The FMCSA Office of Research and Technology (R & T) recently
presented its 4th Annual Forum entitled FMCSA Research & Technology:
Synergy in Partnerships, in conjunction with the Transportation Research
Boards 83rd Annual Meeting. The Forum provided insights from toplevel
speakers and two sets of panelists on how public-private partnerships
that involve government, academia, and industry work toward common
transportation safety goals.
Mary Powers-King, FMCSA's R & T Director, started the Forum with a
warm welcome to an audience of approximately 150 attendees. She introduced
John Hill, FMCSA's Chief Safety Officer, who gave the opening
remarks. He stressed the importance of government, industry, and publicprivate
partnerships as a way to make our roads and commercial vehicles
safer and to keep commerce and freight moving.
In his keynote address, Acting Administrator of Research and Special
Programs Administration, Samuel Bonasso, gave his viewpoints on what
he called "a topic dear to my heart"public-private partnerships.
Mr. Bonasso noted that no single research entity possesses all of the
required resources to meet all of its strategic goals and that partnerships
are critical to expanding one's capabilities and resource pool.
Brigham A. McCown, FMCSA's Chief Counsel, reviewed the permissible
arrangements the government can have with third parties and the process
that must be followed to do so. He also talked about the many ways in
which the U.S. government can potentially partner with outside entities
and the Standards of Ethical Conduct that apply to Federal employees in
these partnerships.
Mary Powers-King (above upper
right), Samuel Bonasso (above left),
and John Hill (above right) extend a
warm welcome to the attendees of
the R&T 4th Annual Forum.
Martin Walker, FMCSA's Research Division Chief, introduced the first
panel and served as the moderator for the panel. This panel included
Jeff Secrist (Office of Research and Technology) discussing CVISN
Deployment, Sandra Zywokarte (Office of Bus and Truck Standards
and Operations) discussing Driver Physical Qualification Requirements,
Debbie Freund (Office of Bus and Truck Standards and Operations)
discussing the Sensors Study, Ralph Craft (Office of Information
Management) presenting Fatigue Management, and Jeff Loftus (Office
of Research and Technology) discussing the merits of a Roadside Testing
Feasibility Study.
The second panel was introduced by Doug McKelvey, FMCSA's
Technology Division Chief. Mr. McKelvey also served as moderator
for this panel, which consisted of Greg Larson with California DOT
representing the public sector, Ellison Wittels, MD from the medical
industry, Tom Dingus of Virginia Tech Transportation Institute representing
academia, Alex Guariento of Greyhound representing the private
sector, and Robert Clarke of the Truck Manufacturers Association
representing associations. Their presentations focused on the opportunities
that arise from their perspective and experience when the public
and private sectors come together to take advantage of the natural synergies
that exist between them. For more information on the panelists or
the R&T Forum please contact Albert Alvarez at 202-385-2387 (TTY
1-800-877-8339).
The panelists presented a variety of topics to approximately 150 people in attendance.
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