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Volpe Center Highlights - April 1999

Director's Notes

Director's Notes | Focus | Safety | Mobility | Human and Natural Environment |
Economic Growth and Trade | National Security | Published and Presented

Technological innovation will be a major force shaping the transportation system of the 21st Century. On Thursday, June 24, and Friday, June 25, 1999, the Volpe Center will host a conference on "The Spirit of Innovation in Transportation." The conference will bring together leaders from the technology and transportation communities to consider integrated strategies to ensure continuing technological innovation in transportation. The conference will also address issues critical to achieving innovation, such as ensuring the highly skilled workforce necessary to meet our national transportation goals. The Honorable Rodney E. Slater, US Secretary of Transportation will be a keynote speaker. The conference will include the following sessions:

• Innovation: New Ways and Opportunities
• Next Generation Cybertechnology
• Alternative Vehicle/Fuel Systems for the 21st Century
• Nanotechnology
• Transportation Workforce for the 21st Century--A Challenge to Education

Other lead speakers include Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Transportation, Mortimer Downey; Professor Brad Parkinson of Stanford University, former CEO of Trimble, Inc.; Lillian Borrone, Director of Ports, New York Port Authority; David Wohleen, President of Delphi Delco Electronic Systems; Sheila Lynch, Executive Director of the Northeast Alternative Vehicle Coalition; Dr. Juan Garces, Dow Chemical; Professor Richard Siegel, Chair, Materials Science and Engineering Department at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute; Earl W. Stafford, President and CEO of Universal Systems and Technology, Inc; Dr. Ash Brown, National Science Foundation; and Marcia Marsh, Principal, Watson, Wyatt in New York.

Secretary Slater has stated his commitment to achieving a transportation system that is international in reach; intermodal in form; intelligent in character; and inclusive in service. President Clinton has said, "...investing in technology is investing in America's future." We at the Volpe Center are committed to working together to facilitate continuing technological innovation that ensures the transportation system that best serves all Americans. It is my hope that this conference will stimulate within the transportation community a heightened awareness and renewed commitment to innovation as a key means of meeting our national transportation goals.

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