Alex Karner

When did Elsevier stop showing author names on article pages? It's so frustrating. Am I missing something?

What can be done? We recommend alternative professional societies that are free from federal influence, investigating novel sources of financial support, and becoming comfortable in an era with fewer resources. Ultimately, we need to rebuilt institutions resilient to outside meddling.

I get the pressure that NAS and other orgs are under (we highlight that in the piece). But this moment is one of clarity--we shouldn't have been depending on these folks in the first place. A federal admin with ill will was always able to exert pressure in this way, with predictable results.

They're dependent on federal support, but during prior administration changes, ongoing projects were allowed to continue. TRB also restructured in 2020, but that was undertaken with substantial public input over several years.

Recent actions indicate they're no longer able to act with integrity.

TRB has historically been a critical forum for bringing researchers and practitioners together. They've also directly sponsored research on topics including pavements, airports, public transit, traffic safety, and everything in between.

Title block of the manuscript entitled "U.S. Transportation Research at a Crossroads" by Alex Karner, Dana Rowangould, and Jesus M. Barajas.

Abstract with highlighted text as follows: Science in the United States has become increasingly politicized, with a wave of recent federal grant terminations and censorship of equity and climate-related work. U.S. transportation research has not been immune. [begin highlight] The Transportation Research Board (TRB), a stalwart of U.S. transportation research, has canceled research contracts, undertaken a dramatic internal restructuring, and appears poised to censor research presented at its marquee annual meeting. [end highlight] These shifts are significant in part because TRB espouses the values of scientific objectivity, independence, and integrity. Accordingly, TRB has historically funded work identified as needed by the broader research community and has been a home for the free and open exchange of ideas at its conferences, meetings, and events. [begin highlight] We argue that TRB’s recent actions suggest that it is no longer able to act with scientific integrity. [end highlight] In this commentary, we provide a brief history of TRB and its objectives, discuss its recent actions, and propose paths forward for researchers and practitioners interested in pursuing equity, justice, and climate change-oriented work.

The Transportation Research Board has abandoned its founding principles--scientific integrity, objectivity, & freedom of inquiry.

We wrote a short piece about TRB censoring work, canceling projects, and eliminating certain committees--with an eye towards the future.

osf.io/53dsk_v1
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people seem really confused about racial categories maybe we should have some educational programs to teach how these historically constructed categories structure our entire society in insidious ways we could even do programming in workplaces to improve how people communicate with each other

tilting at windmills just leaves you exhausted and usually super bitter. make the things that you want to see in the world. you'll be exhausted but not bitter.

Has a transportation advocacy nonprofit near you lost a federal grant since the start of the Trump administration (and are you fundraising to offset that loss)? HMU if so for an article.

Screenshot from an email that says, "Nevertheless, while the types of activities we carry out and the topics we address depend on the needs and priorities of our sponsors, TRB remains independent in how we conduct our activities. Peer review, balanced committee membership, conflict of interest policies, and other internal review and approval processes are completely independent of the sources of our funding."

TRB's FAQ about the committee dissolution contains this bit, where they claim "independence" regardless of funding sources.

This claim is contradicted by the facts--the org immediately canceled over a dozen projects and then dramatically restructured, all in response to perceived sponsor desires.

slurs = no problem
equity = canceled

I had a contract that took about 18 months to execute. It was canceled in about a week following the anti-DEI executive orders. There are ways to slow-walk these changes that were not pursued--there's plenty of legal cover that could have been leveraged. I'm not letting TRB staff off the hook

Classic doublespeak. There's no way that even *they* believe it.

Finally got official communication about this, as a friend (not member) of several committees, after hearing about it on here days ago. The old committees have been summarily dissolved without warning and fewer new ones are being formed. A predictable set of topics is omitted entirely.

I believe so!

lol yes - in 2020 I think. the social and economic factors committee was eliminated/subsumed. the EJ committee was renamed the equity committee. This site is still live, but a lot of the related info seems to have been scrubbed www.trb.org/AboutTRB/TAD...

Alex Bigazzi wrote this piece arguing for the Canadian Transportation Research Forum reactlab.civil.ubc.ca/a-canadian-a...

My question is why? Why does TRB feel they need to capitulate so fully? They've torched their social capital overnight. This seems bad from a sustainability perspective since they run on volunteer labor and registration fees from the annual meeting. What's their plan?

This framing erases progress that we seemed to be making--integrating reparative planning concepts, addressing legacies of violence and harm, removing highway infrastructure, prioritizing bike/ped projects, supporting public transit.

Reflecting on TRB's "back to basics" narrative--we went beyond basics to address transportation's myriad impacts as we learned about them during the 20th century. Seen in that light, "back to basics" means little consideration of modal alternatives or travel needs for disabled/BIPOC travelers, etc.

I’ve spent the last 10+ years trying to get on the Pedestrian Committee (ACH10) by reviewing papers and helping organize workshops. Guess I don’t have to worry about it now

Big changes underway at @trb.org, which has canceled numerous research projects exploring how race, gender, and poverty affect transportation.

Hopefully "back to basics" doesn't mean "pavement and asphalt."

this is giving me the feels

Also cutting research funding across the board is a sure fire way to reduce available slots.

Anyway we'll know more next week. There will be long-term impacts on anyone whose focus is not pavements or materials.

It reminds me of that scene in American Psycho (the book) where Bateman serves a chocolate-dipped urinal cake to Evelyn and she comments only that "it's so minty."

TRB is dissolving all committees. This wasn't unexpected, but they're couching it in a technocratic need to "get back to basics" and ease administrative burden when in fact it's a great big shit sandwich that we're all expected to eat and not make a fuss about.

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