Robert E. Skinner, Jr., the executive director of the Transportation Research Board, will be the featured speaker at the Wednesday, January 14, 2015, Chairman’s Luncheon at the TRB 94th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The Chairman’s Luncheon is the premier event of the Annual Meeting, drawing an audience of about 750 leaders in transportation from the public and private sectors throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Skinner will speak on the role of research in advancing progress in transportation and the challenges ahead.

In addition, Mr. Skinner, who will be retiring from TRB at the end of January, has been selected the 2015 recipient of the Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation. The award will be presented during the Chairman’s Luncheon. Skinner will be honored for an influential career as a strong advocate for innovation in transportation and for his support of objective, balanced analysis as a foundation for policy making.   Under his direction, TRB significantly strengthened the multimodal and multidisciplinary range of its programs, inaugurated major communications initiatives, fostered international research partnerships and coordination, and worked proactively to enhance the diversity of the Board’s committees, programs, and staff. All of these enhancements provided direct dividends to federal, state, and local transportation agencies and ultimately to the traveling public.

The Frank Turner Medal recognizes lifetime achievement in transportation, as demonstrated by a distinguished career in the field, professional prominence, and a distinctive, widely recognized contribution to transportation policy, administration, or research.

The award was established in 1998 to commemorate Frank Turner’s extraordinary accomplishments in the development and construction of the U.S. transportation system. Turner was the initial recipient of the medal in 1999. The following organizations are sponsors of the award: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials; American Concrete Pavement Association; American Highway Users Alliance; American Portland Cement Alliance; American Public Transportation Association; American Road and Transportation Builders Association; American Traffic Safety Services Association, Inc.; Asphalt Institute; Associated General Contractors of America; Construction Industry Manufacturers Association; Equipment Manufacturers Institute; Eno Transportation Foundation; Institute of Transportation Engineers; National Asphalt Pavement Association; Road Gang; and Texas A&M Foundation. TRB serves as the secretariat for the award, which may be conferred biennially.

You are encouraged to register and make your hotel reservation online now. The 2015 TRB 94th Annual Meeting, January 11–15, 2015, in Washington, D.C., covers all transportation modes, with more than 4,500 presentations in nearly 800 sessions addressing topics of interest to all attendees—policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. The Annual Meeting, which draws attendees from throughout the United States and from 70 countries, is the single largest gathering of transportation practitioners and researchers in the world.

For the first time in almost 60 years, the TRB Annual Meeting will be moving to a new venue, the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Meeting attendees will be able to take advantage of new amenities such as free wireless Internet, expanded exhibition space, and the comfort of all events taking place under one roof. As the meeting transitions to this modern facility, its theme is Corridors to the Future: Transportation and Technology.