Humans of TRB: in the halls of America’s largest transportation conference
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) hosted its 96th Annual Meeting this January in Washington D.C. and broke attendance records by welcoming over 14,000 attendees to the nation’s capitol. TRB, as the event is commonly called, is the largest gathering of transportation researchers and professionals in America, and perhaps the world. The conference program (140 pages in total) is overwhelming, and sessions are unnervingly specific…anyone for “Semicircular Bending Tests of Concrete Asphalt Mixtures” at 1:30? No?! Well then how about “Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management and Pesticides“?
It is hard to know what sessions to pick and navigating through swarms of business casual bodies can be a little dehumanizing. At least that was my experience my first year at TRB in 2016. Going into TRB 2017, however, I was determined to shake things up and really enjoy my time in the halls of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. I drew my inspiration from the ultimate example of humanizing storytelling over at Humans of New York (HONY). HONY, started in 2010 by photographer James Stanton, brings Jane Jacobs’ “ballet of the good city sidewalk” to life with photographs and quoted snapshots of everyday life. The concept is contagious (HONY has over 18 million followers on Facebook) and I decided to embark on my very own Humans of TRB journey. Here is what I found:
We work for the West Virginia Division of Highways and it’s helpful to come here and know that other people are having the same issues as we are in other states. I think the problem at TRB though is that the sessions are so specific and we’re just trying to come back with some general ideas and new techniques to improve the way we do things at home. But it’s hard because many of these things are real academic and they drill down too deep. You got to be careful what you sign up for! We just want the forest view right now.
I just started this job on Saturday. Got it through a friend. I love this job. I get to help people out. Once you give people a nice greeting and help them check in and get their badge they can’t help but smile.
We study transport economics but this is not a big topic at TRB. So I’ve been getting familiar with other topics. The sessions on big data were particularly interesting because everyone is very excited about this topic but very few people actually know what to do with the data. Anyway, we took a break to go to the history museum. I really like dinosaurs. The t-rex was…I was actually a little disappointed. I thought it would be bigger. So now we are back here.
I worked in transportation research and came to TRB for 17 years and even though I’m not in the field anymore I still come because this is my favorite event. I see all my state friends, and my federal highway friends, and my industry friends all in one place. My husband is also here. He’s up presenting his poster right now. I’m trying to decide if I want to take my high heels another two blocks to the hotel. If I get back there I’m putting on flats and never looking back.
I had a paper presentation in the morning on pavement data quality. It went awesome. It was one of the first times that I felt relaxed during the presentation. I had enough practice. A couple people even came to me and said they might want to do the same thing in their DOT.
I am a highway engineer. I accidentally stumbled on civil engineering. I was more into taking care of the environment but unfortunately at the time I was in school there weren’t really programs in that. Civil engineering was the closest thing. I quickly got bored with concrete, asphalt, and steel, but I had to graduate because I had a family and kids and I’ve just been working ever since. But I came here to TRB and another side of my brain just activated. It’s really exciting. And I want to push my company to move away from just highway design and start an incubator in our Texas office to solve bigger transportation challenges. That’s my goal.
This is an awesome experience. She is doing her thesis and I do my research on crash data analysis back in Florida. We came here to better understand what is going on in transportation decide if we want to do further studies or a PhD. We just went to a session and the people were so nice. Tips on how to crack interviews and find jobs!
Yesterday I met a woman I was on a train with. I saw her on the train from New York to D.C. on Sunday and then she was at one of the happy hours yesterday and we connected. I recognized her from the seat in front of me even though we didn’t know one another beforehand we made the connection which was cool.
The halls of TRB were still whiter and more male-dominated than I would have liked, but of course neither these groups, nor transportation professionals as a whole are monoliths. I began to build a more nuanced picture of the people around me and even found hidden appreciation for the attendees studying niche topics like asphalt geometry and traffic signal timing. People are not defined by their field or their specialization, but without a sincere “hello” to break the ice it can be easy to miss the unique experiences of our professional peers. Meeting the humans of TRB was the best part of my conference visit and I encourage others to try something similar at their next professional event.
Featured Image: Washington, D.C. Metro car. Photo Credit: Katy Lang
All other images by author.
About the Author: Taylor McAdam is pursuing a master’s in City and Regional Planning, focusing on transportation and equity. She is a California native, excited for the chance to explore a new region of the country and a new set of planning challenges. A typical week includes a good game of basketball, many hours toying with maps and GIS, and an attempt at a new dish, ideally to be shared with friends. Writing is Taylor’s favorite way to work through new ideas and keep critical conversations afloat.
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