A message from TRB Executive Director Neil Pedersen regarding recent events

Dear Transportation Colleagues,

Like many of you, I am deeply troubled and heartbroken by the brutal killing of George Floyd by police officers who were sworn to protect the lives of their fellow citizens. His death has sparked protests and demonstrations across the nation and the world. I relate to and empathize with the hundreds of thousands of people who are protesting peacefully about enduring racism and social injustice in the United States. The events of the past two weeks have evoked strong emotional feelings among my African American and Black colleagues, friends, neighbors, and fellow Americans of all races.

Those of us in the transportation community are in a position to be part of the solution. Transportation can play a key role in addressing the racial disparity that exists is in our society. We can and we must listen to the needs and issues, particularly the transportation-related needs and issues, of those who have been the victims of injustice and unequal treatment, so we can have a better understanding of the issues that need to be addressed. We can work to provide fair and equitable access to employment, health care, education, government services, healthy food, and social and recreational opportunities. At TRB we need to ensure that our programs and activities are inclusive and meaningfully involve members of all races and ethnic groups. We need to work to develop a diverse next generation of transportation professionals, and provide opportunities to underrepresented minorities to become involved in our profession.

At TRB we have been actively addressing issues of equity for the past several years, but we have much more to do. TRB’s Executive Committee identified equity as one of the major topic areas in the list of critical issues that TRB should be focusing on. In light of recent events, as well as equity issues that have come to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic, we will revisit with the Executive Committee and each of TRB’s oversight committees how TRB should address equity and disparity issues in transportation in our technical activities, our research, and our advisory studies.

The Executive Committee’s Special Committee on Inclusion and Diversity focuses on implementing TRB’s Inclusion and Diversity Strategic Plan. The plan includes strategies for addressing issues of committee and panel membership and leadership, contractor selection, staff hiring and development, programmatic activities related to diversity and equity, and partnerships with minority serving transportation organizations.

TRB remains committed to a vibrant Minority Student Fellows Program, which provides financial support to students from minority serving institutions to attend the TRB Annual Meeting. We also want to explore other ways of supporting and encouraging more minorities to enter the transportation profession. We ask for your financial support of these efforts.

TRB has many initiatives underway or planned related to transportation’s role in disparity and equity, but we know we can and we must do more. We welcome your suggestions on how we can advance the cause of addressing issues of disparity and equity related to transportation.

TRB is an organization of 8,500 volunteers, with tens of thousands others who are involved in TRB activities or who subscribe to TRB’s e-newsletter. Collectively and individually we can be a powerful voice for addressing issues of social injustice and inequality if we commit to do so. I hope that each of us will individually commit to positive constructive change that leads to justice and equity for all. As Executive Director of TRB, I commit to redoubling TRB’s efforts to address issues of diversity and equity in meaningful ways.

Neil Pedersen
TRB Executive Director

The views expressed in this message are the author’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the position of either the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine or the Transportation Research Board.

Published June 8, 2020

Messages from the Presidents of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine:
A Statement from NAS President Marcia McNutt on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
NAE Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Statement, Definitions and Goals
Statement on Racial Equity and the Adverse Effects of Racism by NAM President Victor J. Dzau