Volpe Center to Receive the Regional Laboratory Award from the Federal Labs Consortium (FLC) Northeast
The Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Northeast will recognize the Volpe Center as the recipient of its 2009 Regional Laboratory Award during a ceremony in Princeton, New Jersey, on September 16, 2009. This distinguished annual award recognizes the Volpe Center for its extraordinary efforts to support national and regional technology transfer activities. The FLC Northeast Region consists of about 35 U.S. Government R&D laboratories in the New England states, New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.
During his visit to the Volpe Center, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood presented a letter of commendation to the Center for receiving this prestigious award. The commendation noted that the panel of judges that reviewed the Center’s nomination was "especially impressed with the way the Center helps decision makers respond to national needs, define emerging problems, and seek solutions that will lead transportation in the 21st Century," and specifically cited three major Volpe Center projects:
Global Maritime Domain Awareness: The Volpe Center developed the Maritime Safety and Security Information System in 2007 to respond to a U.S. Navy request for assistance in tracking vessels in the Mediterranean Sea. The Center created a rapid and cost-effective means of using existing signals transmitted from every global vessel to locate and identify these vessels from shore stations and aggregate this data in a real-time display. The project also won the 2008 Innovations in American Government Award from the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
SafeTrip-21: In support of the Intelligent Transportation System/Joint Program Office (ITS/JPO), the Volpe Center launched SafeTrip-21. This initiative draws upon ITS communication, information, and navigation technologies that can be deployed readily to test and evaluate advanced applications to improve safety and mobility for highway and transit users.
Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS): The Volpe Center assists the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as the independent evaluator of the IVBSS project, which focuses on safety system integration for both light vehicles and heavy trucks. The Center assesses the potential benefits and driver acceptance of the integrated IVBSS technologies that warn drivers in crash-imminent situations and help to prevent such incidents.
Secretary LaHood met with regional leaders of the U.S. Department of Transportation in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Participants, from left to right: Richard Bates, FMCSA Regional Administrator; Helen Blackman, Office of Civil Rights; Les Fiorenzo, FRA Regional Administrator; Peter Appel, RITA Administrator; Ray LaHood, U.S. Secretary of Transportation; Dr. Richard John, Volpe Director Emeritus and Acting Director; Richard Doyle, FTA Regional Administrator; Philip Weiser, NHTSA Regional Administrator; Lucy Garliauskas, FHWA Massachusetts Division Administrator (Photo by Linda Haas Photography)
