Long-Term Institutional Knowledge

After almost two years as Director of the Volpe Center, I continue to be impressed by the breadth and depth of our staff's collective knowledge. This long-term institutional memory has enabled successive teams to work together on key efforts that help the Department of Transportation meet challenges in a rapidly changing transportation enterprise.

The Center has been in existence almost as long as the Department and, therefore, understands these transportation challenges. The Center's support to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Traffic Flow Management, and, specifically, our work on the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) described in the Focus article of this issue, is a key example of this support.

FAA has been a major customer of the Volpe Center's since the early 1970s, when the administration turned to the new National Transportation Systems Center for help in enhancing aviation safety and efficiency. With the increasing frequency of air travel and the introduction of jet airlines, FAA was seeking ways to deal with the technical challenges of traffic management, navigation, and security, and recognized that the Center integrated expertise in various technical disciplines with an understanding of aviation-related needs as well as FAA responsibilities. The Center's early work with the FAA included projects to improve communications between pilots and air traffic controllers, develop guidelines for evaluating explosives and weapons detection technology, design a new radar beacon system, and support aviation flight plan efficiency. These early successes laid the groundwork for the Volpe Center's continuing support to the FAA as it responds to the growing aviation requirements of the Nation.

The dedicated people who worked on these early projects transferred their knowledge to newer staff members, a practice that continues at the Center today. This collective intellectual capital supports the development of innovative transportation systems solutions. As a vital research organization, the Volpe Center facilitates the evolution of technical and analytic skills; each new project enables us to build on what we have learned and to carry that knowledge into future work.

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