Meeting Notes
RAC Task Force on Administration
Conference Call
Tuesday, March 19th, 2013
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
In attendance: Steve Pepin (co-chair), Allison Hardt (co-chair), Clint Adler, Moy
Biswas, Ron Curb, Chris Hedges, Skip Paul, Rod Montney, Amy Schutzbach, James
Watkins.
Absent: George Colgrove, Elisha Wright-Kehner.
Action items underscored.
1. Introductions
Chris Hedges identified those on the call. Steve Pepin welcomed all participants and
called the meeting to order.
2. Previous Meeting Notes
A motion (Schutzbach/Hardt) to accept the meeting notes was approved.
3. Existing Business

Website Working Group
See attached email and Word document from Cynthia Gerst. The next Website
Working Group call will take place on March 25.
Recommendations have been presented for changes to the menu structure.

“Ahead of the Curve: Mastering the Management of Transportation Research &
Innovation”.

The first conference call will be held April 17.
Formation of the working group is now complete and includes the following
members:

RAC list (current/former/honorary): Michael Bonini, Mara Campbell, Anne
Ellis, Cynthia Gerst, Chris Hedges, Sandra Larson, Martin Parker, Ned
Parrish, Skip Paul, Stephen Pepin, and Daniel Yeh.
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

The other members: Barbara Harder, Mark Norman (TRB), Jason Bittner (U
South Florida), Hau Hagedorn (OTREC), Martin Pietrucha (Penn State), Kim
Fisher (TRB), Shashi Nambisan (Iowa State), Victoria Beale (Ohio LTAP),
Gregor Benz (Parsons Brinkerhoff), Chandra Bhat (U Texas), Kirk Steudle
(Michigan DOT), Debra Elston (FHWA), Sue McNeil (U Delaware), Laura
Melendy (U Berkeley), Neil Pedersen (TRB), Larry Rilett (U Nevada), and
Katie Turnbull (Texas A&M).
DOT Fact Sheets – request for updates
Allison Hardt: 10 states have responded to date; eight have provided updates.
Allison plans to contact the Canadian affiliate members and invite them to submit
fact sheets for their own organizations.

National RAC Meetings

July 14-18, in Baton Rouge, LA
The website is officially up and registration is now available.

Revision process for RAC 101 for presentation in July 2013
Steve has still not heard back from George Colgrove and asked for a volunteer
to take the lead. James Watkins and Clint Adler offered to help if someone
else took the lead role. Skip Paul outlined the process: review all sections of
the RAC 101 PPT and update if necessary; ask Chris Jenks to identify new
members; send new members the RAC 101 PPT in advance of the summer
meeting; organize a session at the summer meeting with the leader of each
RAC 101 component speaking for five minutes, followed by audience
comments and questions. Steve will follow up with Allison to discuss next
steps.

Agenda items for the Admin TF meeting at the summer meeting:
a) RAC Winter Meeting – Discussion of the purpose, structure, schedule, and
format.
It was reported that several RAC members expressed dissatisfaction at the
January 2013 meeting. Ron Curb – it would be helpful if the speakers
coordinated their presentations to avoid duplication with other sessions
and each other. Clint and Amy - Implementation of SHRP 2 will still be a
relevant topic for discussion at the 2014 meeting. Skip – The summer
meeting will feature several presentations on SHRP 2 implementation
followed by a one-hour open workshop or discussion forum. Part of the
discussion will cover how well the various national and state bodies are
working together. Chris Hedges – RAC could also structure the winter
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meeting as a business meeting; all options are still on the table. Clint –
use the SCOR strategic plan to identify significant elements for the winter
agenda. Chris – consider a “red meat” session similar to the one held
annually at the TRB Executive Committee meeting, during which an
invited speaker delivers a presentation and facilitates a discussion on a
current high-priority topic. Steve – the first step will be to survey the
RAC members to get their thoughts and ideas on the winter meeting.
Steve and Allison will lead the effort and Chris will provide assistance in
the survey.
b) Clint suggested that performance management for research programs
might be an appropriate item for the summer Task Force agenda.

Mentoring Update
Regional chairs have checked in and the program seems to be working well.
Amy – consider surveying RAC 101 participants for their experiences with
mentoring. Chris – it may be time to review the mentoring material provided
on the website and evaluate the need for any revisions or updates. Moy – ask
specific mentors and mentees partners to comment on their experiences. Amy
– it is important for new members to know that they can contact their mentor
any time they need help or advice. This item will be carried forward for
discussion at future meetings.

Increasing State DOT involvement in RAC
Allison plans to follow up with Debra Nelson, TRB state representative for
New York DOT. She also plans to contact regional chairs to identify states
with non-participating RAC members and explore ways to get their state more
involved, possibly through designation of a secondary RAC representative.

Peer Exchange Reports
Skip sent an email earlier this week inviting RAC members to submit peer
exchange reports for posting on the SCOR/RAC website if they have not
already done so.
Clint asked what other process reviews are required and conducted by FHWA.
Skip offered to share the latest process review done in Louisiana.
4. New Business

Email from Barnie
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Barnie will be retiring from the Oregon DOT and from RAC at the end of March.
Task Force members are encouraged to send their best wishes, and the RAC
Officers will be asked whether they want to present a tribute to Barnie on behalf
of RAC.

Interaction with other Task Forces
Steve and Allison will follow up with the RAC leadership. Ron suggested that
the Task Forces on Administration, Collaboration and Coordination, and
Transportation Knowledge Networks collaborate on developing a generic
sequence of the steps involved in the research process from idea to final product.
(see attachment) The results could help states identify the best research programs
to address given topics by assigning local, regional, and national priorities.
5. Items for RAC Leadership
Identified items included mentoring, RAC 101, states with limited RAC participation,
the RAC winter meeting agenda, and recognition of Barnie Jones’ service to RAC
6. Open Discussion
7. Next Call – Tuesday, April 30th from 1:30 – 3:00 pm
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AASHTO RAC Web Site Subcommittee Conference Call
Monday, March 25, 2013
MEETING NOTES
Participants: Allison Hardt, Sue Sillick, Adam Woodyard, Chris Hedges.
1. Previous Meeting Notes:
The Minutes from 2/25/13 were approved by consensus.
2. Action Items
(a) Proposed modifications for the mouse-over menu structure.
As a result of the discussion, the recommendations have been revised, with
additions marked in red text (see attachment). These will be addressed at the next
conference call.
(b) Review of the existing menu of the RAC site.
Suggested changes or items for discussion are incorporated in the proposed
modifications document mentioned above.
3. New Business
(a) Task Force Mission sheet from Leni
Given that there is already a landing page for the Task Forces with membership
and mission statements, it is not clear whether there is a need to add this page to
the website. A decision will be made at the next conference call.
4. Next Steps
Proposed Assignment:

Review Home page http://research.transportation.org/Pages/default.aspx
o Define criteria and/or guidelines for content on the home page.
o What is the audience for the site: who are they and what do they need?
o What should be on the home page?
o How long should it be there?
o Can we get alerts, subscriptions, or RSS feeds alerting RAC members
of changes to the home page or specific pages on the site? (Natassja
will look into this)
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o Review the order of the items in the menu and submenus.
o Review the titles and content of the sections “Research Projects and
Results”, “Contacts and Programs”, and “Resources for Research
Managers”.
o Review content of the FAQ section.
5. Next Meeting: 4/29/13 1:30 – 2:30 pm Eastern Time.
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