Renewal: Attracting and Preparing the Next Generation of Professionals and Scholars in TRB Blue Ribbon Award

The Blue Ribbon Award recognizes exemplary best practices of TRB standing technical committee activities and volunteer efforts associated with attracting and preparing the next generation of professionals and scholars in TRB.

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 - Young Members Council – Aviation (AV000(1)) for fostering the participation and growth of those 35 years of age and younger within the Transportation Research Board and the aviation industry
• 2024 - Transportation Resilience Section, (AMR00), and Young Members Council - Sustainability and Resilience (AM000(1)) for its 6-Minute Presentation Showcase
• 2023 - Transportation Related Noise and Vibration Committee for increasing scholar, practitioner, and young member involvement
• 2022 - Urban Freight Transportation Committee for implementing a successful model by culturing a collaborative and supportive learning environment, providing involvement in committee activities, and providing mentoring and networking opportunities for leadership roles
• 2020 - Young Members Subcommittee
• 2019 - Managed Lanes Committee for promoting young professionals into prominent committee roles
• 2018 - Logistics of Disaster Response and Business Continuity Committee for utilizing interactive tabletop exercises for educating and communicating current good practices in resilience, and Traffic Control Devices Committee for conducting the Traffic Control Device Student Challenge to attract the next generation of professionals and accelerate their careers
• 2016 - Rail Freight Transportation Committee for implementation of the “SummerRail” conference, creating capacity, mentoring, and interconnectedness across the entire Rail Group and beyond
• 2013 - Railroad Operation Safety AR070 (Rail Group) for “Young Members Scholarship Program.”