CTS presented the following awards during its Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon on May 1. Congratulations to this year's recipients!
Richard P. Braun Distinguished Service Award
This award, which recognizes outstanding leadership in research and innovation, was presented to Thomas Fisher, director of the Minnesota Design Center (MDC) and professor in the University of Minnesota’s College of Design.
Fisher’s current work focuses on the infrastructure and community impacts of autonomous vehicles, mobility services, and the sharing economy as well as on the land-use, transportation, and living and working impacts of pandemics. Fisher served as dean for the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture for 19 years and oversaw its transition to the College of Design. At the MDC, he carried out much community-based design work, often leading student teams on projects.
Fisher has written 12 books, more than 60 book chapters or introductions, and more than 450 articles in professional journals and major publications.
Distinguished Public Leadership Award
Toni Carter, former Ramsey County Commissioner and newly appointed Metropolitan Council Member, received this award, which recognizes public leaders who have influenced innovative transportation policy directions.
Carter served for 18 years as commissioner—the first African American elected to that role and to serve as a county board chair in Minnesota. She was a member of the Ramsey County Regional Rail Authority and Governor Dayton’s Transportation Advisory Committee. She has continuously embedded equity objectives and measurable outcomes into county efforts that inform long-term planning and transit visions for Ramsey County and the wider region.
Carter served on the Metropolitan Council's Central Corridor Management Committee and worked to secure additional stations at Western, Victoria, and Dale streets on the METRO Green Line. Additionally, she was a designated county representative on MnDOT’s Rethinking I-94 advisory committee and was an inaugural board member of the ReConnect Rondo effort.
Ray L. Lappegaard Distinguished Service Award
This award, which honors outstanding leadership, mentorship, and support for the transportation profession, was presented to Mark Maloney, public works director for the City of Shoreview since 1994.
Maloney has collaborated with the U of M and private industry to advance permeable pavement techniques that improve groundwater quality and reduce the need for road salt and stormwater infrastructure. He is recognized as a national leader in this area.
He has also served as a member of the Minnesota Local Road Research Board and as the technical liaison for numerous LRRB-funded research projects, has been instrumental in the Operational Research Assistance Program, and has served as CTS Transportation Infrastructure Council chair and vice chair.
Maloney was previously recognized as Minnesota City Engineer of the Year and has received the Hugo Erickson Award from the Minnesota Chapter of the American Public Works Association.
William K. Smith Distinguished Service Award
Libby Ogard, president of Prime Focus, LLC, received this award in recognition of her leadership, mentorship, and education of future leaders in private-sector freight transportation.
Ogard is a freight transportation expert in rail, trucking, marine, and logistics management. Her areas of expertise include freight transportation planning, outreach, asset management, site selection, policy, finance, and start-up assistance. She has both domestic and international consulting experience, with customers in China, Mexico, Africa, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
In Minnesota, Ogard led a project to develop planning justification for the development of an intermodal terminal in Duluth. She has also worked on other public projects for agencies that include MnDOT, Wisconsin DOT, Montana DOT, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.
Ogard serves on the planning committee for the CTS Freight and Logistics Symposium, identifying and inviting speakers for the program.
Matthew J. Huber Student Award
This award, named in honor of the late Professor Emeritus Matthew J. Huber, is presented to University of Minnesota graduate students demonstrating outstanding academic achievement in engineering, science, and technology fields. Simanta Barman, a master’s student in civil engineering (transportation) and industrial and systems engineering (analytics), and Minfeng Shang, a doctoral candidate in civil engineering, received this year’s awards.
Michael Levin, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering (CEGE) and Barman’s advisor, has worked with him for two years. “Simanta has made several major research accomplishments during his time at the U,” said Levin, a CTS Research Scholar. “He constructed a realistic simulation of max-pressure traffic signal timing on Hennepin County roads and has also been working on a MnDOT project that tries to predict pedestrian and cyclist flows. His achievements are far beyond what is normal for master’s students.”
Raphael Stern, CEGE assistant professor and Shang’s advisor, has worked with him for nearly four years. “Mingfeng is a deeply curious individual who has made a substantial contribution to the field of traffic flow modeling and control,” said Stern, also a CTS Research Scholar. “This curiosity about the world translates into his research, where Mingfeng is developing models that accurately describe a new traffic flow where human drivers and automated vehicles coexist on the road.”
John S. Adams Student Award
This award, named for Professor Emeritus John Adams, is presented to outstanding University of Minnesota students in the fields of policy and planning. This year’s award was presented to Sebastian Coll, a master’s student in civil engineering and urban planning, and Gustave Stewart, a master’s student in urban and regional planning.
Greg Lindsey, professor in the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs and CTS Research Scholar, has worked with both Coll and Stewart for nearly two years. “I asked Sebastian and Gustave to work on a project related to my ongoing collaborations with MnDOT and the Minnesota DNR in the area of bicycle and pedestrian counting,” Lindsey said. “They’ve developed new quality assurance procedures for this hourly traffic data and have done an excellent job.”
Lindsey noted that Coll is also part of the team working with MnDOT and the Minnesota Traffic Observatory on pedestrian safety on rural tribal reservations, overseeing the analysis of video recordings of pedestrians crossing roadways on the Fond du Lac and Grand Portage reservations.
Stewart has been working as a multimodal planning intern with the Ramsey County Department of Public Works, analyzing crash trends, assisting with speed studies, using his GIS skills to present maps and other visualizations of transportation data, and participating in county meetings with a variety of stakeholders.
Richard P. Braun Transportation Scholarship
Anthony (AJ) Tabura, an undergraduate student in civil engineering, received this year’s scholarship. It is awarded to University of Minnesota undergraduate students pursuing degrees related to transportation who have demonstrated academic merit and leadership skills.
Tabura’s advisor, Raphael Stern, has worked with him for nearly two years and noted his enthusiasm for transportation engineering. “AJ went above and beyond after his first year at the U to get an internship with Dakota County as an engineering technician intern,” Stern said. “He hopes to one day work with public transportation, urban design, and traffic studies. I am confident that he will succeed at these goals and become a leader in this field.”
Writer: Maggie Biever