The Transportation Research Board (TRB) will hold its 91st Annual Meeting, Jan. 22-26, 2012, in Washington, D.C. The TRB Annual Meeting program covers all transportation modes, with more than 4,000 presentations in nearly 650 sessions and workshops for an expected gathering of about 11,000 professionals. A number of sessions and workshops will address the spotlight theme for 2012 – Transportation: Putting Innovation and People to Work.

TRB Annual Meeting attendees may earn continuing education credits during the conference. Each hour of participation earns one professional development hour (PDH). Attendees must maintain their own records of attendance; however, a credit statement form for PDHs will be provided. Note that, at this time, neither TRB nor the 2012 Annual Meeting is certified with the New York or Florida state licensing boards.

Shortly after the conclusion of the meeting, all TRB Annual Meeting registrants will receive complimentary online access to the meeting's more than 3,000 slide and poster presentations, and to the full audio and visual recordings of more than 40 selected high-profile sessions. This collection will be added to the Annual Meeting Online portal. In one search, the TRB Annual Meeting Online service will allow registered attendees to quickly find all available papers, visual aids, and recordings by session, presentation, author, subject area, and more.

An attendance profile from the 2011 TRB Annual Meeting indicates that typically the greatest number of attendees are involved in universities or university-based research (37 percent), consulting/contracting (19 percent), U.S. Department of Transportation (12 percent), and state transportation departments (8 percent).

Because of the large number attendees, the TRB Annual Meeting is held at three hotels – the Washington Marriott Wardman Park, Omni Shoreham, and Washington Hilton – with complimentary shuttle service between the venues throughout the conference. An exhibit hall at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel will showcase transportation-related products and services and will be open all day Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 23-24, with an opening reception on Sunday evening, Jan. 22. Last year, the exhibit hall featured approximately 150 companies.

The 2011 Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award will be presented on Wednesday, Jan. 25, during the Chairman's Luncheon, to Joseph L. Schofer, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and associate dean, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University. The Crum Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the performance of distinguished service; the production of fundamental or developmental research; or the administration, promotion, or fostering of outstanding research that in the judgment of the TRB Executive Committee is worthy of the award. The award was known as the Highway Research Board (HRB) Distinguished Service Award until 1952, when the executive committee redesignated it the Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award as a memorial to the board's director, Roy W. Crum, who served as head of the HRB staff from 1928 until his death in 1951.

Schofer is receiving the award in recognition of his outstanding achievement in transportation research. According to a TRB press release, he has made important, wide-ranging contributions on the planning and management of transportation systems, particularly the provision and use of data and information for effective decision making, decision support for infrastructure preservation and rehabilitation, and transportation policy.

Complete registration information for TRB's 91st Annual Meeting is available at www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting2012/AM2012Registration.aspx

Topic areas of particular interest to civil and structural engineers include the following:
Bridges and other structures,
Construction,
Design,
Environment,
Geotechnology,
Hydraulics and hydrology,
Materials,
Operations and traffic management,
Passenger transportation,
Pavements,
Pipelines,
Planning and forecasting,
Public transportation, and
Rail.