Study Committee Biographical Information
Francis B. Francois, Chair, is currently a private consultant. He retired in February 1999 after providing 18 years of leadership as executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Previously he was a member of the County Council of Prince George’s County, Maryland, an elected position. As a registered patent attorney, he engaged actively in a patent and trademark law practice before joining AASHTO. Mr. Francois has been active in many local government associations. As AASHTO executive director, he contributed to many Transportation Research Board (TRB) activities, including serving as a member of the TRB Executive Committee and supporting the Strategic Highway Research Program. Mr. Francois has been a member of numerous National Research Council (NRC) committees, including the Panel on Statistical Programs and Practices of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the Committee for a Study for a Future Strategic Highway Research Program, and the Panel on Transportation of the Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism. He holds a bachelor of science degree in engineering from Iowa State University and a law degree from the George Washington University. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1999.
Gary R. Allen is chief of technology, research, and innovation at the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), where he is responsible for all information systems technology for the department, including software development, applications, and operations. He also directs the Virginia Transportation Research Council (VTRC), a nationally recognized multidisciplinary transportation research organization, and recently created the VDOT Knowledge Management Office. Dr. Allen has held
numerous positions at VDOT, including director of research for VTRC; acting assistant commissioner for planning, research, and technology; and senior research scientist. He has participated on numerous TRB committees and has chaired and held membership in a number of National Cooperative Highway Research Program panels. He was a faculty member in the AASHTO Executive Institute for 10 years and presently holds a visiting professor position in the System Engineering Department at the University of Virginia. Dr. Allen has a bachelor of arts degree in economics from Berea College and a doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia.
Lance R. Grenzeback is senior vice president at Cambridge Systematics, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in transportation policy and planning. He has served as the program manager for many major consulting studies that have provided policy, program, and technical support to federal, state, and local governments and international clients. As the author of numerous studies, Mr. Grenzeback is both a user and a provider of information. His primary areas of interest include freight planning and intermodal policy, transportation operations, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and economics. Mr. Grenzeback serves on two TRB committees—the Urban Freight Transportation Committee and the Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Committee. He is a charter member of ITS America. Mr. Grenzeback holds a bachelor’s degree in government and a master’s in city planning and economics, both from Harvard University.
Robert C. Johns is director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Minnesota, which conducts research programs and provides interdisciplinary education programs for transportation students and training and outreach programs for transportation professionals and policy leaders. Before joining the university, Mr. Johns served in management positions for the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Area, the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. He is chair of the TRB Policy and Organization Group, which coordinates the activities for four sections and 30 committees, and is a member of the Technical Activities Council. He is former section chair of the Management and Leadership committees and former chair of the Committee on Strategic Management,
which helped establish an ongoing National Cooperative Highway Research Program project on the strategic issues facing the leaders of state departments of transportation. Mr. Johns holds a BS degree in engineering operations from Iowa State University and MA and MBA degrees from the University of Iowa.
R. David Lankes is executive director of the Information Institute of Syracuse, a research institute that encompasses the Gateway to Educational Materials, the Virtual Reference Desk, AskNSDL (the National Science Digital Library), and other functions. Sponsors of institute projects have included the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, AT&T, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), and Microsoft. Dr. Lankes is also an assistant professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and adjunct instructor for the OCLC Institute in Dublin, Ohio. He is a visiting fellow at the National Library of Canada and has been a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Dr. Lankes received a master of science degree in telecommunications and a doctorate from the School of Information Studies, both at Syracuse University.
Charles R. McClure is Francis Eppes professor of information studies in the School of Information Studies and director of the Information Use Management and Policy Institute at Florida State University. His research interests include planning and evaluation of information services, federal information policy and standards setting for assessing digital reference services, and electronic records management, and he has published extensively on these topics. In addition to his teaching and research activities, Dr. McClure serves as a consultant to such organizations as the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Detroit Public Library, and the North Carolina State Library. He received a master of library science degree from the University of Oklahoma and a doctorate in library and information studies from Rutgers University.
Nina McLawhorn is research administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, responsible for management and administration of the department’s research, development, and technology program, from strategic planning to implementation of results and program
evaluation. She also represents the department in statewide, regional, and national activities, committees, and technical organizations. She formerly directed an eight-state gubernatorial effort to establish a $100 million endowment to protect the Great Lakes. Ms. McLawhorn currently serves as chair of the AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Region III and as RAC liaison on issues concerning the National Transportation Library. Ms. McLawhorn is also a member of the TRB Library and Information Science for Transportation Committee. She holds a bachelor of arts degree, with a concentration in political science and journalism, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Michael D. Meyer is professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), where he has taught since 1978. Before coming to Georgia Tech, he was director of the Bureau of Transportation Planning and Development at the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. As a researcher and educator, Dr. Meyer is a user of transportation information. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Planning Association, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and AASHTO. He currently serves on the TRB Executive Committee and has been a member of numerous NRC committees, including the Panel on Statistical Programs and Practices of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Dr. Meyer is a registered professional engineer in Georgia. He received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master of science degree in civil engineering from Northwestern University, and a doctorate in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Ellen (Leni) Oman is director of transportation research for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). She is responsible for identification, selection, management, and reporting of research projects for WSDOT and for coordination of research programs and projects with federal agencies, TRB, universities, and other research partners. She also is responsible for management of the department’s library, identification of needed library services, and provision of these services within available resources. The library has a collection of approximately 40,000 documents and digital services that are used by all regions and offices within the agency. Before joining WSDOT, Ms. Oman held sev-
eral positions with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. She is a member of AASHTO’s RAC (vice chair of RAC Region 4), TRB State Representative for WSDOT, a member of the TRB Conduct of Research Committee and the TRB Steering Committee for the Conferences on Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Technologies for Transportation, and chair of the TRB Geospatial Environmental Information peer exchange. Ms. Oman is executive director of the Washington Transportation Center and a member of the board of directors of Transportation Northwest. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Goddard College and a master of science degree in veterinary science from the University of Idaho.
Bonnie A. Osif is engineering reference and instruction librarian in the Engineering Library at the Pennsylvania State University. Her primary research interests include international transportation literature, teaching methodologies in an electronic environment, collaborative instruction, and science and technology literacy. Dr. Osif is a member of the American Libraries Association (ALA) and the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and has served on numerous committees of the SLA Science-Technology and Transportation Divisions. She was editor of Sci-Tech News for 5 years. Dr. Osif is a member of the TRB Library and Information Science for Transportation Committee and the Conduct of Research Committee. She received a master’s degree in information science from Drexel University and an EdD in science education from Temple University.
Roberto A. Sarmiento is head of the Northwestern University Transportation Library, one of the world’s leading transportation collections. He also served as principal facilitator for the development of the Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network, a consortium of 14 transportation libraries in the Midwest. This effort involved the creation of a transportation union catalogue, as well as the development of operational procedures and network structure for information access and exchange. Mr. Sarmiento is a member of SLA, where he currently serves as a member of the board of directors and is past chair of the Transportation Division. He is also a member of ALA and serves on the ALA Spectrum Advisory Council, an initiative to provide scholarships for people of color to study library science. Mr. Sarmiento is a member and
past chair of the TRB Information Services Committee and a member of the Library and Information Science for Transportation Committee. He received a bachelor’s degree in geology from St. Louis University and a master’s in library and information science from Dominican University.
Lisa Zeimer is a senior professional associate with Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas, which she joined in 2002. She is knowledgeable about environmental regulations and requirements relating to highway and transit development and has been involved in managing the environmental analysis of numerous transportation studies. Ms. Zeimer has also been involved in the development of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s knowledge management system as a member of the Knowledge Practice Program; lead on the development of virtual information libraries; and coordinator of the Environmental Planning and Analysis Practice Area Network, a network of 500 individuals. She is a certified planner with 21 years of transportation experience with various transportation and environmental planning firms. Ms. Zeimer is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, the American Planning Association, the National Association of Environmental Professionals, and TRB. She received her bachelor’s degree in history and American studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her master’s in urban planning from the University of Michigan.
