Hello everyone,

I know that many people are opting out of in person TRB attendance this year due to a combination of COVID concerns and travel issues.  I want to make sure that everyone on the committee can participate, but I also hate to miss a rare opportunity for us to meet face-to-face for those people comfortable coming in person.  As a result, the AED20 Annual Meeting will be split in two -  the scheduled in-person meeting at TRB and a future virtual meeting on a date TBD.  More details on that will come after the annual meeting.  

I've attached a revised meeting agenda to reflect some changes for the in-person meeting based on attendance. We will be sure to  share slides and minutes from the in-person meeting with everyone.  I expect the watchword with the in-person meeting will be "flexibility" based on attendance.  

I had a couple additional announcements that I wanted to share with everyone in advance of the meeting:

1. Thursday Building Data Literacy Workshop.  If you will be at TRB on Thursday, there will be a workshop on Building Data LIteracy that may be of interest.  A flyer for that workshop is attached.
2. VIUS summary.  The Bureau of Transportation Statistics provided the following update on the upcoming 2021 Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS), along with a flyer that is attached: The 2021 Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS) begins next month.  For the first time in almost 20 years, the VIUS data collection will begin on February 23.  Two weeks prior the start of the survey, on February 9 the advance mailer will go out to the owners of the selected 150,000 vehicles to make them aware of their inclusion in this important survey.  Over the past year, the VIUS team has been working with and supported by ATA, OOIDA, TRALA, NPTC, and other organizations to help spread the word that the VIUS survey is coming soon.  While we continue to promote the 2021 VIUS, this year we will be focused on collecting input into the 2021 VIUS data products.  If you have input on what you’d like the 2021 data products to contain, please reach out to the VIUS team at VIUS@dot.gov  
3. Inclusion and Diversity Mentoring Survey.  The Data Section’s Inclusion and Diversity Working Group has put together a mentoring survey for our section’s committee members and friends.  The purpose of this survey is to gauge interest in mentoring, and to create a database of interested mentors to support future mentoring opportunities at TRB.  The survey should take participants between 5 and 10 minutes to complete. By filling out the survey, participants are not committed to participating in any specific mentoring activity, but they will be added to a database to be contacted in the future regarding mentoring activities.  Please find the link to the mentor interest survey at the following link: https://forms.gle/W5TPj4okQUmoTxPz6
   

Stay healthy and safe travels to those coming to DC!

Mike

Michael D. Fontaine, P.E., Ph.D. Associate Director / Virginia Transportation Research Council Virginia Department of Transportation 434-293-1980 (W) / 434-882-3201 (C) Michael.Fontaine@VDOT.Virginia.gov

On Tue, Dec 21, 2021 at 8:24 AM Fontaine, Michael <michael.fontaine@vdot.virginia.gov> wrote:

Hello AED20 members and friends,

The AED20 main committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 11 from 1:30-3:30 PM  in the Marriott Independence Salon ABC.  Unfortunately, there will be no dial in option, but we will be sure to distribute minutes and handouts electronically after the meeting to those unable to attend in person.

I've attached a few items for your review before the meeting:

1. Meeting agenda.  Since we are limited to 1.5 hours, the meeting will mainly focus on core committee business this year.
2. Draft of the AED20 Triennial Strategic Plan.  We hope to get final comments on the plan prior to submission to the section.  Please review prior to the meeting and come ready to discuss.  If you can't attend in person, please let me know if you have any comments.
3. Minutes/slides from the midyear meeting.  Please provide any edits if you have any.
4. Workshop announcement.  AED20 is sponsoring one workshop and co-sponsoring another that are focused around big data issues in transportation planning on Sunday, January 9.  Please see the attached workshop announcement and consider attending them if you will be at TRB on Sunday.  The focus of the morning session is on using big data to answer planning questions at a national or state scale, and the afternoon session is focused on equity considerations when using big data.

I hope everyone has a safe and healthy holiday season.  I really hope to see many of you at TRB in January.

Mike Fontaine

Chair, AED20

Michael D. Fontaine, P.E., Ph.D. Associate Director / Virginia Transportation Research Council Virginia Department of Transportation 434-293-1980 (W) / 434-882-3201 (C) Michael.Fontaine@VDOT.Virginia.gov