Skip to main content

Five names added to the ITS America’s Hall of Fame

At the 25th Annual Meeting & Expo, five new names have been added to ITS America’s Hall of Fame: Lawrence Burns, Abbas Mohaddes, Jeffery Paniati, William Powers and Joseph Sussman. Burns is a professor of Engineering Practice at the University of Michigan and for 10 years was vice president of research, development and planning for General Motors. He holds a PH.D in civil engineering, an M.S. in engineering/ public policy and a B.S. in mechanical engineering.
June 3, 2015 Read time: 2 mins

At the 25th Annual Meeting & Expo, five new names have been added to ITS America’s Hall of Fame: Lawrence Burns, Abbas Mohaddes, Jeffery Paniati, William Powers and Joseph Sussman. Burns is a professor of Engineering Practice at the University of Michigan and for 10 years was vice president of research, development and planning for 948 General Motors. He holds a PH.D in civil engineering, an M.S. in engineering/ public policy and a B.S. in mechanical engineering.

With more than 30 years’ experience in the application of technology in transportation systems, Mohaddes is an internationally recognised expert in ITS as well as a founder member and previous president of ITS America. Currently he is CEO of The Mohaddes Group, chairs ITS America’s Leadership Circle and is a member of the TRB Executive Committee.

As executive director, Paniati manages the day-to-day operation of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) where has worked for more than 30 years including as director of the ITS Joint Program Office. He holds an MSC degree in civil engineering and is a member of the University of Connecticut’s Academy of Distinguished Engineers.

At the end of 2000, Powers retired as vice president of research at Ford and was previously professor of engineering at Michigan University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and served on ITS America’s board of directors between 1993 and 2000.

Having worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for almost half a century, Sussman is the JR East professor in its department for Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems. He has worked extensively on ITS and played a key role in building the U.S. national program.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Congress ‘needs a lesson in smart transportation’
    December 11, 2014
    Former US transportation secretary Ray LaHood says Congress needs to learn there’s more to transportation funding in the 21st century than building more roads and bridges. He urged smart transportation advocates attending the Smart City Council’s Smart Cities Now forum in San Diego this week to take their message to Congress. There are new people in Congress who are going to write a transportation bill, LaHood suggested, and if they don’t incorporate all of the smart technologies that the forum has
  • Rhode Island’s Rhode Works ‘a bold move’, says IBTTA
    February 12, 2016
    The International Bridge, tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) has applauded Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and state legislators for passing Rhode Works to raise revenue for much-needed bridge repairs and maintenance across the state. According to the Rhode Island government, Rhode Island ranks last in the US in overall bridge condition, with about 22 per cent of the 1,162 bridges in the state structurally deficient. Officials plan to fix more than 150 structurally deficient bridges in the state an
  • Christopher Tomlinson to serve as IBTTA first vice president
    January 4, 2018
    Chris Tomlinson, executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and State Road and Tollway Authority has been appointed first vice president of The International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), which began on 1 January 2018. Next year he will serve as president of IBBTA. Through his role as the head of two state transportation authorities, Tomlinson provides executive leadership and strategic guidance for major initiatives in tolling, transit, and transportation
  • Solving Detroit’s jams: just ask a Michigan student
    October 17, 2019
    At the Institute of Transportation Engineers annual meeting, a clever student plan to reduce commute times in Detroit suggests the future of the ITS industry is in good hands, write Pete Spiller and Jarrod Cady A team of students from the University of Michigan won a national student Transportation Technology Tournament - sponsored by the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) and the US Department of Transportation - with a compelling presentation on reducing congestion. In an impressive d