Zephyr Leadership Award

The 2023 Zephyr Leadership Award was presented on January 10, 2023

Award Description

The Zephyr Leadership Award shall be given to an individual with demonstrated history of experience in the field who embodies the Zephyr Principles, and who embraces the Zephyr mission of advancing rigorous transportation and land use decision-making for the public good by advocating for and supporting improved travel analysis and facilitating its implementation.

Criteria used for selection:

  • Someone who has selflessly contributed to the good of the industry through the body of their work;
  • Collegial and collaborative, investing in shared technical knowledge and community assets in order to reach common goals (e.g. open access papers, code, documentation, and data);
  • Generous with their time such as investment in mentorship, community-assets, and other volunteer roles;
  • Respectful and thoughtful in their interactions; and
  • Goal-oriented towards the public good and usefulness, even if the pathway is unconventional.

Nominees are considered by a three-person award committee and forwarded to the Zephyr Board for approval. Awards are made at the TRB Annual Meeting.

2023 Awardee

Congratulations to the winner of the 2023 Impactful Research Award: Dr. Greg Erhardt

With the Leadership award, Zephyr recognizes an individual who adds to and improves our community and the world-at-large. Such a leader recognizes how things can be done better, answers critical questions of interest and to advance practice through key insights, and upholds values of accountability, transparency, honesty, and integrity.

The individual selected by the Zephyr Leadership award committee this year who exemplifies these values is Dr. Greg Erhardt. Greg has a taken practical orientation towards answering some of the most important challenges and questions in transportation planning, policy-making and investment, including:

  • Causes and trends in transit ridership changes prior to the COVID pandemic
  • Effects of TNCs on congestion and transit ridership in San Francisco
  • Developing new methods for exploring how new shuttles or demand-responsive transit may help address transit challenges
  • The accuracy of traffic forecasting as a practice
  • How diverse and complex datasets can be leveraged to address new questions

Greg’s work has led directly to the shaping of public policy in San Francisco, including the implementation of a fee on TNC trips to help finance transit and non-motorized investments that seek to mitigate the congestion impacts of TNCs.

The 2023 Zephyr Leadership Award Committee was:

  • Joan Walker, UC Berkeley
  • Bill Davidson
  • Elizabeth Sall, UrbanLabs

Board Facilitator: Joe Castiglione

Presenter at the 2023 TRB Annual Meeting Reception: Joe Castiglione

Award Recipients

  • Joe Castiglione, 2019
  • Joan Walker, 2020
  • Bill Davidson, 2021
  • Elizabeth Sall, 2022