Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - July 1999

Human and Natural Environment

Protect and enhance communities and the natural environment affected by transportation.

Volpe Center Joins Congressman Capuano in Boston Harbor Islands Tour

On the morning of Saturday, June 19th, Volpe Center Director Dr. Richard John and staff member Mr. Peter Jones participated with U.S. Representative Michael Capuano and a number of invited guests on a briefing and visit to the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (BHINRA). Congressman Capuano had visited the Volpe Center earlier in the year and, during a discussion of navigational and marine projects, expressed interest in learning more about the Boston Harbor Islands. The BHINRA is managed by the Boston Harbor Islands Partnership, a 13-member board appointed by the Secretary of the Interior representing the National Parks Service (NPS) and a broad range of State, city, private, and public agencies. Funding arrangements are equally complex, with a mixture of federal, state, local, and private funds. Volpe Center staff member Dr. Jeffrey Bryan has supported NPS in its task of distilling the diverse stakeholders' viewpoints into a management plan for the BHINRA, due in November 1999. The tour included a boat trip around some of the 16 islands and a short tour of Fort Warren on George's Island. Mr. George Price, NPS Project Manager for the National Recreation Area, led a discussion of the creation and diverse purposes behind the formation of this unique partnership. In addition to the Congressman's family and Volpe Center staff, guests included representatives from NPS, the Coast Guard, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, the Massachusetts Governor's office, the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands, the Island Alliance, the Sierra Club, and other environmental groups.

Noise Measurement at Logan Complements Volpe Support to FAA, NASA

During the month of June, Messrs. Gregg Fleming, Christopher Roof and David Senzig of the Safety and Environmental Technology Division, Mr. David Read, an on-site contractor, and a team of five students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology performed measurements of aircraft noise in the proximity of flight tracks at Boston's Logan International Airport. The Volpe Center supports the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) by providing expertise in the measurement of aircraft noise. This effort complements the Center's support to the FAA in the development and maintenance of the Integrated Noise Model (INM), a computer model for airport noise prediction and analysis. The sponsor is Mr. Kevin Shepard, Chief, Structural Acoustics Branch, NASA Langley Research Center. The purpose of the Volpe team's Logan measurements is to determine sound propagation over water and other acoustically similar open areas. The information thus obtained will be used to determine the accuracy of lateral attenuation regressions in the INM, originally developed from theoretical algorithms.

Secretary Slater Visits Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater recently visited the Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School in Cambridge, MA, meeting with three second-grade classes and the U.S. DOT volunteers who participated in the "Lunch Buddies" program this year. Also on hand were Research and Special Programs Administrator Kelley Coyner and Volpe Center Director Richard R. John. The "Lunch Buddies" program, which allows Volpe Center volunteers to read to second-grade classes on their lunch breaks, is the newest addition to the Volpe Center TEAM (Tutoring, Educating, and Mentoring) Effort, which was established in 1992. The TEAM Effort, headed by Ms. Lynn Murray, Chief of the Communications and Technology Outreach Division, presents Volpe Center employees and contractors with the opportunity to participate in volunteer activities, reinforcing the Center's commitment to the community. At Secretary Slater's visit, Principal Lydia Torres spoke about the seven-year partnership between the Volpe Center and the Kennedy School, and Cambridge School Superintendent Bobbie D'Alessandro also spoke about Volpe Center contributions to education. Secretary Slater spoke enthusiastically about the value of education and described U.S. DOT's Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program.

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