Jose Holguín-Veras Named William Howard Hart Professor at Rensselaer

January 26, 2011

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Transportation engineering expert Jose Holguín-Veras has been named the William Howard Hart Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. An endowed professorship is among the highest honors bestowed on a Rensselaer faculty member.

“The entire school joins me in congratulating Professor Jose Holguín-Veras on his appointment to the William Howard Hart Chair,” said David Rosowsky, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer. “Jose is an outstanding educator whose research in transportation economics and systems has impacted our community, this region, and the world. In addition to recognizing a sustained record of research and impact, this professorship will enable Dr. Holguín-Veras to pursue large research initiatives that cut across the many dimensions — technological, economic, social, and political — of transportation research.”

A professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer, Holguín-Veras is also director of the Institute’s Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment. He began his academic career as a faculty member at The City College of New York, and joined Rensselaer as a tenured associate professor in 2002. He was promoted to full professor in 2006.

Holguín-Veras is known as a global leader in the areas of freight demand modeling, transportation economics, and humanitarian logistics. He also studies behavior relating to sustainability policies and the impact of transportation on the environment. As part of his supply chain research, Holguín-Veras led the multidisciplinary teams that investigated the cause of logistical failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake. He is currently working to develop new theories and methods for expediting the flow of critical supplies to the site of extreme events.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recognized Holguin-Veras in 2001 with a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. In 1996 he received the Milton Pikarsky Memorial Award from the Council of University Transportation Centers, and in 2001 was the recipient of a proclamation from the City Council of New York honoring his research accomplishments and contributions to local communities.

Holguín-Veras is active in leadership positions at several key international research organizations. He is president-elect of the newly created Pan-American Association of Transportation Research, an elected member of the Council of the Association for European Transport, and a member of the board of directors of the Intelligent Transportation Society of New York. Holguín-Veras is a fellow of the International Road Federation (IRF), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Organization of American States (OAS).

He served as conference chair of the 13th Pan-American Advances Studies Institute on Transportation Sciences, as well as vice president for the Pan-American Conferences of Traffic and Transportation Engineering. He is a member of the board of directors of the University Transportation Research Center, Transportation Infrastructure Research Center, and the Community University Consortium for Regional Environmental Justice. Additionally, Holguin-Veras was appointed by former New York Governor David Paterson to serve on the New York State Thruway Authority Board. He is also a member of several journal editorial boards.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Holguín-Veras received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, and earned his master’s degree in transportation from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and doctoral degree in transportation from the University of Texas at Austin.

For more information on Holguín-Veras’ research at Rensselaer, visit:

Contact: Michael Mullaney
Phone: (518) 276-6161
E-mail: mullam@rpi.edu

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