Implementation: Moving Research Ideas into Transportation Practice Blue Ribbon Award

The Blue Ribbon Award recognizes exemplary best practices of TRB standing technical committee activities and volunteer efforts associated with moving research ideas into transportation practice.

Nominate Process

Nominations from free standing Sections or Group are due to the Technical Activities Council in September. The nomination process is left to the discussion of the Section or Group Chair and each Section and Group may make no more than one nomination per award category. The description of the committee’s best practice activities shall be no longer than 500 words and must relate specifically to the category for which the committee is being nominated. Activities do not have to be limited to the current year but should include recent activities up to and including the current year. Nominations of committees that won previous Blue Ribbon Committee Awards are acceptable providing that the nomination is based primarily on activities/programs other than those for which the committee won an earlier award.

Selection Process

The Technical Activities Council sponsors five blue ribbon awards that recognize exemplary best practices of standing technical committee activities and the volunteer efforts associated with those activities. The Blue Ribbon Award recipient committees serve as role models, with committee Chairs and members sharing their experiences with others. A subcommittee of the TAC will review the nominations based on the selection criteria and recommend selection of Blue Ribbon Award Committees in each of the five categories. The subcommittee may also recommend an honorable mention in each category. The recommendations will be considered by the full TAC during its fall conference call where final selections will be made.

• 2025 - No award presented
• 2024 - Accessible Transportation and Mobility Committee (AME50) for the active and meaningful engagement of individuals with disabilities enhancing the movement of research to practice and creating opportunity for systemic change across the transportation research field
• 2023 - Freight Planning and Logistics Committee for leveraging existing TRB resources innovatively to create an impact beyond TRB
• 2022 - Transportation Needs of National Parks and Public Lands Committee for Multi-prong Success Capitalizing on new funding source for public lands research and re-engaging state representatives to fund a research need through the NCHRP program, and Low Volume Roads Committee for 2019 International Low Volume Roads Conference and Workshops
• 2020 - Geometric Design Committee and Operational Effects of Geometrics Committee
• 2019 - Strategic Management Committee for strategic decision making in real time through interactive, multi-modal war games workshop
• 2019 - Transportation Asset Management Committee (Honorable Mention) for promoting the implementation of transportation asset management through its conference
• 2018 - Technology Transfer Committee for leading in partnering with academia, private sector, and public agencies to advance the state of bringing research results to implementation
• 2018 - Roadside Operations Committee for developing the Virtual Vegetation Management University (V2MU) a list-serve that brings together academia, public and private sector vegetation management professionals to find solutions to various problems
• 2017 - Rail Transit Systems Committee for innovation in communication through development of a committee history report, introduction of LinkedIn connections, and enhancement of e-mail communications
• 2016 - Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Committee for developing a coordinated TSMO Research Program with peer organizations, and writing historical content for TR News
• 2016 - Ecology and Transportation Committee (Honorable Mention) for creating a newsletter for internal and external audiences
• 2014 - Travel Survey Methods ABJ40 (Policy & Organization Group-Data & Information Systems Section) for “Ensuring that the travel survey community has access to the best and most up-to-date information, documentation, and details on survey methods."
• 2013 - Planning & Environment Group ADA60 (Planning & Environment Group. Transportation System Policy, Planning and Process Section) for “Communicating Concepts with John and Jane Q. Public.”