Research: Identifying and Advancing Ideas for Research Blue Ribbon Award

The Blue Ribbon Award recognizes exemplary best practices of TRB standing technical committee activities and volunteer efforts associated with identifying and advancing ideas for research.

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.

• 2024 - Steel Bridges Committee (AKB20) for facilitating funded research through a national liaison program and effective research need statement development
• 2023 - Seismic Design and Performance of Bridges Committee for being visionary and proactive in addressing new and critical challenges to improve seismic design and retrofitting
• 2023 - Airfield and Airspace Performance Committee for identifying new areas of transportation research, developing innovative research ideas, and cultivating subcommittees to advance the research field
• 2022 - Quality Assurance Management for Plan-Do-Check-Act Improving the process to champion RPSs to develop enhanced QA processes
• 2020 - Urban Freight Transportation Committee
• 2019 - Roadside Safety Design Committee for identifying, prioritizing, and advancing research needs through engagement with AASHTO technical committee
• 2019 - Statewide Multimodal Transportation Planning Committee (Honorable Mention) for identifying and advancing research needs into successfully funded research problem statements using multiple forums for convening planning practitioners
• 2018 - Steel Bridges Committee for coordination with industry and AASHTO in generating Research Needs Statements which resulted in practical, high-value research projects, and for promoting the implementation and dissemination of their results
• 2018 - Intermodal Freight Transport Committee for working with the freight industry to listen, observe, absorb, and then base research on real-world, day-to-day challenge
• 2017 - Construction Management Committee for turning research needs statements into funded research projects through industry outreach and collaboration
• 2017 - Highway Capacity and Quality of Service Committee for promoting and sponsoring transportation research that has established a broad range of tools applied by practitioners, researchers, educators, and policymakers
• 2016 - Transportation History Committee for development of a transportation history blog, production of historical exhibits, and writing historical content for TR News
• 2016 - Transportation Planning Applications Committee for planning and organizing the Transportation Planning Applications Conference
• 2015 - Transportation Asset Management for turning research needs statements into NCHRP funded research projects
• 2015 - Standing Committee on Roundabouts for facilitating implementation of roundabouts through innovative dissemination and outreach of research and best practices
• 2015 - Joint Subcommittee on Active Traffic Management (Honorable Mention) for advancing advanced traffic management concept as innovative approach to improve safety and travel
• 2014 - Operational Effects of Geometrics & Geometric Design Committee (joint effort) AHB65 & AFB10 (Operations & Preservation Group-Operations Section Design & Construction Group-Design Section) for “Jointly developing a strategic geometric design research program in consultation with AASHTO Technical Committee on Geometric Design.”
• 2014 - Conduct of Research ABG10 (Policy & Organization Group-Research & Education Section) for “Championing and leading a variety of TRB activities, special initiatives and ongoing partnerships contributing to TRB and the transportation research community.”
• 2014 - Urban Transportation Data and Information Systems ABJ30 (Policy & Organization Group-Data & Information Systems Section) for “Expanding the depth of research on urban transportation data through a number of joint subcommittees devoted to emerging transportation data issues.”
• 2013 - Highway Safety Performance ANB25 (Systems Users Group Safety Section) for “Highway Safety Manual.”
• 2013 - Transportation Network Modeling ADB30 (Planning & Environment Group Travel Analysis Methods Section) for “Improving Connections with Practitioners.”