about its>>Its advisory council for 2007

This year, Professor Robert Harley joins the ITS Advisory Council, bringing the number of members to eight. They come from varied backgrounds, including the transportation industry, governmental agencies, metropolitan planning organizations and, in academia, city and regional planning, civil and environmental engineering, and electrical engineering and computer science. Despite their diverse experiences, they have a common interest in supporting forward-thinking transportation research.

In alphabetical order, they are:

Lawrence D. Burns, GM Vice President, Research & Development and Strategic Planning
Elizabeth Deakin, Professor, City and Regional Planning, Director of the University of California Transportation Center, Co-Director of the Center for Global Metropolitan Studies
Robert Harley, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Steve Heminger, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Randell Iawasaki, Chief Deputy Director, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
Adib Kanafani, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Former Director of ITS
Scott Nason, Vice President-Revenue Management, American Airlines
Pravin Varaiya, Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Former Director of California PATH

Their official biographies are below.

Lawrence D. Burns, GM Vice President, Research & Development and Strategic Planning

Larry Burns oversees GM's advanced technology, innovation programs, and corporate strategy. He is a member of GM’s Automotive Strategy Board and Automotive Product Board.

In addition to driving innovation into today's vehicles, Burns is championing GM's "reinvention" of the automobile around advanced propulsion, electronics, telematics, and materials technologies. The goal is to realize sustainable mobility with vehicles that are aspirational and affordable.

Burns began his career in 1969 as a member of the Research & Development staff, where his research focused on transportation, logistics, and production systems. He subsequently held executive positions in several GM divisions in the areas of product program management, quality, production control, industrial engineering, and product and business planning. In May 1998, he was named a vice president of General Motors, with responsibility for R&D and Planning.

Burns holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. He also has a master's degree in engineering/public policy from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University).

Burns is a member of the USCAR Operating Council and the FreedomCAR Partnership Executive Steering Committee. He serves on the University of Michigan’s Automotive Research Center board and recently completed a six-year term on its College of Engineering National Advisory Council. In addition, he is a member of the Advisory Council for the University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Transportation Studies and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Midwest Research Institute. Burns also sits on the board of the University of Michigan Center for Hearing Disorders and is a member of the National Advisory Group for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology.

In 2000, Burns received Kettering University’s Engineering Alumni Achievement Award for his contributions to the engineering profession. In 2002, the Deafness Research Foundation recognized him with its National Campaign for Hearing Health Leadership Award. In 2005, he was a member of a General Motors team awarded the Franz Edelman Award from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Burns is also the recipient of the 2005 Alumni Merit Award from the University of Michigan Industrial and Operations Engineering Department. He recently completed a two-year term as National Honorary Chairman for the MATHCOUNTS Foundation.

Elizabeth Deakin, Professor of City and Regional Planning, Director of the University of California Transportation Center, Co-Director of the Center for Global Metropolitan Studies

Elizabeth Deakin is professor of city and regional planning. She is Director of the University of California Transportation Center, a multi-campus unit that supports research, education and outreach. She is also co-Director of the Center for Global Metropolitan Studies, a multi-disciplinary initiative to better understand the implications of worldwide growth in metropolitan areas and to develop strategies for better managing urbanization processes and outcomes.

Her research and teaching are focused on transportation and land use planning and policy, institutions, and law and environment issues. She is also associated with the UC Berkeley Center for Future Urban Transport, a Volvo Center of Excellence.

Robert Harley, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Robert Harley has been on the faculty at UC Berkeley since 1993. He holds a bachelor's degree in Engineering Science (Chemical Engineering option) from the University of Toronto, and both a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Harley's research focuses on air quality and sustainable transportation; he is an author of over 50 papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Harley received the National Science Foundation's young investigator (CAREER) award in 1996, as well as a visiting scientist fellowship (1999-2000) at the University of Colorado / NOAA Aeronomy Lab in Boulder. Harley served for 3 years as Vice Chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Berkeley (2001-04), chairing committees that were responsible for undergraduate curriculum and graduate student admissions. Harley is also Deputy Department Head for Atmospheric Sciences in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy science lab located adjacent to campus.

steve heminger mtc Steve Heminger, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission is the regional transportation planning and finance agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. It allocates more than $1 billion per year in funding for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the Bay Area’s surface transportation network.

Since 1998, MTC has served as the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) responsible for administering all toll revenue from the seven state-owned bridges. BATA has a "AA" credit rating and plans to issue over $6 billion in toll revenue bonds to finance bridge, highway, and transit construction projects over the next several years. MTC also functions as the region’s Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE) and operates a fleet of 70 tow trucks and 2,000 roadside call boxes to assist motorists in trouble. In addition, MTC manages the TransLink® universal fare card program for public transit and the popular 511 traveler information telephone number and web site.

Heminger was appointed by then-House Democratic Leader (and now House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi to serve on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, which will help chart the future course for the federal transportation program. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Mineta Transportation Institute, the Board of Advisors for the ENO Transportation Foundation, and the Research and Technology Coordinating Committee for the Federal Highway Administration. Prior to joining MTC in 1993, Heminger was Vice President of Transportation for the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored public policy group. He also has served as a staff assistant in the California State Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

Heminger received his Master of Arts degree from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University.

Randell "Randy" Iwasaki, Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

Iwasaki manages the day-to-day operations of the Department, including an operating budget of nearly $8 billion and more than 21,000 employees. From December 2004 until December 2005, he also managed the $8.6 billion Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit Program.

A licensed civil engineer, Iwasaki has been with Caltrans for more than 20 years, serving in a number of high profile engineering and management positions.

From July 2004 to November 2004 Iwasaki served as the Department’s Interim Director where he was responsible for California's state transportation system, including more than 50,000 lane miles of state highways stretching from Mexico to Oregon and from the Pacific Ocean to Nevada and Arizona.

From August 1999 to July 2004, Iwasaki served as the Deputy Director for Maintenance and Operations, where he supervised nearly 6,000 maintenance employees and 1,600 traffic operations specialists. He was also responsible for a 14,000-piece equipment fleet and Caltrans' Research and Innovation Division.

In between these years, from September 2001 through November 2002, Iwasaki served as Caltrans District 4 Director for nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area. During that time, he was instrumental in initiating the ground breaking for the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

During his career at Caltrans, Iwasaki has spearheaded a number of environmental engineering innovations in California. He was instrumental in the use of old tires in rubberized asphalt, the installation of LED red lights saving the state taxpayers more than $2 million a year in power costs, and conversion of the Caltrans equipment fleet to clean burning fuels.

Iwasaki serves on a number of national initiatives. He has been appointed as chair of the Technical Coordinating Committee for implementation of the renewal portion of the Strategic Highway Research Program, and is a member of a public advisory committee for the ITS Caucus for the U. S. Congress. He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel that is looking at impacts to transportation from Global Climate Changes. He co-chaired an effort to encourage the development and application of quiet pavement technologies to reduce highway noise in the United States.

Iwasaki also served as the Director of the Department's District 9 from April 1996 through August 1997. This District straddles the eastern portion of the Golden State, covering Inyo, Mono, and a portion of Kern counties.

As District 9 Director, Iwasaki supervised the reconstruction of a ten-mile segment of Highway 395 in Mono County that was washed away by the rampaging floodwaters of the Walker River in 1997.

Iwasaki earned his bachelor's degree in Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a Master's in Engineering from California State University, Fresno.

Adib Kanafani, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Former Director of ITS

Adib Kanafani has the following research interests: Transportation Planning, Transportation Systems Analysis, Air Transportation. He was Director of ITS from 1983 to 1998.

Scott Nason, Vice President-Revenue Management for American Airlines

Scott D. Nason was named American’s Vice President- Revenue Management in October 2002. He is responsible for all of American's passenger pricing and yield management activity, which includes managing the allocation of seats among various fare categories and overbooking, as well as responsibility for many of American’s support functions for codesharing, the oneworld Alliance, and Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

Prior to this, Nason was a Vice President in Information Technology Services for six years. He served as Vice President-Information Technology Services and was the first Chief Information Officer for American Airlines from May 1996 until December 2000. As CIO, he was responsible for the airline’s technology direction, for managing its technology costs, and for managing the relationship with American’s information technology vendors—primarily The SABRE Group.

Nason joined American in July 1980 as Senior Analyst-Operations Research. He held various positions, including Manager-Operations Research, Manager-Airline Profitability Analysis, Director-Crew Resources, and Managing Director-Operations Planning. Nason was named Vice President-Operations Planning and Performance in May 1991, and was responsible for crew scheduling for 30,000 crewmembers, and for dependability analysis, operations engineering, and System Operations Control (SOC), including dispatching all of the airline’s 2,300 daily flights. He held that position until being named CIO.

Before joining American, Nason worked as a Senior Transportation Analyst for Cambridge Systematics, Inc. and as a Research Assistant for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Nason earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and History from the University of California at Berkeley in 1973, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Master’s Degree in Transportation Systems Analysis from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977, where he was elected to Sigma Xi Honor Society.

Nason has been a member of several boards and professional associations, including a member of the Board of Directors of SITA, Worldspan, ATPCO, and the Dallas Summer Musicals, and several public and private airline industry and technology executive advisory boards. He has delivered many lectures and presentations and written for many professional publications on a variety of airline and information technology issues.

Pravin Varaiya, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Pravin Varaiya is Nortel Networks Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1975 to 1992 he was also Professor of Economics at Berkeley. From 1994 to 1997 he was Director of the California PATH program, a multi-university research program dedicated to the solution of California’s transportation problems. His current research is concerned with communication networks, transportation, and hybrid systems.

He has taught at MIT and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Varaiya has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Miller Research Professorship. He received an Honorary Doctorate from L’Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, and the Field Medal and Bode Lecture Prize of the IEEE Control Systems Society. He is a Fellow of IEEE and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is on the editorial board of "Discrete Event Dynamical Systems" and "Transportation Research---C". He has co-authored three books and 300 technical papers. The second edition of "High-Performance Communication Networks" (with Jean Walrand and Andrea Goldsmith) was published by Morgan-Kaufmann in 2000. "Structure and interpretation of signals and systems" (with Edward Lee) was published by Addison-Wesley in 2003. Varaiya is a member of the Board of Directors of Sensys Network.