research on RPPM site.
· LIST. Asked Ken Winter to discuss entry into RiP. CoR survey discussed (key partner in “Back to Basics” – tools, roles, etc.); discussion to write white paper on RNS and tie-into RiP. Working on providing tools for researchers, especially international researchers.
· AASHTO RAC. David advised that CCTF was acknowledged twice at this meeting (for Research Clusters & for work on RPPM).
11. Meetings – Next Meetings – Mark your calendars! Next Meeting Date – 3/23/11
Upcoming Meeting Dates for 2011 - 5/25/11, 7/25/11 (12:30-1:45 pacific, 1:30-2:45 mountain, 2:30-3:45 central, and 3:30-4:45 eastern), 9/28/11, and 12/7/11 (instead of regular meeting date during Thanksgiving week).
Attachment 1
Action items/new information is in red.
Initiative / Action Steps / Who / Action Taken/Status /Research in Progress (RIP) / Need more marketing to increase participation, need to strive for 100% data entry for organizations required to use RiP, need to broaden organizations with access to enter records into RiP. / Sue Sillick, Lisa Loyo, TRB Information Services and LIST Committees / Annual, an e-mail is sent to those who haven’t entered projects into RiP for the last year or so. Some states fund projects only every other year. A review of RiP project status categories was completed, along with a survey to RAC. Recommendations (ftp://ftp.mdt.mt.gov/research/OTHER/RIP_PROJECT_STATUS_CATEGORIES-DEFINITIONS.DOCX) for changes to categories and adding definitions were made to TRB. TRB has made the recommended changes. Need to review gaps in organizations that enter data into RiP and close the gaps (CCTF, and TRB Information Services and LIST committees). FL UTC is reviewing RiP for duplicative research efforts.
Funding Guidebook / Maintain and add programs from other organizations. / Sue Sillick, Kim Fisher / Sam noted that the TRB International Activities Committee completed the update on the COST and EU programs among others; these are now in the funding guidebook. Sue needs volunteers to contact federal agencies from a list she has and determine additional federal research programs that meet the criteria for the funding guidebook; Alasdair Cain/RITA will help with USDOT. Steve Albert and Sue prepared a survey to states to identify state research programs other than SPR that meet the criteria for the funding guidebook; results can be found at ftp://ftp.mdt.mt.gov/research/OTHER/STATE_RESEARCH_PROGRAM_SURVEY_RESULTS.XLSX). Sue is working on updating the SPR section, using the survey results. Leni sent out a schedule for problem statements that her area had developed. A link to the funding guidebook has been added to the RPPM site. Need to add a calendar of events. Marketing so far has included: e-mails to RAC and UTCs, brochures at TRB annual meetings, and other venues as the opportunity has arisen (e.g., TRB Resources webinar). Need to discuss further marketing; one suggestion was to add a list of tools to the TRB Cheat Sheet distributed to TRB committee members at the Annual Meeting.
Improve – e.g., make more wiki-like / Possible future action.
Unfunded Research Needs Portal / Make unfunded TRB problem statements searchable. / Sue Sillick, Leni Oman / Roy Mesler (TRB) added a link to the NCHRP website and is waiting to see if Google indexes it.
Beta test with UTC’s to see if useful. / Sue Sillick / Pending TRB problem statements being indexed by Google.
Continue to add other research needs (e.g., 8-36 planning research needs, UTC spotlight conferences) / Leni Oman, Sue Sillick
Improve search capability / Leni Oman / Possible future action.
Journal Articles / Write and submit article(s) on successful coordination and collaboration efforts. / Steve Albert and Sam Elrahman / A state DOT/UTC partnering article written by members of this committee was published in Public Roads in 2011. An article on UTCs written by RITA staff was published in TRNews in 2011
RITA Transportation Research Collaboration (TRC) Website / Research Clusters / Linda Preisen, Nancy Chinlund, Pat Casey, Jason Bittner, Sue Sillick, Hau Hagedorn, Amanda Wilson Robin Kline, MJ Fiocco / RITA developed a website titled Transportation Research Collaboration (TRC). CCTF has a spot on the site for research program and project management (RPPM) at a high level on the TRC site. As per Leni’s suggestion, the SCOR/RAC website has been reviewed and pertinent information is also now posted to this site. RITA had a poster at TRB as part of the LIST committee’s call for posters titled Search, Discovery and Current Awareness: New and Innovative Uses of Online Research Tools in Transportation Research and Implementation. The current pilot website can be found at http://www.transportationresearch.gov/Pages/index.aspx. Beta testing occurs through 2/28/11. Go live will hopefully occur shortly thereafter. Need to work with RITA to market; one marketing tool discussed is webinars.
Work with International Scan Team for International Tab / Nancy Chinlund, Barbara Harder, Robin Kline, Deb Elston / Robin noted that she had received information from several UTCs on international collaboration. Robin will add this information to the RITA site when the final location for International Programs is identified.
Work with other task force chairs to develop RPPM site. / Nancy Chinlund, Sue Sillick / Partnering with Value of research and PM&Q TF to populate the website.
Use RPPM site for committee team collaboration. / Linda Preisen, Nancy Chinlund, Pat Casey, Jason Bittner, Sue Sillick, Hau Hagedorn, Amanda Wilson / A committee Collaboration site was added to the RPPM site. CALTRANS has posted information on their partnership with the Netherlands. There is also a link to TRB CoR and CCTF.