Purdue Road School - 106 Years of Innovation and Collaboration

 

The Purdue Road School unites federal, state and local agencies, elected officials, and industry professionals, and academia to collaborate and share innovations on diverse transportation topics. The 106th event once again broke records with over 3,150 registrants participating in 176 technical sessions involving 357 speakers and moderators. The program provided 182 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) to choose from, including 4 hours of Indiana Statutes and Ethics for Professional Engineers. The Purdue Road School collaborated for the second year with The Work Truck Show held at the Indianapolis Convention Center, where several technical sessions were offered to attendees.

During the Opening Session, John Dennis, West Lafayette Mayor, welcomed attendees to campus and the community. Joe McGuiness, Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner, highlighted important JTRP research projects that will improve driver safety on major highways and interstates. Jarod Klaas, Sr. Director of Planning and Development for the Indianapolis Airport Authority, shared the ever-changing evolution and innovation of the airport industry. Donna Cook, Vice President, Properties and Facilities, FedEx Express brought a global and local view of the transportation and logistics industry to the Opening Session.

At the Wednesday Luncheon, Jay Akridge, Purdue Provost, introduced keynote speaker John Stone, Senior Vice President Intelligent Solutions Group Deere and Company.  John provided examples of smart technology innovations in agriculture that can provide insights into preparing our roads for connected and autonomous vehicles.

Road School presentations are archived in the Purdue Libraries' online repository and are available for free download at http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/roadschool/. The Purdue Road School repository has over 555,000 downloads with proceedings dating back to 1924. 

Additional photos from 2020 Purdue Road School can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/gp/jtrp/ahC1d4.