TRB Volunteer Profile: Lisa Staes

Lisa Staes, Director of Transit Safety and Workforce Development Programs at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at the University of South Florida, is a featured volunteer in the TR News. In this role, Ms. Staes performs research and manages programs and projects related to transit safety, transit training, and workforce development. Her research topics include bus operator assaults, collision/crash energy management for transit buses, simulator training and its impact on transit safety, training and certificate programs and elements of success, and rural and senior mobility initiatives.

Ms. Staes has been at the University of Florida for more than two decades. She is the CUTR project manager for FTA’s Transit Standards Development Research and Safety Research Demonstration Evaluation projects. Ms. Staes is also currently managing three FTA-sponsored research projects.

She also chairs the American Public Transportation Association (APTA)'s Bus Safety Committee. Additionally, she serves as a board member on the editorial board for the Elsevier Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives Journal.

At TRB, Ms. Staes chairs the Transit Safety and Security Task Force. She is chair of the planning committee for TRB’s National Transit Safety and Security Conference and the APTA MidYear Workshop 2020. Previously, she has served on TCRP project panels, including as lead consulted for TCRP Synthesis SA-45, Onboard Technologies to Prevent Transit Bus Incidents, and TCRP F-27, Characteristics and Elements of Non-Punitive Employee Safety Reporting for Public Transportation. 

The TR News is a bimonthly publication of TRB that features articles on innovative and timely research and development activities in all modes of transportation.