Ran earns distinguished transportation educator honor

The Institute of Transportation Engineers has honored Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of civil and environmental engineering Bin Ran with its Wilbur S. Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award in recognition of his work relating academic studies to the practice of transportation.

Ran, who helps lead the Traffic and Operations Safety Laboratory, recently received the award at the Joint ITE International and Midwestern/Great Lakes Districts Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Minneapolis. Ran has advised 42 PhD graduates, 55 MS graduates and more than 130 postdoctoral researchers and visiting scholars over his career. In addition to co-authoring more than 400 publications—many with students—he has encouraged students to get involved with various transportation associations and is a founding member and past president of the Chinese Overseas Transportation Association.

In addition, civil engineering alumnus Ken Voigt (BS’66) received the ITE’s Burton W. Marsh Award for Distinguished Service to the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Voigt is a senior traffic engineer for Ayres Associates in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Founded in 1930, ITE is a community of transportation professionals, including transportation engineers, transportation planners, consultants, educators, technologists, and researchers.