Missouri Department of Transportation

Jefferson City, Missouri

Meeting Minutes

Date

/ 5/29/13 /

Time

/ 11:00 – 12:15

Facilitator

/ Mark & Linda / Scribe / Mark & Linda
Subject / May Task Force meeting conference call
Attendees / Mark Morvant, Linda Taylor, Bill Stone, Brian Hurt, Chris Jenks, Daniel Yeh, Patrick Casey, Rob Harper, Vicki Morrison

Key Points Discussed

No. / Topic / Highlights
1. / Review Mission Statement /SCOR Strategic Plan - Linda / -
2. / Meetings Schedule & Roles & Responsibilities - Linda
3. / Best Practices for Determining Value of Research Results – Linda & Mark / Dr. Baabak Ashuri, Georgia Tech has submitted his draft synthesis report on the Best Practices for Determining Value of Research Results to the Southeast Transportation Consortium. The report is under review by the STC TAC. The document is a summary of research practices of primarily state DOT’s. It includes results of a state survey and overview of project examples of quantifying and qualifying benefits of research. Upon a brief review it does not appear to contain specific calculation details but it does present a large selection of state projects and reporting of research benefits. Dr. Ashuri could not make the call due to a scheduling conflict. He has been contacted to present about a 10-15 minute presentation overview of his project at the annual meeting via gotomeeting connection. Mark to confirm.
4. / High Value Research Projects /Sweet 16 Update – Mark / -Session Summer High Value Research - Sweet 16
Over 100 submittals have been received and each Region has determined their top 4. The sweet sixteen awards were announced to RAC in an email.
FHWA has received the submittals and will be preparing the Research Impacts Document: Better, Cheaper, Faster for the Summer meeting. The Sweet 16 will presented at the summer meeting.
The Task Force supports two additional ways to recognize the top 4 from each Region or Sweet 16. The first is a notice in the weekly AASHTO email newsletter. The second is to have certificates for the submitters, signed by RAC chair and the SCOR Chair. RAC leadership supports both as well.
CTC and Associates has received the draft document and will be preparing the 2012 Research Makes the Difference (RMtD) brochure.
Certificates: John Halikowski has signed the certificatesand will be sending to Skip for his signature. He has suggested the RAC consider giving the certificate award to the State CEOs at the AASHTO annual meeting rather than at the Annual RAC meeting to raise awareness of research benefits. The VoR has agreed that this was a good idea. The VoR has recommended that recognition still be given at the RAC Annual meeting luncheon.
The selection criteria for how Regions determine their top 4 was again discussed. Guidance was provided by VoR to ensure consistency across the Regions. A suggestion was made that with high exposure may come higher scrutiny of the selection process. It was agreed that this should not be a concern. Some on the call favored keeping the process open and flexible. It was also suggested that the process should be more tailored to meet the criteria for the Research Makes the Difference (RMtD) brochure. It was agreed to develop and present potential options at the July meeting and discuss further with the full committee.
The TRB Annual Meeting - Sweet 16 Poster Session has been confirmed and programed with Fred Hejl.
5. / RPM Webinar Update –Mark / TRB has been contacted to present an update webinar on the RPM tools. The first available time would be August-September 2013 but will be dependent on making formal request. A rough draft agenda was presented and discussed.
TRB intro to webinar, Lisa Marflak, 5 min
Intro and development history, Darryll Dockstader15 min
Software overview & update, Steve Ziegler45 min
Montana experience,Sue Sillick??15 min
Illinois experience,Juan Pava??15 min
Q & APanel25 min
This draft has not been discussed with all speakers. The feeling of the task force is to focus more on the state experiences and reduce the application time from the developer. It was decided that this was a worthwhile endeavor to pursue. The topic will be placed on the agenda at the annual meeting.
The HVR submittal process will be further discussed for feedback from the states. The downloading and development of the Research Impacts was significantly simplified from the use of the RPM tool.
The time frame for the NCHRP contract to host the site is limited. The RAC will need to determine the benefits of the site and make a case to AASHTO to host in the long term. Discussions with other task forces for the application will need to be addressed.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Action Items
No. / Action Item /

Owner

/

Target Date

Develop alternative options for sweet sixteen selections / Linda & Mark / July annual meeting
Continued development of the RPM webinar / Mark / July annual meeting