UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (LTI) has announced that Leslie S. Richards, Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, will serve as keynote speaker at the 24th Annual Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference (TESC), to be held Dec. 5-7, at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center. Richards is scheduled to speak between noon and 1:15 p.m. on Dec. 5.
“We are honored to have Secretary Richards serve as a keynote speaker this year,” said Eric Donnell, LTI director and general co-chair of TESC. “She brings years of experience and a progressive vision to the transportation industry, which I am confident our TESC attendees will appreciate.”
In addition to Richards, LTI has also confirmed that the Larson Lecture, an annual speech given in honor of the Institute’s namesake, will be presented by Pete Ruane, president and chief executive officer of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Ruane is scheduled to speak between noon and 1:15 p.m. on Dec. 6.
“With 30 years of service to ARTBA, Pete has been an integral part of ensuring federal investment in transportation infrastructure,” said Vikash Gayah, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State and general co-chair of TESC. “Funding for the U.S. highway and transit programs has grown from $16 billion to $60 billion over the last three decades, so the engineers working in the transportation industry — many who attend TESC each year — owe a lot of gratitude to him for his passion and advocacy on behalf of the profession.”
Set to the theme of “Next Gen Transportation: Preparing Industry for Tomorrow, Today,” the 2018 conference will cover a wide range of transportation subjects, distributed across five key tracks — safety, operations, planning, design and technology. Dan Corey, deputy national ITS practice leader with AECOM, will chair the conference.
Since 1995, the Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference (TESC) has been attracting professionals from throughout Pennsylvania, the mid-Atlantic region, and the country. It continues to be an authoritative source of information on pressing issues from some of the foremost experts in transportation today. For more information about the conference, visit tesc.psu.edu.
The Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute is Penn State’s transportation research center. Since its founding in 1968, the Larson Institute has maintained a threefold mission of research, education and service. The institute 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 problems.