ITRE / News / News Archives / News Release 1-17-06

Transportation Founders Fund Receives Donation to Benefit Transportation Education and Research

January 17, 2006

Raleigh, NC - The Transportation Founders Fund (TFF) recently received a $1,000 donation from the North Carolina Transportation Forum, a first ever conference of 21 private and government transportation providers in the state. The conference chairman, Calvin Leggett, requested that the money go to the “NC State Transportation Founders Fund in honor of ITRE’s 25th anniversary and in grateful recognition of their outstanding contribution to the transportation industry in North Carolina.” TFF is an outreach activity of The Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) and the Department of Civil Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU). ITRE was both a partner and organizer for the event.

Dr. Nagui Rouphail, Director of ITRE, accepted the donation on behalf of TFF. “I would like to thank the NC Transportation Forum for their generous donation,” Rouphail said, “It will surely benefit the future of transportation education and research in North Carolina.” TFF has awarded nearly $24,000 in graduate scholarships for Civil Engineering students at NC State. Some recipients have since moved on to the workforce in North Carolina, while others are in the process of completing their graduate degrees.

The first North Carolina Transportation Forum was held last year in an effort to promote better understanding and cooperation among transportation providers within the state and to explore ways to better integrate transportation planning and decision making to make all modes of transportation work more efficiently and effectively. The Forum was formed in response to legislative initiatives being developed at the State and Federal levels. More than 300 people attended the conference.

The Transportation Founder’s Fund is a unique opportunity for transportation students and professionals in North Carolina to interact with top-level transportation executives while supporting the transportation program at NCSU. Each spring, the TFF invites to campus a nationally renowned transportation executive for a dinner and speech, which is open exclusively to TFF members, and includes an open afternoon seminar on campus. At the dinner, TFF awards graduate fellowships through the Department of Civil Engineering. TFF began offering a seminar series in 2002. These seminars bring in experts each fall to brief students and area transportation professionals on current topics.

ITRE, administered by North Carolina State University, is a non-profit organization that conducts research, education, and technical assistance projects on a wide variety of surface transportation issues with the goals of solving problems and creating new products, better services, and smarter workers. ITRE is located on NCSU’s Centennial Campus. For more information about ITRE, TFF and related programs, please visit our Web site at www.itre.ncsu.edu.

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