Professor Jane Lin to head national Sustainability and Resilience Group
CME Professor Jane Lin has been appointed the chair of the Sustainability and Resilience Group, which is one of only 10 technical groups at the Transportation Research Board (TRB). Lin’s group is made up of three sections and 18 committees. The appointment runs until 2023.
“It comes as a great honor and among the highest recognition internationally of my leadership in the area of research on sustainability and resilience of transportation systems,” she said.
The TRB is one of six major divisions of the National Research Council, which serves as an independent adviser to the federal government and others on scientific and technical questions of national importance. The TRB is jointly administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Its mission is to provide leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal.
The board is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation.
The Sustainability and Resilience Group is new to the TRB, which went through a restructuring last year. This group is the first truly interdisciplinary group; the other groups are more or less focused on a mode specific research area.
“As chair of the first interdisciplinary group, I hope to build it up, grow it, and make it a success, meaning forging interdisciplinary research among the three sections and 18 committees, promoting the group visibility among the overall transportation research community, and making sustainability and resilience front and center of transportation research,” said Lin.
Previously, Lin served as the chair of the Committee on Transportation and Air Quality from 2011 to 2017.She also is an editor of Transport Policy, and an associate editor at Transportation Research Part D: Transportation and Environment.
“My research is focused on sustainable transportation systems with emphasis on environmental sustainability,” said Lin, who is the director of the Sustainable Transportation Laboratory at UIC. “I was chair of one of the committees within this group (AMS10, air quality and greenhouse mitigation, formerly Transportation and Air Quality ADC20). So, it’s fair to say this group is my home.”