AASHTO RESEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE (RAC)

RESEARCH COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION TASK GROUP

MEETING NOTES

1/8/08

8:00 – 10:00 am Pacific

9:00 – 11:00 am Mountain

10:00 am – 12:00 pm Central

11:00 am – 1:00 pm Eastern

Call in information: 360-709-8060, Password 1072626

Online at

  1. Introductions/Housekeeping
  2. Introductions:

Members present: Steve Albert, Michael Bonini, Nancy Chinlund, Sue Lodahl, Laurie McGinnis, Calvin Roberts, Sue Sillick, and Dawn Tucker.

Friends present: Tom Marchessault and Barbara Post.

  1. Meeting notes – Sue Sillick
  1. Changes/additions to agenda?

None

  1. Corrections to 11/6/2007 meeting notes? (attached)

None

  1. Report on Action Items from Last Meeting
  2. Sue S. will post the lists of current activities and accomplishments to the task group website (attached).

Done.

  1. Steve A. will continue to work on an article for TRNews.

An outline was distributed to the group. A conference call occurred with Steve A, Sue S., Robin Kline/RITA, and Amy Stearns/RITA to discuss identifying success stories and approaches to the article. This group will continue working on this item.

  1. Mike W. will incorporate, if possible, pooled-fund studies that are not yet funded to the unfunded research needs search tool. Also, he will work with Roy Messler to incorporate unfunded NCHRP topics to this tool (
  2. Unfunded Research Needs Portal next steps:
  3. Other sources: states; UTC’s, Other CRP’s, including synthesis programs?
  4. Possible vetting of unfunded NCHRP topics by TRB committees

The unfunded research portal now searches AASHTO Transportation and Environment Research Ideas (TERI) database, TRB Research Needs Statements (RNS) database, unfunded pooled-fund problem statements, and unfunded NCHRP problem statements. Thanks Mike!

Other potential sources of research needs include: road maps from DOT’s, RITA, conferences, and other sources (such as the concrete road map); maintenance peer-to-peer conferences, Cooperative Research Programs (CRP’s), etc.

Steve A. will put together a list of contacts for the conferences/road maps listed above. Sue will contact Crawford regarding CRP’s. Sue will also talk to Mike regarding state unfunded research needs. Laurie McGinnis offered to provide help.

  1. Tom M. and Steve A. will have a few UTC’s beta test the unfunded research needs search tool and provide comments back to the Task Group.

Tom and Steve will work to obtain beta testers for the unfunded research needs portal; they’ll talk at TRB.

  1. Nelda B. and Barbara P. will continue to work on RIP training and marketing.

A RIP webinar is scheduled for 2/7/08. There are two parts to the webinar: why should you enter into RIP and how to use RIP. The webinar will be advertised via a brochure and announcement. These will be available at the TRB annual meeting. The webinar tools are coming together and should be ready in the next couple of weeks. Steve A. will send the announcement to UTC’s and Sue S. will send it to RAC.

40 states entered data into RIP in 2007. This is a record high, but not perfect yet. Sue S. will contact the states that didn’t enter RIP records in 2008 to determine if they need assistance.

Barbara P. and Nelda B. are still working on obtaining stories for the value of RIP. Please send your stories to Barbara and Nelda.

Barbara announced TRIS will be included in the revised TRB strategic plan. A number of TRIS focus groups will be conducted. Barbara asked if we could have a focus group at the summer RAC meeting, including 10-15 attendees (RAC and UTC’s). Sue S. will call Michael B. to get this item on the summer RAC meeting agenda. If you have feedback on TRIS, please send it to Barbara P.

  1. Sue will revise the RAC Reauthorization Brief based on Task Group comments and send it out for comments again (attached).

Sue submitted the revised version to the RAC Funding Task Group Chair.

  1. Nancy C., Steve A., and Leni O. will work on an outline for a transportation research coordination and collaboration website/WIKI. (Nancy is the lead).

Leni and Nancy had a conference call to discuss this topic. They discussed creating a coordination and collaboration website for people new to transportation. They want to start small to build a foundation for a collaborative website. They discussed some of the material they would like to use to begin building this website, including: information on national centers, syntheses, TRB millennial papers, etc. Leni will ask if the University of Washingtonpavement collaborative website is getting much use or not and the time investment to build and maintain. There are still questions on who will host. Tom M indicated RITA is interested. RITA isinvestigating online collaborative tools and is just beginning to use MS SharePoint; there are still firewall issues. This subgroup will have another conference call in February. At some point soon, the web techies need to be brought into the discussion.

  1. Leni will send a RAC Reauthorization Position Brief on TKN’s to the group for comments and vetting.

This was sent to the Funding Task Group Chair.

  1. Leni and Dawn T. will work on completing the research funding bubble charts for all modes.

Dawn indicated they are working on completing these charts.

  1. Leni will see if the SCOE fishbone chart is posted to a website.

Leni was unable to attend the meeting. Sue will check with Leni. This would be a good item for our coordination/collaboration website.

  1. Review and Provide comments on Draft Outline for Revised TRB Research Brochure (attached)

Laurie M. indicated perhaps the contents do not fit a brochure; Sue S. agreed. Committee members should provide comments on outline and let Sue S. know if you are interested in drafting any sections of this document ASAP. This document will be good information for our coordination/collaboration website.

  1. TERRA Update (Laurie McGinnis)

Terra (Transportation Engineering and Road Research Alliance) is a partnership to advance innovations in road engineering and construction, including issues related to cold climates.See for more information. Members include: DOTS, industry, national transportation agencies, and university research organizations. There is a membership fee to sustain the infrastructure, which has been one-time so far; there have been enough new members so that old members haven’t had to pay an additional membership fee. Members bring research ideas to the table with the idea that collaborative efforts will move forward. Focus is on research and technology transfer. Steve A. announced that WTI has a similar facility and asked Laurie for the draft brochure TERRA is developing so that he can make sure there is not a duplication of efforts. Steve A. and Laurie M. will send their draft brochures to Sue S. so that she can send them out to the rest of the committee. There are a number of test facilities that require a greater level of coordination so that each can carve out their own niche. Sue S. Steve A., and Laurie M. will get together to discuss how to move this issue forward. Laurie M. announced there will be a presentation on TERRA at one of the collaboration sessions at TRB.

  1. UTC Coordination and Collaboration Efforts (Tom Marchessault)

There is a planning team for the Third Annual University Transportation Centers Spotlight Conference. This year's topic will be Impact of Changing Demographics on the Transportation System. The conference will be held at the Transportation Research Board Keck Center, Washington DC, October 27-29.

Tom M. and Steve A. will give an update from our Task Group to CUTC, using the list of accomplishments and current activities.

  1. RITA Coordination and Collaboration Efforts (Dawn Tucker)

New Administrator – Paul Brubaker. He is very interested in coordination and collaboration. Some new activities since Mr. Brubaker began in his position at RITA include: 1) developing a transportation vision for 2030, setting forth a clear and concise USDOT policy; this document will be available at the annual TRB meeting; 2) developing a RD&T strategic plan for 2015; this document should be complete in April or May; 3) developing a research, planning, and investment control system to inventory and track all RD&T activities and to improve the budget and review process, system-wide planning, and efficiency. They will begin with the alternative fuels program, gathering input on how this program should be developed. This will allow RITA to better articulate how each program is a part of the USDOT’s comprehensive RD&T plan.

There are 8 intermodal working groups developing research roadmaps for the RD&T strategic plan. UTC’s are participating. The first draft should be available in March or April. At that time, RITA will cast a wider net to solicit comments.

Also, it was mentioned there will be a DOT plenary session speaking to the 2030 vision document mentioned above on Tuesday (9am) at the TRB annual meeting.

  1. Steve A. asked how we get the word out about the activities of our task group.

We need to raise the awareness with TRB, CUTC, and others. Articles and links to websites were mentioned to begin raising the awareness. Tom M. and Steve A. will talk about an article on RITA’s website.

This topic will be added to the agenda for our next meeting for further discussion.

  1. Develop Statement of Objectives (SMART - Specific, Measurable, Agreed Upon, Realistic, and Time-Bound)
  2. What are some easy wins (low hanging fruit)?
  3. Partnering articles in TRNews.
  4. Bubble Charts.
  5. RIP data entry training and marketing.
  6. Unfunded research needs portal.
  7. Coordination/Collaboration Website.
  8. TRB Research Summary Brochure.
  9. Reauthorization to support coordination and collaboration.
  10. Need to prioritize.
  11. Next Meetings – Mark your calendars!
  12. 3/4/08, 4/1/08, 5/6/08, 6/3/08, 7/1/08, 8/5/08, 9/2/08, 10/7/08, 11/13/08, and 12/2/08.
  13. 3/4/08Agenda items – Suggestions?
  14. Update from Leni Omanon NW RAC/UTC partnership.
  15. Raising the awareness of our efforts.

ACTION ITEMS

Steve A. will continue to work on an article for TRNews (See 2b. above).

Steve A. will put together a list of contacts for the conferences/road maps (See 2c. above).

Sue will contact Crawford regarding CRP’s. Sue will also talk to Mike regarding state unfunded research needs (See 2c. above).

Tom and Steve will work to obtain beta testers for the unfunded research needs portal (See 2d. above)

All please send your stories to Barbara and Nelda (See 2e. above).

Steve A. will send the RIP webinar announcement to UTC’s and Sue S. will send it to RAC (See 2e. above).

Sue S. will call Michael B. to get the TRIS focus group on the summer RAC meeting agenda (See 2e. above).

If you have feedback on TRIS, please send it to Barbara P (See 2e above).

The coordination/collaboration website development subgroup will meet in February (See 2g. above).

Leni O. and Dawn T. will work on the WSDOT Bubble charts (See 2i. Above).

Leni will see if the SCOE fishbone chart is posted to a website (See 2j. above).

Committee members should provide comments on outline and let Sue S. know if you are interested in drafting any sections of this document ASAP (See 3 above)

Steve A. and Laurie M. will send their draft facility brochures to Sue S. so that she can send them out to the rest of the committee (See 4 above).