UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Eric Donnell has been named the director of the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (LTI) within Penn State’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
He is scheduled to begin on Aug. 15.
“Eric has a tremendous record of success and leadership in the field of transportation engineering, as well as great respect within LTI,” said Patrick J. Fox, John A. and Harriette K. Shaw Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “We are very fortunate to have him step into the director position, and I look forward to working with him in this role going forward.”
Donnell will provide leadership and direction to the Larson Institute, Penn State’s transportation research center, which brings together top faculty, world-class facilities and enterprising students from across the University in partnership with public and private stakeholders to address critical transportation-related issues.
"I am honored to be selected as the next director of the Larson Transportation Institute,” Donnell said. “LTI has a long history of delivering high-quality technical products and programs, and I am grateful for the opportunity to enhance our existing programs, while seeking new transportation-related research, education and outreach initiatives.”
Donnell is currently a professor of transportation engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Penn State and has been with the department since 2004.
Prior to joining Penn State, Donnell worked as a research associate at Bellomo-McGee Inc., in Vienna, Virginia, and as a graduate research assistant at the Larson Institute from 1997 through 2003.
He has published more than 50 refereed journal articles, 29 research reports and three book chapters on traffic safety, geometric design of highways and streets and speed management. He has received three best paper awards from the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Geometric Design, a TRB Blue Ribbon Award for Advancing Research and a leadership fellowship at the Eno Center for Transportation.
Donnell is chair of the TRB Committee on Geometric Design and the PennDOT-FHWA Safety Technical Advisory Committee, and he serves on the Editorial Advisory Board for Accident Analysis and Prevention, a leading international journal focused on traffic safety research.
Donnell received his doctorate in civil engineering from Penn State in 2003.