Appendix A - Team Members

CONTACT INFORMATION

Gene K. Fong (Co-Chair)
Director of Field Services—East
Federal Highway Administration
City Crescent Bldg., Suite 4000
10 South Howard Street Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone: 410-962-5177
Fax: 410-962-3655
Cell: 410-984-9201
E-mail: gene.fong@fhwa.dot.gov

James H. Kopf (Co-Chair)
Chief Engineer and Deputy Executive Director
Mississippi Department of Transportation
PO Box 1850
Jackson, MS 39215
FEDEX: 401 North West Street, Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: 601-359-7004
Fax: 601-359-7050
E-mail: jkopf@mdot.state.ms.us

Philip J. Clark
Deputy Chief Engineer/Director, Design Division
New York State Department Of Transportation
Building 5, Room 405
State Office Campus
1220 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12232-0748
Phone: 518-457-6452
Fax: 518-457-7283
E-mail: pclark@gw.dot.state.ny.us

Rick Collins
Engineer of Traffic
Texas Department of Transportation
125 East 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701-2483
Phone: 512-416-3135
Fax: 512-416-3349
E-mail: rcollins@dot.state.tx.us

Richard A. Cunard
Engineer of Traffic & Operations
Transportation Research Board
Room GR326P 2001 Wisconsin Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20007
Phone: 202-334-2963
Fax: 202-334-2003
E-mail: rcunard@nas.edu

Ken F. Kobetsky
Program Director for Engineering
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
444 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 249
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: 202-624-5254
Fax: 202-624-5469
E-mail: kenk@aashto.org

Nazir Lalani
Principal Engineer
Transportation Department
County of Ventura
800 South Victoria Avenue
Ventura, CA 93009-1600
Phone: 805-654-2080
Fax: 805-654-3852
E-mail: nazir.lalani@mail.co.ventura.ca.us

Fred N. Ranck
Safety Engineer
FHWA Midwestern Resource Center
19900 Governors Drive
Olympia Fields, IL 60461-1021
Phone: 708-283-3545
Fax: 708-283-3501
E-mail: fred.ranck@fhwa.dot.gov

Robert K. Seyfried
Director, Transportation Engineering Division
Northwestern University Center for Public Safety
405 Church Street Evanston, IL 60204
Phone: 847-491-3431
Fax: 847-491-5270
E-mail: r-seyfried@northwestern.edu

Kevin Slack (Report Facilitator)
Vice President & Senior Transportation Engineer
CH2M HILL 13921 Park Center Road, Suite 600
Herndon, VA 20171
Phone: 703-471-6405, ext. 4517
Cell: 703-338-8547
Fax: 703-796-6299
E-mail: kslack@ch2m.com

James W. Sparks
Deputy Street Transportation Director
City of Phoenix
200 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85003-1611
Phone: 602-262-4435
Fax: 602-495-0336
Cell: 602-509-6693
E-mail: jsparks@ci.phoenix.az.us

Rudolph M. Umbs
Acting Director, Office of Safety Design
Federal Highway Administration
HAS-10, Room 3419
400 Seventh Street, SW
Washington, DC 20590
Phone: 202-366-2177
Fax: 202-366-3222
Pager: 1-800-692-8829
E-mail: rudolph.umbs@fhwa.dot.gov

Stephen N. Van Winkle
Director of Public Works
City of Peoria
Department of Public Works
419 Fulton Street, Room 307
Peoria, IL 61602
Phone: 309-494-8800
Fax: 309-494-8658
E-mail: svanwinkle@ci.peoria.il.us

BIOGRAPHIC SKETCHES

Gene K. Fong (co-chair) is the director of Field Services–East for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in Baltimore, Maryland. Fong oversees the Federal-aid Highway Program in 14 eastern States and the Eastern Resource Center offices. His emphasis includes providing strategic leadership in enhancing intermodal and interagency cooperation and coordination to advance FHWA and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) initiatives, including support for the DOT and FHWA goal to continually improve highway safety. In the past, he served as the division administrator in Washington State and assistant division administrator in New York State. Fong has a master's degree from San Jose State University. He is a licensed professional engineer in Michigan and serves on several executive leadership committees for FHWA.

James H. Kopf (co-chair) is the chief engineer and deputy executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) in Jackson, Mississippi. He is responsible for developing and executing all technical policies and procedures for MDOT. He also exercises general and technical supervision of MDOT functions. Kopf has been with MDOT for 35 years. He has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University. He is a licensed professional engineer and a licensed professional land surveyor in Mississippi. He serves on various national transportation committees, including the American Association of State Highway Officials' Standing Committee on Highways, Study Committee on Quality, Special Committee on TRAC, Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety, Subcommittee on Transportation Systems Management, and Transportation Research Committee. He is also a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers and Mississippi Engineering Society.

Philip J. Clark is deputy chief engineer and director of the Design Division for the New York State Department of Transportation in Albany, New York. He is responsible for oversight of transportation design activities statewide, including developing related policies, procedures, and standards. Clark has also served as director of the department's Poughkeepsie regional office, where his responsibilities included oversight of a $200 million annual capital construction program and maintenance and operation of the State transportation system in seven counties north of New York City. He is a licensed professional engineer in New York and has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Vermont. Clark serves on the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Task Force on Geometric Design, which is responsible for preparing "A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets."

Rick Collins is the director of the Traffic Engineering Section for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in Austin, Texas. He is responsible for developing and issuing statewide guidelines, standards, and procedures for traffic engineering features such as signs, traffic signals, and pavement markings. The Traffic Engineering Section is also responsible for the Hazard Elimination Program, a Federal safety construction program. Collins has served with TxDOT for more than 18 years and has been involved in traffic, safety, and design issues. He also has two years of design experience with a private engineering firm in Austin. He has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M University and a master's degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas and is a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Highway Subcommittee on Traffic Engineering and the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Richard A. Cunard is the engineer of traffic and operations for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, D.C. He is responsible for the technical activities at TRB related to traffic engineering and control, traffic operations, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and vehicle-highway automated systems. He has authored numerous technical papers and articles on traffic control, operations, and safety issues. Cunard has served with TRB for more than 13 years and has more than 25 years of experience in traffic engineering and safety for public and private agencies. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Wayne State University. He is a licensed professional engineer. Cunard is active in several national and international professional associations and societies and serves on international technical program committees in the areas of ITS, traffic control, traffic engineering, and traffic safety.

Ken F. Kobetsky is the program director for engineering for the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in Washington, D.C. Kobetsky serves as liaison for AASHTO's Standing Committee on Highways (SCOH) and Standing Committee on Research. He is also liaison for SCOH's technical Subcommittees on Maintenance, Materials, and Traffic Engineering, as well as several task forces and joint committees. Kobetsky works with AASHTO technical committees and task forces to produce engineering and related professional publications and addresses technical inquiries on highway engineering. Kobetsky also directs the National Transportation Product Evaluation Program and the Snow and Ice Pooled Fund Cooperative Program technical services programs. Kobetsky has been with AASHTO for eight years and has more than 30 additional years of State highway agency experience in traffic operations, design, and construction. He has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of North Dakota, a graduate degree in traffic engineering from Yale University, and a master's degree in engineering from the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies. He is a registered professional engineer. Kobetsky chairs the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and serves on many technical committees of the Transportation Research Board.

Nazir Lalani is a principal engineer in the Ventura County, California, Transportation Department in charge of the Traffic and Transportation Planning Division. He is responsible for designing and operating signalized intersections. He also teaches a course on the fundamentals of traffic engineering for the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. An expert on signalized intersection safety, he serves on a review panel for a new Federal Highway Administration publication on this topic. For the past 25 years, he has been responsible for the operation of signalized intersections in a number of cities and counties in several States, focusing on implementing safety improvements to reduce collisions. Lalani has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Exeter in England and a master's degree in civil engineering from Arizona State University. He is a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the American Public Works Association. He chairs the ITE Public Agency Council and is a frequent presenter on safety-related topics at ITE conferences.

Fred N. Ranck is a safety/geometrics engineer for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the Midwestern Resource Center. Ranck is responsible for safety technical support to the 10 FHWA divisions in their midwestern transportation programs and is responsible for Parts 2 and 5 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices as a member of FHWA's MUTCD Team. In the past, Ranck was the city traffic engineer for Naperville, Illinois; manager of the Highway Traffic Safety Department for the National Safety Council; and county traffic engineer for DuPage County, Illinois. He was the principal investigator for developing the national WALK ALERT Pedestrian Safety Program and has been the national director for the Operation Lifesaver Grade Crossing Safety Public Information Program. Ranck has bachelor's degrees in physics and civil engineering and a master's degree in transportation engineering from the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana. He is a licensed professional engineer in Illinois. He is certified as a professional traffic operations engineer by the Institute of Transportation Engineers and has International Municipal Signal Association traffic signal technician level II and ATTSEA work site supervisor certifications.

Robert K. Seyfried is the director of the Transportation Engineering Division of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety. He is responsible for administering, planning, developing, and presenting seminars and workshops on transportation engineering on the Evanston, Illinois, campus and throughout the United States. These continuing education programs include training in traffic signal design, operations, and traffic safety, and are attended by professionals from city, county, State, and private engineering organizations. Seyfried has 33 years' experience in transportation engineering, and has been on the staff of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety for the past 25 years. In the past, Seyfried worked as a consultant preparing intersection improvement and traffic signal plans. Seyfried has bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Northwestern University. He is a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Transportation Research Board, and Guide Signs Technical Committee of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. He is a registered professional engineer in Illinois and a certified professional traffic operations engineer.

Kevin L. Slack (report facilitator) is a senior transportation engineer and vice president for CH2M HILL in Herndon, Virginia. Slack manages CH2M HILL's Transportation Group in Virginia and is the co–principal Investigator for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 17-18(3) on "Implementation of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan." At CH2M HILL, Slack has been responsible for transportation planning, traffic engineering, preliminary design, and final design on a wide variety of projects in more than 10 States. As co–principal investigator for NCHRP Project 17-18(3), Slack is responsible for developing documents and materials to guide transportation agencies on programs and actions that can produce measurable reductions in highway fatalities at signalized intersections. In addition, Slack supports the Federal Highway Administration in developing its Interactive Highway Safety Design Model. Slack earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He is a registered professional engineer in Virginia and Illinois and a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

James W. Sparks is traffic engineer for the City of Phoenix, Arizona. Sparks directs the Traffic Operations Division for Phoenix and serves as deputy director for the Street Transportation Department. He is responsible for all aspects of operating traffic, including signing, striping, signals, and parking meters. He has been with Phoenix as a transportation professional for 30 years and has eight prior years with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Sparks has bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from the University of Oklahoma and received a certificate from the Yale Bureau of Highway Traffic. He is a licensed professional engineer in Arizona and has served as president of the Arizona Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Sparks has authored more than a dozen articles in professional journals on effective and efficient means of moving traffic. He serves on the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

Rudolph M. Umbs is acting director of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Safety Design. The office is responsible for the Roadway, Roadside, Intersection, and Highway-Rail Crossing Safety Programs, including the new Road Safety Audits Program. In addition, the office handles FHWA's responsibilities for safety data systems and analyses and the State and Community Highway Safety Grant Program. Umbs also serves as the FHWA headquarters' liaison to more than 70 FHWA field highway safety staff. He has been involved in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Strategic Highway Safety Plan since its inception and is a member of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program's Project 17-18 Panel on implementing the plan. Umbs has been with FHWA for more than 31 years, including 26 years in highway safety. His most recent position was chief of the Safety Design and Operations Division, which was responsible for revising and maintaining the national Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. He is a graduate of Marquette University and a registered professional engineer in Minnesota. Umbs has received the FHWA National Safety Leadership Award and Administrator Award. His office has received Telly Awards and the American Society of Association Executives' Gold Circle Award for excellence in highway safety public relations programs and FHWA's Quality Journey Award.

Stephen N. Van Winkle is the public works director for the City of Peoria, Illinois, a position he has held since 1982. Among his responsibilities is management of 225 signalized intersections. Motorist and pedestrian safety are his primary goals. In the past, Van Winkle worked for the Illinois Department of Transportation, where he was involved in geometric intersection and roadway design and the application of traffic control devices. He served as the bureau chief of Traffic Engineering and Roadway Planning and Project Programming for one of Illinois' nine highway districts. Van Winkle has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering and a master's degree in highway and traffic engineering from Texas A&M University. He is a fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and has served as Illinois Section president, Urban Traffic Engineering Council chair, international director for District 4, and ITE delegation chair on the National Committee of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.