UMaine Economist Picked to Chair National Transportation Research Committee
Contact: Jonathan Rubin, 581-3152
ORONO — UMaine economist Jonathan Rubin has been selected for a leadership position in a national research committee that provides scientific and technological expertise to the worldwide transportation industry.
Rubin, a professor at the Margaret Chase Smith Center and UMaine School of Economics, will chair the Committee on Transportation Energy of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies for a 3-year term.
A division of the National Research Council, the board is a private, nonprofit institution that provides expertise in science and technology to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. Its mission is to be a resource for transportation interests in modes that include highway, marine, rail, freight, aviation and public transportation.
Founded in 1920 with three technical committees to promote research and disseminate highway research findings, the board now has more than 200 standing committees and task forces that address all aspects and modes of transportation, according to the Transportation Research Board’s website. It is administered jointly by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.
As chair of the Committee on Transportation Energy, Rubin will coordinate meetings, work with colleagues to review scientific papers, and identify research needs for the nation on factors that affect energy efficiency and energy use in passenger and freight transportation, and the resulting impacts on energy consumption, energy security and greenhouse gas emissions.
His expertise with transportation issues stems from 15 years of research in transportation and environmental economics. He has published numerous articles in national and international journals. He currently has a Collaborative Visiting Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council of the United Kingdom to work with colleagues at the Cambridge Centre for Climate Change Mitigation Research at the University of Cambridge.