By: Eli Freund, Editorial Communications Manager, UConn School of Engineering
The UConn School of Engineering is pleased to announce changes in the Connecticut Transportation Institute that will position it for future growth, further support of economic development in the State of Connecticut, and a larger impact on the transportation industry.
As of today, Dr. Eric Jackson, current director of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center, will become the new Executive Director of the Connecticut Transportation Institute, with current CTI Executive Director James Mahoney becoming Associate Director of Operations, and current Connecticut Technology Transfer Center Program Director Donna Shea taking on the additional responsibilities of Associate Director of Education and Outreach for CTI. In addition to their management roles for CTI, Dr. Jackson will remain Director of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center, Mr. Mahoney will be Director of the Connecticut Advanced Pavement Lab, and Ms. Shea will be Director of the Connecticut Training and Technical Assistance Center (T2 Center), which was formerly known as the Connecticut Technology Transfer Center.
Dr. Jackson is the founder and Director of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center (CTSRC) at UConn. The CTSRC assisted the CTDOT with the complete overhaul and modernization of crash data and safety analysis in the state. Dr. Jackson’s current research has focused on autonomous and connected vehicles, big data, innovation in research and data visualization, and improving the crash data collection process in Connecticut as well as providing public access to crash data and transportation safety analysis tools. This includes the award winning Connecticut Crash Data Repository, which allows users to analyze transportation safety issues, through linking crash data with injury, roadway, hospital and social factor databases to improve transportation safety. The systems developed by Dr. Jackson have won three national awards: 1) The Peter K. O’Rourke Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Transportation Safety. 2) Governors Highway Safety Association. August 30, 2016. 2015 National Best Practices in Traffic Records. Association of Transportation Safety Information Professionals. October 27, 2015 and 3) the 2015 Bright Idea: Innovations in Government Program by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School. February 28, 2015. Dr. Jackson is dedicated to the idea of cross disciplinary research that improves and protects quality of life.
Ms. Shea has been the Director of Connecticut’s Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) at the University of Connecticut for over 17 years, where her primary responsibility is the transfer of knowledge and best practice to over 3,000 municipal public works employees each year. She is also the President-Elect of the National LTAP Association, representing 52 Local and Tribal Technical Assistance Programs throughout the U.S. She is also a member of several statewide, regional and national committees.
Finally, Mr. Mahoney a 1995 UConn grad has served CTI in various capacities since 1996. In 2007 Jim as asked to take over as Director of CTI, then in 2008 was promoted to Executive Director where he has served ever since. CTI has seen significant growth over the last 12 years and is a valuable resource to the transportation community. Mr. Mahoney’s research has focused on bituminous pavements, testing construction, pavement preservation, and the implementation of superpave. Mr. Mahoney is heavily involved with the Northeast Transportation Technician Certification Program (NETTCP), serving both on the Executive Board and Board of Directors while also teaching training courses.
For more information on CTI, please visit: https://www.cti.uconn.edu.
