MTC News: Year Five (2004) Semi-Annual Progress Report (October 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004)
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Success Stories
Education
The MTC is assisting the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), and Lincoln University in developing new transportation programs and courses from the ground up. UNI began offering transportation courses for its students in Year One of the MTC grant. Lincoln University began to offer a program during Year Two and has continued those activities. UNI has now begun to graduate new transportation professionals and to successfully place them in the region. In addition, the MTC has assisted Iowa State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia to significantly expand and improve their educational offerings while focusing on transportation asset management research.
Outreach and Technology Transfer
The MTC is already a significant player in discussions of asset management and the implementation of provisions of Government Accounting Standards Board Statement 34 (GASB 34) in the region. It has begun to position itself as a national player in various aspects of asset management at the national level through involvement of various MTC-affiliated faculty and staff in asset management activities of groups such as the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
Research
The MTC’s research program has entered its fifth year. Projects involving principal investigators at a number of universities in all four MTC states have either been approved, are pending approval, in progress, or completed. These projects are providing work and learning opportunities for students and build a critical mass of knowledge on asset management within Region 7. Matching funds have become a very challenging issue in this region for our research program due to the current budgetary constraints at our four departments of transportation and our affiliated universities.
