BTS Director Lakshmanan Returns to Boston University

Contact DOT 23-98 Carolee Bush 202-366-6946

Tuesday, February 3, 1998 -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater today announced that Dr. T. R. Lakshmanan has resigned as Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) to return to Boston University as a professor in the department of geography and as executive director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, also at Boston University.

"Under Dr. Lakshmanan's leadership, this year the DOT completed the most comprehensive study of long distance travel in almost 20 years. But more than a source of expert, independent information, Dr. Lakshmanan brought profound wisdom and great enthusiasm to our debates," Secretary Slater said.

Dr. Lakshmanan was reappointed to a second four-year term as BTS director in May 1997 by President Clinton. He was named its first director in June of 1994.

BTS was established by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 and has been in existence since 1992. The mission of BTS is to compile, analyze and provide information about the nation’s transportation systems through a collection of information on intermodal transportation.

Before he came to BTS, Lakshmanan was the founder and executive director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies for more than 15 years. Earlier, he was a professor of geography and environmental engineering at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore as well as a visiting scholar at various universities throughout the United States and abroad.

A native of Madras, India, Lakshmanan received a bachelor’s degree in science with honors from the University of Madras in 1952 and went on to earn his master’s degree the following year. In 1965, he earned his doctorate degree from Ohio State University.

BTS Deputy Director Robert A. Knisely will serve as acting director until a successor is named.