AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC)/TRB Conduct of Research (COR)

Coordination and Collaboration Committee

Meeting Agenda

9/23/09

Please note action items are in red

  1. Introductions/Housekeeping
  2. Introductions

RAC Task Force Members Present: Nancy Chinlund, Georgene Geary, Chris Hedges, Leni Oman, Sue Sillick

Conduct of Research Committee Members Present: Jason Bittner, Sam Elrahman, and Barbara Harder

Friends Present: Barbara Post and Phil Roke

  1. Note Taker – Georgene Geary
  2. Changes/Additions to Agenda-None

d.  Corrections to 7/22/2009 Meeting Notes –

Correct the website reference in the July notes under Future Activities/UTC focus to: http: www.wistrans.org/cfire

2.  Review of ongoing activities – Action Steps from 7/22 Meeting- updated 9/24/09 (See ATTACHMENT 1)

In addition to the additions and changes to the action items in Attachment 1 the following items were discussed:

A discussion was held on the need and how to link the UTCs and the TRB technical committees and the FHWA communities of practice and the RITA communities of interest. An action item was developed under the UTC heading to get started on these connections.

  1. 9/18 COR Conference Call (Action Plan Attached- ATTACHMENT 2)

COR is developing an inter-committee survey to be sent out to all TRB committees after January TRB. A final review of the survey is planned at the January COR meeting.

  1. Future Activities
  2. Outreach/Marketing

Pat and Hau as part of the Communications team are working jointly to put together materials for the January TRB. They are also looking for volunteers to assist. Nancy will send out an email to the broader community to ask for help.

  1. Roadmaps

It was discussed that a Denmark project used roadmaps as a collaborative tool, setting up management of the roadmap and linkages. It is titled the MIRIAM Project (Attachment 3).

  1. What else do we want to do?

Leni suggested the idea of opportunities to recognize research through award programs. What awards are currently available? This area will be considered in the future.

  1. TRB Workshops/Sessions – Ideas and Volunteers

Besides the discussions included in Attachment 1- Action Items, it was noted that an additional TRB session on “break-through research” is in the planning stage; it is anticipated to have an international speaker but that is not the entire theme.

  1. Other Coordination and Collaboration Activities?
  2. Objectives
  3. Partnering articles in TRNews/COR newsletter, etc.
  4. Unfunded research needs portal.
  5. RIP data entry, training, and marketing.
  6. Website/WIKI Development.
  7. Research Funding Guidebook.
  8. Implementation of International Scan Coordination and Collaboration Items
  9. Outreach to facilitate coordination and collaboration, market tools, survey for additional needs.
  1. Meetings – Next Meetings – Mark your calendars!
  2. 12/09/09 Agenda items (All) – Update of Action Items
  3. Tentative Dates for 2010 – 1/27/10, 3/24/10, 5/26/10, 7/28/10, 9/22/10, 12/2/10 (instead of regular meeting date during Thanksgiving week)

ATTACHMENT 1

AASHTO RAC/TRB COR Coordination and Collaboration Committee

Action Items – From July 22, 2009 Meeting in Orlando

UPDATED September 24, 2009

Initiative / Action Steps / Who / Action Taken/Status
Research in Progress (RIP) / Need more marketing to increase participation - Sue will send out reminder email to states that have not input into RIP in 2009. / Sue Sillick and Barbara Post / Barbara provided list of 23 states that have provided input into RIP in 2009.
Funding Guidebook / Maintain and add additional agencies Phil to assist Sue in identifying contacts in other Federal Agencies. / Sue Sillick & Phil Roke & Sam Elrahman / Sam noted that the TRB International Activities Committee is working on a write-up for two EU programs, including the COST (Cooperation in Science and Technology) program. Committee members are asked to contact other entities to complete the gaps in the Research Funding Guidebook.
Improve – e.g., make more wiki-like / Possible future action.
Unfunded Research Needs Portal / Make unfunded TRB problem statements searchable. Leni will send a note to Roy Messler (TRB) to check on status. Barbara will check to see if the site is indexable already / Sue Sillick & Leni Oman
Beta test with UTC’s to see if useful. / Sue Sillick
Improve search capability / Leni Oman? / Possible future action.
TR News Article / Tentatively scheduled for publication Spring 2010 / Steve Albert and Sam Elrahman / Authors are completing their review of TRB’s comments and will resubmit shortly
SharePoint TRC Site / Work with Future Needs TF to create portal / Nancy Chinlund / Nancy will contact Darryll Dockstader to develop plan.
Work with International Scan Team / Nancy Chinlund, Barbara Harder / Nancy and Barbara had preliminary conversation. Will organize call with subgroup from the scan team late September/early October.
Work with other task force chairs to post research program management procedures. / Nancy Chinlund / Nancy noted that she is planning on a webinar to go over how to post items on the TRC site. She will notify this committee, webtools subcomm, and TRB communications to identify interest.
Use for committee team collaboration. / Nancy Chinlund, Pat Casey, Jason Bittner / A committee Collaboration site was added to the TRC site, which includes a COR, C&C and web tools site. Coordination and Collaboration Committee meeting materials were posted. Pat Casey posted COR Communications Committee materials. Materials were also posted for the Netherlands-California collaboration.
Explore migration to RITA site. / Linda Preisen, Nancy Chinlund, Amanda Wilson / RITA has agreed to migrating the site in the future.
Web 2.0 Tools / Plan TRB workshop. / Jason Bittner, Linda Preisen / Workshop panel members have been identified and 2 sessions identified: 1) How to use tools in Transportation context and 2) Best Practices using suite of tools
Increase membership with interest and skills in Web 2.0 tools. / The NING site has 30 users signed on. Right now the NING site will be used to lead people to the TRC sharepoint site.
Pooled-Fund Process / Work with Program Quality Task Force to improve pooled-fund process. / Nancy Chinlund / Program Quality Task Force will take the lead
University Transportation Centers / Develop tool to identify themes, facilities, etc for each UTC / Sue Sillick / Sue will contact RITA to identify interest and possible lead for this action.
Conduct webinars to share research results / Sue Sillick / Sue talked with Steve Albert about putting on webinars to share research results. Some UTCs are doing now.
Seed contact (by research topic area) for RITA SharePoint site / Nancy Chinlund / Sue will talk with Clark Martin about the FHWA communities of practice and how they relate to RITAs communities of interest.
International Collaboration / Scan Team information on SharePoint site / Barbara Harder / Will work with Scan Team and Web Tools Team to post information.
TRB Session / Martine Micozzi & Nancy Chinlund & Sam Elrahman / Martine Micozzi and COR is taking the lead on the International Collaboration session. Sandy Rosenbloom is taking the lead on State DOTs and International partnerships, using information Barbara provided her from the July 2009 C&C meeting. Sam agreed to report on status at next C&C meeting.
Coordination with Library and TKN Groups / Develop better process for disseminating duplicate materials & Develop more systematic approach for disseminating and storing research reports, newsletters, etc. / Leni Oman / An NCHRP problem statement was submitted by WashDOT to address this issue. Leni will act as liaison between the C&C and the TKN and Library groups to track status and solicit feedback.

ATTACHMENT 2

TRB Conduct of Research Committee Strategic Plan

GOAL 1 ACTION PLAN

Last updated: May 27, 2009

Team Leaders: Nancy Chinlund and Sue Sillick

Volunteers: Jason Bittner, Sam Elrahman, Kim Fisher, Hau Hagedorn, Barbara Harder, Shannon McDonald, Dick McReynolds, Mark Norman Leni Oman, Linda Preisen, and Felicia Young.

GOAL 1: Facilitate the coordination and collaboration of transportation research efforts, processes, and activities by building an online resource addressing research from agenda setting through deployment.

Objective: Improve the opportunity for research partnerships.

Strategy / Performance Measures / Action Steps and Completion Dates / Responsible Party(ies) / Status /
Strategy 1: Identify and publicize topic areas, resources, and strategies of major research organizations using a central Web site. / o Web page developed with links to intended subject materials.
o Currency of information maintained.
o Customer satisfaction to measure site utility conducted and evaluated. / o  Develop new Research Funding Guideline
o  Identify topical framework and content outline.
o  Identify links on major research organization web sites with needed information.
o  Create and publish web page(s)
o  Develop a strategy to maintain currency of information.
o  Solicit customer feedback.
Estimated Completion Date: Ongoing / Owner: Nancy Chinlund and Linda Preisen
Volunteers: Steve Albert, Jason Bittner, Kim Fisher, Hau Hagedorn, Mark Norman, Leni Oman, and Sue Sillick
Partners: RAC Task Forces; TRB COR Goal Teams 2 and 3 / o Funding guidebook developed, on web, and advertised. Need to update and maintain.
o Topical framework and content outline completed.
o Identifying specific content for website.
o Beta of web is available online.
o Research needs portal is also in beta. Need to add more URL’s to the search; beta test, and market.
Strategy 2: Boldly market research coordination and collaboration. / o  Communications plan developed.
o  Marketing strategy developed and implemented. / o  Market collaboration success stories.
o  Develop communications plan.
o  Develop marketing strategies for coordination/collaboration tools (e.g., funding guidebook, research needs portal, website).
o  Implement marketing strategies.
Estimated Completion Date: On going / Owner:
Volunteers: Steve Albert, Jason Bittner, Nancy Chinlund, Sam Elrahman, Hau Hagedorn, Linda Preisen, and Sue Sillick
Partners: RAC Task Force: Coordination and Collaboration; TRB COR Goal Teams 2 and 3 / o Funding guidebook marketed at 2009 TRB; need to further market- partner with RAC to facilitate marketing within AASHTO.
o Marketing of successful collaborations TRNews article is drafted and will be complete in 2009.
o Need to market research needs portal after beta testing.
o Need to market website after posting critical mass of information.
Strategy 3: Facilitate international coordination and collaboration / o  / o  Identify tools for cost effective communication and collaboration across continents
o  Liaison with Int’l Activities Committee
o  Agreements and MOUs – obtain examples from actual int’l collaborative activities
Estimated Completion Date: / Owner: Barbara Harder (interim)
Volunteers: Barbara Harder, Nancy Chinlund, Sam Elraham, Shannon McDonald, Laurie McGinnis, Sue Sillick
Partners: RAC Task Force: Coordination and Collaboration; Research Management International Scan Team; TRB COR Goal Team 5; TRB Technology Transfer Committee

Potential topics for websites: Policies, procedures, administration, and management of research sponsors and conductors; identify funding resources, bubble charts, research roadmaps, portals (unfunded research needs), who are the players (who funds research? Who conducts research?) RIP (who’s entering? Training), UTC themes and capabilities, Research laboratories, collaboration success stories, various coordination and collaboration efforts, contracts/agreements, research strategies and plans, deployment phases, value of research efforts.

Potential tools for website: WIKI’s, RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication).

Potential marketing strategies: Newsletter articles (COR Newsletter, TRNews, others), advertise via listservs (RAC, UTC’s, TRB committees), Brochures.

Potential marketing topics: collaboration success stories, web pages, various coordination and collaboration efforts, advocate increased use of RIP both by sponsors and conductors of research (complete records, 100% data entry, who else should be entering, using RIP to prevent duplication of efforts and to understand who is doing what), UTC themes and capabilities, Research laboratories.

Attachment 3:

MIRIAM – Models for rolling resistance In Road Infrastructure Asset Management systems

- A project too good to be rejected

1. Concept

Road surface and tyre characteristics influence rolling resistance and hence traffic fuel consumption and CO2 emission. Results have shown, that when road evenness changes 1 meter per kilometre, the rolling resistance will increase by 2.3 % at 54 km/h and 6.2% at 90 km/h. For the tyre contribution to CO2, a rule of thumb says that rolling resistance causes about 20% of the CO2 emitted by a car and 30% of the CO2 emitted by a heavy truck. By reducing rolling resistance to a cost/effective level, it becomes possible to lower fuel consumption and hence CO2 emission.

The aim of this project is to integrate traffic CO2 emissions into road asset management systems. The project scope should be methods and solutions facilitating the integration of CO2 emissions in the daily work of road administrations.

Due to:

·  The common, global interest in CO2 reducing tools

·  The scope of research and development needs on this perspective of rolling resistance

·  The economic scope of such a project

It’s efficient to found it on a:

- A joint, trans-national funded research programme

1.1 Objectives

The intended project contribution is models for:

-  Energy saving through reduced rolling resistance

-  Vehicle CO2 and Rolling Resistance Sources

-  Transport Infrastructure Operation and Management

2. Background

Road transport in Europe is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emission and is one of the few energy consuming sectors where the emissions are increasing. Fuel consuming passenger cars has a significant impact on climate change, and in Europe they account for app. 12% of the total CO2 emission. It is noticeable that even though the EU as a whole has reduced greenhouse gas emission by just below 5% from 1990 to 2004, the CO2 emission from road transport has increased by 26%.

Although several initiatives to reduce CO2 emission from transport by putting demands on the vehicle emissions, the EU- commission has realised that it is not sufficient to look at the absolute emissions in the different sectors but that the need for rebalancing the effort taken by the sectors and their ability to reduce CO2 emission must be assessed. A wide range of factors are influencing the CO2 emission from the road transport sector, ranging from the demand for cars, individual mobility needs, vehicle and tyre technology, to the quality of the infrastructure.

Looking at European vehicle regulation the Commission has adopted the Euro 5 and 6 emission limits to reduce pollutant emissions from passenger cars and light-duty vehicles. At the Euro 5 stage, the proposal will lead to a further 80% reduction in particulate emissions from diesel vehicles and a 20% and 25% reduction of NOx emissions from diesel and petrol vehicles respectively. Euro 6 will set significantly lower emission limits for NOx emissions from diesel cars (68 % lower than today’s emission limit).