Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

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Volpe Center Highlights - June/July 2001

Director's Notes

Fostering Innovation through National Transportation Symposia

The nation faces many challenges as we work to improve the transportation system. Among these challenges are the successful implementation of public-private partnerships, effective transportation education and training, and the application of innovative technologies. The Volpe Center has been addressing each of these challenges, most recently through a series of three national symposia that draw on the experience of national experts from government, industry, and academia. The three national symposia exemplify our role as a nexus of innovation in transportation.

The Center hosted the National Symposium on Implementing Successful Public-Private Partnerships in Transportation on May 15 and 16, 2001. Public-private partnerships are an approach to problem solving whereby resources or capacities of different organizations are pooled together for a common purpose. Because this approach is an evolving concept in transportation, this meeting sought to define the "state of the art" of such arrangements, with references to successful efforts and future opportunities. Participants agreed that, while there are many different types of such partnerships, most face similar challenges: identifying appropriate projects, organizational and financing options, legal issues, public education and outreach, and project monitoring. The Center will convene a working group to study and develop the concepts identified at the symposium.

Recognizing that investment in "human capital" is vital to continued transportation improvements, the Center hosted the National Symposium on Innovations in Transportation Education and Workforce Development on June 21 and 22, 2001. This symposium provided an opportunity for transportation practitioners and educators to gather and discuss new concepts and techniques. Among the points of consensus: today's transportation environment requires an integrated, multilevel approach to education; continuing education opportunities help attract and retain top talent; and technology offers many opportunities for distance learning, but technology must be balanced with the human contact vital to personal and professional growth.

On August 7 and 8, 2001, the Center hosted the third symposium, Enabling Technologies and Transportation Innovation, to address the need for close and continuing interaction between the transportation community and those who conduct research and development of new technologies and applications. Sessions examined:

Propulsion and fuel systems and issues related to national needs for environmental compatibility, energy availability, and efficiency: emission controls for diesel engines, implications of alternative power sources for highway vehicles, advances in fuel cells and batteries, and system engineering considerations for drive trains of hybrid vehicles.
Micro-and nano-scale sensors and actuators: micro-electro-mechanical devices, nanotechnology-based sensors for transportation security applications, and nano-materials for structural applications.
Information and communications technologies: powerful digital system applications in general aviation, technologies related to delivery of weather information, and the potential implications of pervasive wireless communications.
Materials and structures: adaptive wing structures, sophisticated materials for vehicle construction (advanced steels, aluminum, and composites), and advanced processing and control in component manufacturing.

Discussions considered the promising areas of emerging technology, opportunities to accelerate the development of new applications, and potential policy or regulatory changes needed to foster new applications.

As a multidisciplinary institution with connections across all sectors, the Volpe Center is ideally suited to foster the discussions and debate that yield innovative improvements in transportation.

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