CITT News

CITT Interim Executive Director Tyler Reeb has been tapped as the co-chair of a Transportation Research Board (TRB) workforce summit, which will take place in mid-2025. The success of the first workforce summit in 2012 prompted TRB to plan a second iteration that will reflect the changes in the labor market and the nature of work over the past decade. 

Glenn McRae of the University of Vermont will serve as co-chair alongside Reeb. “Working with Tyler as a leader in the National Network for the Transportation Workforce has been a pleasure,” said McRae. “His insights into thinking beyond the workforce deficits we face, helping build an asset-based model of the future, have stimulated my thinking and work. I can think of no better partner to work with as we co-chair the TRB 2025 national summit on the future of the transportation workforce.”

Reeb has been a consistent presence in TRB’s discussions about the trade and transportation workforce, including his participation in The Future of the Transportation Workforce Development Life Cycle Workshop at TRB’s annual conference this past January. In the wake of substantial changes that are ongoing (and forthcoming) to the workforce, Reeb highlighted research conducted at CITT on talent pipelines. In collaboration with Barbara Taylor (CSULB College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics), Reeb piloted Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Data Science talent pipelines, leading to internships and employment opportunities for CSULB students in 2023. The workshop provided Reeb with a chance to share this success with the broader trade and transportation research community and promote the exciting developments at CITT.

In addition to his contribution to the aforementioned workshop, Tyler Reeb moderated a panel session on Freight & The Media with contributions from Ari Ashe, Senior Editor at the Journal of Commerce; Dan Pallme, Assistant Bureau Chief of the Tennessee Department of Transportation; and Dan Ronan, Managing Producer/Senior Reporter for Transport Topics. In the era when print media was dominant and advertising revenues soared, journalists had access to more resources and greater amounts of time. “In today’s rapidly changing media landscape, intermodal freight news is a difficult and complex topic for nonspecialist reporters to cover accurately,” Reeb said. “It is critical that supply chain researchers help journalists report accurate intermodal stories for mainstream readership and policymakers.” 

Reeb and McRae expect to announce a formal date and venue for the summit later this year.