Researchers Win Transportation Research Award

November 6, 2000

University Park, Pa. -- Dr. Lily Elefteriadou, associate professor of civil engineering and research associate at Penn State’s Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, and Dr. John McFadden, assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Alabama, will receive the Fred Burggraf Award from the National Transportation Research Board for their paper, "Development of a New Procedure for Evaluating Horizontal Alignment Design Consistency of Two-Lane Rural Highways."

The award recognizes excellence in transportation research by researchers 35 years of age or younger.

?Elefteriadou and McFadden will receive the award at the Chairman’s Luncheon on January 10, 2001, during the 80th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB). The award honors the late Fred Burggraf, who served as director of TRB from 1951 to 1964.

The researchers collected data at 21 sites to evaluate current assumptions regarding acceleration and deceleration behavior around horizontal curves on two-lane highways. They developed a new methodology for evaluating the consistency of the design and improving the safety of two-lane highways, based on individual driver behavior.

Elefteriadou joined the Penn State faculty in 1994. She earned a bachelor’s degree in surveying and environmental engineering from Aristole University of Thessaloniki, Greece, in 1987, a master’s in civil engineering from Auburn University in 1990, and a doctorate in Transportation Planning and Engineering from Polytechnic University in 1994.

McFadden, who had been a student of Elefteriadou, earned his bachelor's and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Villanova University in 1991 and 1994, and his doctorate in civil engineering from Penn State in 1998. He joined the faculty at the University of Alabama in 1999.

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