Events Archive
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2005
Special Series: Avian Flu: Preparing for a Pandemic
Transportation Issues in Bioterrorism: Considerations for Evacuation and Quarantine Workshop
In November 2002, Volpe Center staff facilitated the "Transportation Issues in Bioterrorism: Considerations for Evacuation and Quarantine Workshop" for DOT's Office of Emergency Transportation (OET). This forum offered fifty senior-level government, emergency management, and healthcare professionals an opportunity to come together and discuss strategic and sensitive policy issues and concerns regarding a transportation-related bioterrorism event.
In this special CTUG presentation, Ms. Johnson presents the six consensus items-the six key issues affecting, or affected by, bioterrorism in transportation that require further research/action-that were generated from workshop discussions.
About Dawn Johnson: Dawn Lopez Johnson joined the Volpe Center as an Operations Research Analyst in 2001. Her recent work includes providing occupational safety and health program management support to the FAA and serving as the project manager for a supply chain study that assessed the security of the U.S. domestic milk supply for the Technical Support Working Group. She served as the task manager for the design, development, and delivery of the Bioterrorism in Transportation Workshop for DOT's Office of Emergency Transportation. Ms. Johnson was also responsible for coordinating the update and enhancement of a DOT information database containing information about the various federal resources that would respond to a terrorist incident.
Prior to joining the Volpe Center, Ms. Johnson worked for a private consulting company as a Corporate Health and Safety (H&S) Officer and Environmental Scientist. In this position, she led and performed environmental, health, and safety (EHS) and related management systems audits; developed and delivered EHS training programs; and directed a 10-member H&S Committee.
Ms. Johnson received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from Harvard University. She has completed advanced coursework in toxicology, indoor air quality, and animal locomotion studies. Ms. Johnson has also completed an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)/Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB)-accredited Lead EMS Auditor Course and a Boston University Instructional Design Course.
Special Series: Avian Flu: Preparing for a Pandemic
Healthwatch: Transportation Disease Migration Project
Through the Healthwatch: Transportation Disease Migration project, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is working to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the US and worldwide by conducting epidemiologic and lab research, surveillance of disease dissemination by travel mode, and epidemic investigations. The spread of diseases (e.g., West Nile Fever, Anthrax, SARS, Bird Flu, Foot and Mouth Disease) is enabled by modern transportation systems in a fashion not anticipated by current dissemination models. The goal is to leverage emerging information system technologies and the data characterizing current transportation system infrastructure and operations in models to predict the spread of communicable diseases. Ruth Hunter will discuss the Center's role in evaluating data availability and accessibility, developing data processing and software requirements, and identifying related modeling research and develop design specifications. She will also discuss Phase II of the project during which the Volpe Center will implement an operational system linked to passenger tracking systems that will aid in the development of policy and procedures before potential disease outbreaks, and will allow rapid implementation of mitigation plans during actual future disease outbreaks.
About Ruth Hunter: Ruth Hunter is currently leading Volpe's support to the Office of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has been a Senior Project Manager, former Division Chief, and multi-disciplinary technical leader of diverse projects at the Volpe Center for the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Energy, Labor, and other federal agencies in information systems development and deployment, logistics, cost/benefit analysis, environmental management, and emergency management. She supported FEMA's Movement Coordination Center following 9/11/2001 as one of four Volpe volunteers. Her work has involved program planning; functional requirements determination; economic, business process, and systems analysis; communications; software/system design, development, testing, and deployment; training; emergency management, continuity of operations and configuration management planning; system/hardware specifications and measurement; engineering analysis; and the application of advanced technology to enhance operations.
Ruth received her BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Boston University's College of Engineering, her MS in Aeronautics And Astronautics from the University of Michigan, and her MBA from Boston University.
The "Big Dig" It's Almost Over
Building 7.5 miles (160 lane miles) of Interstate highways in downtown Boston without closing the existing expressway involves some of the most innovative construction and engineering technologies in use in the world today. After almost 15 years of construction the Central Artery/Tunnel Project is open to traffic and 97% complete. With construction of I-93 underground beneath the elevated Central Artery and extending I-90 (Mass Pike) to Logan Airport in tunnels, the has been nicknamed the "Big Dig" and, it is the largest and most complex highway project in U.S. history. In addition to anticipated economic and environmental benefits, the project will reconnect neighborhoods bisected when the original Artery was built in the 1950's, provide new access to the waterfront and create 30 acres of new open space in the heart of Boston.
Special Series: Avian Flu: Preparing for a Pandemic
Avian Flu Pandemic Planning and Transportation Impacts
For the year ahead, there is an as yet unfulfilled urgent need for short-term local/state/national planning for a humanly communicable avian flu pandemic in the likely absence of effective and sufficient vaccines and antibiotics and hospital care surge capacity. Experience of the 1918 flu pandemic and the 2003 SARS pandemic indicate that in the absence of effective and sufficient vaccines and antivirals and hospital treatment surge capacity, isolation (of the uninfected), social distancing, and quarantine (of infected and symptomatic individuals and their contacts is the only approach that works for containing/limiting the pandemic. Transportation impacts on air, surface public and private, and ocean transportation will be acute, both in extreme changes in demand and supply. What are the decision protocols for restricting, screening, even halting air, surface, and ocean transport in a bird flu pandemic public health emergency?
About Dr. Abt: The founder and past president of Abt Associates, Clark Abt has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1986. The author of ten books on social and economic policies and advanced technologies, as well as many articles, Dr. Abt is an Associate of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and a founding Director of the Roxbury (Massachusetts) Entrepreneur's Club. For three of the last four years, he has served pro bono as a full-time high school teacher and tutor for students at risk in the Boston public schools; he currently serves part-time in this capacity. For the last year Dr. Abt's research has focused on domestic defense against biological and nuclear terrorism.
For Dr. Abt's full bio, please see http://www.abtassociates.com/Page.cfm?PageID=104&FamilyID=400
Special CTUG — My Experiences with FEMA and Hurricane Katrina
McCharles Craven, DTS-35 volunteered for a position with FEMA to work in the hurricane ravaged areas of the Gulf Coast. He was called up not knowing exactly what was going to happen. After flying into Orlando, he was filed, prodded, poked, stamped, and sent off to Baton Rouge, along with two others, to begin what would turn out to be an interesting and rewarding adventure.
Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) Runway Status Lights (RWSL) Program
Reducing the number of Runway Incursions is one of the highest priorities of the FAA. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that the FAA must "provide a direct warning capability to flight crews". As part of an ongoing effort to explore new technologies, the FAA's Runway Incursion Reduction Program (RIRP) has developed the Runway Status Lights (RWSL) System. This technology aims to improve crew and vehicle operator situational awareness through accurate and timely indication of runway usage.
The Runway Status Lights (RWSL) System is a fully automatic, advisory safety system designed to reduce the number and severity of runway incursions while not interfering with airport operations. RWSL is compatible with existing procedures.
Runway Entrance Lights (RELs) have been installed at two test sites: Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and San Diego International Airport (SAN). Operational evaluations are scheduled for 2005.
About Sarasina Sulijoadikusumo: Sarasina joined the Center as a fed two years ago. She worked in private industry for the 13 years prior to Volpe. Her last position was Vice President of Engineering at Digitas Inc. She was also a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Northrup Grumman TASC. She is currently an Electronics Engineer/Program Manager in the Airport Surface Division (DTS-54) which has recently been renamed the Surface and Terminal Systems Division under the reorganization. Sarasina holds an M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
The Democratic National Convention and Its Impacts on Boston's Surface Transportation
Since the events of September 11, 2001, Allan DeBlasio, Terry Regan, and Margaret Zirker with support from a team of other Center staff members and in-house contractors have been investigating how major incidents affect the surface transportation system. Most of the events that were studied were unplanned -- the terrorist attacks, an earthquake, a fire in a railroad tunnel, and the blackout of 2003. After all these reviews, the team finally got a chance to review a planned event -- the Democratic National Convention (DNC). To celebrate the first anniversary of this event, Mr. DeBlasio will be presenting the DNC "photo album" -- pictures that were taken during the week the DNC was in town -- showing the preparation for and the operations during the convention.
About Allan DeBlasio: Allan DeBlasio joined the Center in 1980. Throughout the years, he has managed several policy analyses and program evaluations for the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations. These reviews help FHWA and JPO staffs meet the goals they established under the Government Performance and Results Act and provided input to the reauthorization of transportation legislation. Many of these analyses centered on identifying and understanding the non-technical barriers and institutional issues encountered when state and local transportation managers try to plan and deploy ITS products and services. Most recently, under the joint sponsorship of the two offices, he managed the investigation studying how catastrophic events affect the management and operations of the surface transportation system. The review of the DNC was the seventh case study in this effort.
Authenticating Passengers While Inside Moving Vehicles Using Biometrics for Entry Point Screening and Border Security
One of the most elusive applications for biometric technology is the automated authentication of passengers while inside moving vehicles. The most successful approaches to this problem have involved placing a biometric device inside each vehicle and transmitting either the captured templates or the comparative result to a receiver placed on the roadside. Aside from the selection of effective technologies in small packages, the challenge in developing a viable solution has been in creating a device that is inexpensive enough to make economic sense even when placed inside thousands of vehicles.
In its support to various federal agencies, the Department of Transportation's Volpe Center has examined this issue several times over the past decade, and has implemented in-vehicle biometric systems in a number of operational tests. This presentation describes the results of those tests, and examines the prospects of future applications.
About Bill Baron: Bill has been a project manager for the Volpe Center since 1987. During his career, he has performed many R&D projects involving biometrics, including:
- An Air Force assessment of appropriate biometric technologies for computer user authentication
- INSPASS - The INS Passenger Accelerated Service System. This was a network of kiosks enabling pre-enrolled travelers to bypass immigration lines at busy US airports
- SENTRI - The Secure Electronic Network for Travelers's Rapid Inspection. This is a dedicated commuter lane enabling pre-approved travelers to enter the US from Mexico without waiting in long lines.
- US Capitol Police garage screening system. This project examined ways to screen vehicles entering the Capitol Complex's underground parking facilities
- An assessment of the potential benefits, as well as the technological, institutional and social limitations of biometric technologies for the Transportation Security Administration in the wake of 9/11.
- AVIDS - The Automated Vehicle/Driver ID System. This system, developed under the direction of the Technical Support Working Group, is a state-of-the-art entry point screening system designed for various applications.
- The TSA Go-Team #9, which in the weeks following 9/11 outlined the pros and cons of various biometric technologies and recommended TSA policy regarding appropriate and inappropriate application of biometrics for transportation security.
Lessons Learned for a High Risk Organization — the Space Shuttle
High Risk ventures in this technological age -- nuclear power, submarines, space shuttle -- need an organizational structure and culture formed about safety. In any organization routines and systems can overwhelm well-intentioned individuals, and "normal" everyday practices, if carried out unthinkingly, can produce great harm. This presentation examined the Lessons Learned in the investigation of the space shuttle Columbia accident.
About Jim Hallock: James Hallock received S.B. (1963), M.S. (1969), and Ph.D. (1972) degrees in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He worked in the Apollo Optics Group of the MIT Instrumentation Lab (now the Draper Lab) from 1963 to 1966. He dealt with selecting Earth landmarks for updating guidance computers on Apollo and was co-experimenter on a landmark contrast experiment flown on Gemini X. He also calculated lunar photometric functions and the potential effects of solar flare radiation on the optical systems of Apollo.
Dr. Hallock joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Electronics Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1966, where his work involved the development of a holographic spacecraft attitude system and optical spatial filtering techniques. In 1970, he joined what is now known as the Department of Transportation (DOT) Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. Dr. Hallock's work since joining DOT includes the development and testing of optical guidance systems for aircraft, the study of aircraft wake vortices, the development of flight procedures, the conduct of safety analyses in support of rulemaking, the development of aviation regulations, and the development of aviation safety information systems. Since 1986, he has served as division manager of the Aviation Safety Division. Dr. Hallock is a senior member of American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA ), a member of the MIT Educational Council, and serves on review boards for the Canadian government, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the NASA Space Shuttle program. He has authored or co-authored two patents and more than 125 papers and reports.
Professional Capacity Building
John Boiney kick-offed the series on Tuesday, May 24, 2005, with a presentation on work in the business area of professional capacity building (PCB). His presentation describes the theory and principles of PCB, summarizes the many PCB programs that Volpe staff support, highlight some of the major achievements of these programs, and discuss future opportunities and challenges associated with further developing this business area.
About John Boiney: John Boiney is a Community Planner with Volpe's Planning and Policy Analysis Division (DTS-46). He manages Volpe's support of the FHWA/FTA Transportation Planning Capacity Building (TPCB) Program. The TPCB Program supports effective transportation planning practices by providing information, technical assistance, training, and outreach to professionals at State, regional, local, and Tribal levels. Mr. Boiney also works closely with several other capacity building programs, including ITS, roadway safety, environmental competency, and security and emergency response. He is currently working with Suzanne Sloan on the creation of the PCB Program Management Council. The Council has been established to help PCB program managers solve common problems, share resources, and exchange effective practices. Prior to joining Volpe, Mr. Boiney consulted to local agencies and not-for-profits in California on improving public service delivery. He also was a member of the faculty at American University's School of Public Affairs from 1994 to 1998. Mr. Boiney holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College, and a Masters and Ph.D. from Duke University.
