Rachael Barolsky Sack
Acting Technical Center Director of Policy, Planning and Environment
Rachael Barolsky Sack is the acting director of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Policy, Planning, and Environment Technical Center, formerly chief of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Innovative Research Design and Deployment Division and the director of the U.S. DOT SBIR program. Her work focuses on innovative approaches to program design and communication strategies for sharing information on emerging technologies, best practices, and related policies.
Since joining the U.S. DOT Volpe Center in 2002, Sack’s work has supported a variety of transportation areas including environmental streamlining for highway projects, technology transfer initiatives, and highway safety countermeasures. She also facilitates interagency working groups and issue-specific meetings with the goals of sharing information across agencies, reaching consensus on key issues, and agreeing to action-oriented solutions.
In 2009, Sack received the FHWA Administrator’s Team Award for her work on the Surface Transportation Project Delivery Pilot Program and the FRA Administrator’s Team Award for her work on the development of FRA’s new Risk Reduction Program. She holds a master’s degree in energy and environmental analysis and a Bachelor of Arts degree in energy and environmental policy, both from Boston University (Boston, MA).