"Dream Lofty Dreams: Transportation Innovation for the 21st Century"

Good morning! I am delighted and honored to address the first annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in the 21st century. As members of the world's premier transportation research forum, you have done a tremendous job preparing us for the challenges of the new century and the new millennium.

With your help, on New Year's Eve the transportation community passed safely through Y2K, the first global challenge of the information age. I thank all of the U.S. Department of Transportation's partners -- including many here this morning -- for helping to keep our transportation systems operating safely and smoothly during the rollover.

Overcoming the Y2K challenge demonstrated what we can accomplish together. But this first test of the new century will not be our last. As we move ahead confidently into a new century -- and a new millennium -- we need to strengthen our commitment to research and to innovation. Strengthening that commitment is the subject for my speech this morning.

In his remarks at America's Millennium Gala on the Mall New Year's Eve, President Clinton asked Americans to ponder, "What will the story of the 21st century be?" Part of his answer was: "Let it be the triumph of freedom wisely used, to bring peace to a world in which we honor our differences, and even more, our common humanity. Such a triumph will require great efforts from us all."

The President listed what will be needed to achieve this noble goal. High on his list were "further breakthroughs in science and technology."

Vice President Gore, who long has been one of America's strongest voices for innovation, also believes that technology can advance human progress: "The promise of new discovery and new technology," according to the Vice President, Ahas made it possible to renew and strengthen our oldest and most cherished values."

DOT and TRB, therefore, seek to stimulate innovation in transportation research -- not just for innovation's sake -- but also for America's sake and humanity's sake.

Administration Commitment to Innovation
President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to innovation for good reason: on their watch, innovation has proven to be an indispensable ingredient in the longest economic expansion in American history.

Today we have the strongest economy in a generation -- with the first back to back budget surpluses in more than 40 years, 20 million new jobs, low unemployment, low inflation, and the highest home ownership ever.

This prosperity, to be sure, required the hard work of the American people. But our prosperity could not have lasted for so long, were it not for the President and Vice President's policies of fiscal discipline -- investing in our people through support of innovation in education, health care, the environment, technology, and transportation -- and opening new markets to U.S. goods and services around the world.

Continued prosperity depends on continuing these policies -- especially our investment in innovation. As the President has said, "If we want our current prosperity to continue into the 21st century, we must continue to encourage the creation and spread of new technologies."

This Administration has backed the commitment for the creation and spread of new technologies by reforming our patent system -- extending the research tax credit -- and increasing federal research and technology funding. This is especially true for transportation -- where President Clinton has already increased R&D by nearly 30 percent over the previous Administration's average.

THE FY 2001 BUDGET
Today, I'm pleased to announce that the fiscal year 2001 budget the President will propose next month moves our commitment to innovation to higher heights than ever before.

As part of a broad expansion of our investment in science and technology, the President plans to propose that transportation R&D increase to over $1.2 billion, more than 35 percent over this year's level.

This includes a nearly 80 percent increase for NHTSA safety programs -- a 60 percent increase for Intelligent Transportation Systems -- and a 34 percent increase for surface transportation research.

The 35 percent increase in funding would give you the support you need to promote innovation - and help us realize this promise.

INNOVATION: THE FIFTH "I"
History has given our generation the task of forging America's next great transition and transformation. We are leaving the factory for the electronic marketplace and the integrated global economy that will dominate the new millennium.

The technology policy crafted by the President and the Vice President supports this great transition by creating a new conceptual policy architecture for technology -- an architecture that will help us create the transportation system the nation needs for a new economic era.

DOT's Strategic Plan calls for us to be visionary and vigilant stewards of our transportation system. Although our Strategic Plan has been praised as "the best in government," I believe that the challenges of this new era require something more of us: a transportation policy architecture that explicitly commits us to sustainable innovation.

Moreover, I believe the creation of a transportation policy architecture that fosters, nurtures and sustains innovation is essential to the creation of a 21st century transportation system, one that is not only safe and sustainable, but also...

• International in reach, connecting us to markets around the world...
• Intermodal in form, enabling us to benefit from the collective strength of the individual modes of transportation...
• Intelligent in character, allowing us to harness the awesome power of technology and combine it with the concrete, asphalt and steel of our transportation system as we know it to increase its efficiency, capacity and capability...
• And inclusive in service -- leaving no one behind as we move proudly and confidently into a new century and new millennium of limitless opportunity.

We therefore need to foster, nurture and sustain a climate of innovation -- a climate that is flexible and responsive to change -- one that is nimble -- one that can adapt to new and unexpected demands -- one that responds automatically to new challenges.

To the "Four I's" of "international in reach, intermodal in form, intelligent in character, and inclusive in service," which capture the essence of a 21st century transportation system as described in our Strategic Plan, let me today declare a Fifth "I": Innovation. America's transportation strategy-particularly our research strategy -- also must be innovative in scope.

INNOVATION: FOUR STRATEGIES FOR THE NEW CENTURY
Here, let me say something about the climate of innovation we must create. A few minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve, the President said that ours is a nation that is "always reaching beyond, always becoming." And that characterizes our effort today to bring forth a transportation policy architecture that fosters, nurtures and sustains a climate of innovation in transportation.

Creating a climate of innovation is, by definition, an ongoing effort -- a journey whose rewards will be the improvements made along the way. Such innovation cannot always be produced on demand. But it can be encouraged.

Last summer, DOT sponsored a conference on transportation innovation at the distinguished Volpe Center in Boston. Many of you were among the more than 400 leaders -- including U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley and the President' Chief of Staff, John Podesta - who participated from academia, government and the transportation industry -- including management and labor. During the conference, four key strategies were identified to foster, nurture and sustain transportation innovation.

These are strategies that we already have been implementing to some extent over the years. What we now commit ourselves to do is to expand on them, and implement them in a more integrated and comprehensive fashion.

All four of these strategies will benefit from strong federal participation -- but none can succeed without full participation by you and our other partners.

Strategy Number One is to build partnerships. We can foster collaboration among government, industry and academia that can achieve greater progress than our individual efforts. Our partnerships for ITS deployment -- the marine transportation safety initiative -- and aviation safety are ways in which we are already doing so. The Georgia Tech conference on e-commerce sponsored by the Council on Competitiveness and the DOT in Atlanta next month is an example of how we can encourage new partnerships to meet new challenges.

Strategy Number Two is to increase investment in innovation. To build the foundation for future advances, we need to support more basic research. Even if we do not always know specifically what their transportation applications will be, we need to do more to develop enabling technologies, such as modeling, telecommunications, high-end computing and nanotechnologies.

Further, we need to develop new ways to attract venture capital to develop and deploy innovative technologies, processes and procedures. TEA-21's innovative finance programs -- the small business investment initiative -- and programs for research in human factors and nanotechnologies show us how to do this. The conference on nanotechnologies and transportation we are helping to sponsor at MIT in March 2000 is an example of what we need to do.

Strategy Number Three is to reduce barriers to -- and provide incentives for -- innovation. The Advanced Vehicle Program and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles have shown us how to cut red tape, accelerate deployment and focus on result. Tomorrow at the Detroit Auto Show we'll see the first concrete results of these initiatives, when the PNGV concept cars will be introduced.

Strategy Number Four is to support education and training to develop the next generation of innovators and transportation system operators -- in short, the visionary and vigilant transportation professionals of the 21st century.

We have expanded the University Transportation Centers program. And the Garrett A. Morgan Technology and Transportation Futures Program has already exceeded its goal of reaching a million of our youth -- encouraging, to date, almost two million youths to pursue transportation careers.

I ask your help in carrying out these strategies, and creating this climate of innovation. We want to engage you and our other partners to create an environment that fosters, nurtures and sustains innovation -- one that embraces and harnesses innovation for the good of the American people.

In the coming months, we will work with you and our other partners to shape our efforts in each of these four areas. I have asked each of DOT's senior officials to meet with our partners over the coming months and to come back to me with specific ideas about how to make this happen. I will report back to you with a solid agenda we can pursue together.

"DREAM LOFTY DREAMS"
As we work together, let us aim for what I join NASA Administrator Dan Goldin in calling "stretch goals" -- goals that push us toward greater achievements than we can now imagine.

A generation ago President Kennedy set a "stretch goal" when he committed America to putting a human being on the moon within a decade. He set that goal before the technology was in place to achieve it -- but with full confidence that America would rise to the challenge.

Stretch goals are not about taking the easy route; they are about raising the bar -- and raising performance. That is why I set a goal of reducing motor carrier fatalities by 50 percent over the next decade. That is why this Administration has targeted reducing airline fatalities by 80 percent by 2007, in spite of growing traffic. That is why we're working with many of you to deploy ITS systems in 75 cities across America by the middle of this decade. And that is why, in the first year of our new century and new millennium, we at the DOT, committed to becoming ever more visionary and vigilant, ask that you join us in an exercise envisioning transportation in the year 2025.

This exercise will examine the trends and choices before us -- and create the future of our dreams. We will begin this process with a review of TRB's A2020" reports, written five years ago, and the 25 year "trends and choices" report commissioned by transportation Secretary William T. Coleman in the mid-seventies.

We need to set ambitious goals -- stretch goals -- for everything we do. That is what the spirit of innovation is all about. We must, to quote the philosopher James Allen, "dream lofty dreams." This is in the best traditions of TRB, an organization that has promoted innovation for three- quarters of a century and the 100,000 strong visionary and vigilant employees of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

To honor the spirit of innovation, our Department has decided to create the Secretary's Award for Innovation in Transportation. This award will recognize those who dream lofty dreams and then make them into reality that benefits people.

One person who dreamed lofty dreams was Sharon Banks, formerly TRB's chair and head of AC Transit in Oakland, California. Sharon was a good friend to many of us, and we mourned her recent death. It is my hope that TRB will consider joining us in presenting the Innovation in Transportation Award in memory of Sharon Banks at TRB's Annual Meeting.

That is what transportation innovation is really all about -- remembering that transportation is about more than concrete, asphalt, and steel -- and it is about more than silicon chips and fiber optics. Transportation innovation is about people, and its promise is to help them lead safer -- more prosperous -- more fulfilling lives. We have made a great start in realizing this promise, and today we commit ourselves to build from strength to strength by fostering, nurturing and sustaining a climate of transportation innovation.

We have crossed into a new century -- and a new millennium. And we have been honored and blessed to do so together. A thousand years from now, when our descendants look back to this moment, it is my sincere hope they will say of us and of our generation, that we "understood the promise of innovation" and embraced it."

Workshop on Tanker Design:
A session to close-out the work of the SNAME Ad Hoc Panel on Environmental Performance of Tankers

In 1995 SNAME, under its Technical and Research (T&R) Program, established an Ad Hoc Panel on the Environmental Performance of Tankers. This panel has reported on its work in Paper #10, "A Framework for Assessing the Environmental Performance of Tankers in Accidental Groundings and Collisions," at the SNAME 1997 Annual Meeting in Ottawa, Canada. The work of the panel included the development of a proposal for a rational framework for evaluating designs considering the costs of pollution and tanker oil outflow characteristics. The panel also reported on discussions on the influence of structural design on the outflow performance of tankers during groundings. During the work of the panel and upon publication of the paper a critical need for additional work in several areas has been identified. Furthermore recent activity at IMO related to the development of regulations for tanker design has generated a significant level of interest in certain areas of tanker design related to oil outflow and stability.

To address these critical issues in a timely manner, SNAME is organizing a two-day workshop at the National Academy of Sciences (Georgetown facility) in Washington D.C. on January 15-16, 1998. The Marine Board's hosting of the workshop is in keeping with the recently released National Research Council study conducted by the Committee on OPA 90 Implementation Review (convened under the Marine Board), which recommended continued research efforts leading towards improved tanker design and operations. The workshop is intended to have open, technical discussions on matters related to subdivision of tankers, oil outflow calculation methodologies, stability, the application of various cost-effectiveness methodologies, equivalents to double hull and various issues related to the implementation of the principle of hydrostatic balanced loading. The details of the agenda for this workshop are currently being developed. Workshop participants will be charged a registration fee payable to SNAME, which will include two lunches and a workshop dinner.

For further information on the workshop please contact Mr. Keith Michel, Herbert Engineering Corporation, San Francisco (e-mail: , fax: 415-296-9763, phone: 415-296-9700), or e-mail : Mr. Brent Canaday, Gibbs and Cox, Inc., fax: 703-416-3679, phone: 703-416-4381)

Webb Institute senior Alan Bolind has begun work on a funded state-of-the-art survey of marine fuel cell technology, which will become a T&R Report on its completion. The project will include an annotated bibliography, a survey of recent fuel cell projects, and a compilation of fuel cell products already available.

The work is being done under the supervision of Panel M-38 of the Ships' Machinery Committee. Precedent for this effort exists in T&R Report 46, a state-of-the-art survey of marine magnetohydrodynamic applications, undertaken four years ago by Meldon Wolfgang, then a senior at Webb, and also under the supervision of Panel M-38. Write us.

A new Ad Hoc Technical Panel on Ballast Water Management was formed in November with an initial vision to:

1. Study and comment on the technical, operational and safety aspects of ballast water exchange (BWE). Normally BWE requires complete exchange of ballast water or 3 times flow through of the total ballast water volume.

2. Comment on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for BWE, which is soon to be issued by the U.S. Coast Guard, and on the IMO MEPC Draft Regulations.

3. Study system design alternatives for BWE and appropriate procedures. Elements to be considered in this study include loss of or reduction in stability, violation of intact and damaged stability requirements, and exceeding maximum allowable stresses. Part of the objective of this study will also be to determine the maximum sea conditions under which each ship size can safely perform a BWE.

4. Prepare a "white paper" for use by the U.S. and Canadian delegations to the MEPC Ballast Water Working Group prior to their next meeting in late March 1998.

5. Prepare a presentation for a T&R Mini-Symposium to be held on June 11 1998 at NSWC Carderock Division (David Taylor Model Basin) in conjunction with an ECMAR meeting. ECMAR is an organization of the heads of several European marine research facilities and DTMB. The presentation will be published by SNAME.

6. Prepare a technical paper on the findings and recommendations of the panel for presentation at the SNAME Annual Meeting in San Diego Nov. 11-14 1998 and for publication in the 1998 SNAME Transactions.

Prof. Mike Parsons, of the University of Michigan, will chair the Panel, which will operate under the auspices of SNAME Panel O-44. We expect the work of the current Ad-Hoc Panel to continue over the next 12 months. The long-term charter of the panel involves both ballast water exchange for existing and new ships and the treatment of ballast water, when required, by filtration and other means either on board or in land based facilities. Succeeding Ad-Hoc Panels will be formed to handle the ongoing activities as needs are identified.

SNAME's T&R mission and vision continues to be supporting our professional members and the marine industry by providing expert advice and consultation on technical matters within our areas of expertise, naval architecture and marine engineering and the related disciplines.

In order to best serve this vision and to complete our tasks in a timely manner and with full panel membership participation, we will carry out most of the panel's deliberations via e-mail and in a forum on the SNAME an increasing role in future T&R activity. A new page on the SNAME web site will be implemented at http:/www.sname.org/committees/addhoc/bwmplan.html. If you are interested in participating in the work of this panel, contact Professor Parsons at (313) 763-3081 or at parsons@engin.umich.edu

Jack Garvey and Howard Bunch have both been very closely associated with the SNAME Ship Production Committee during their careers in the marine industry. They are now serving as U.S. marine industry technical ambassadors in Asia and Europe.

Jack's mission statement and address are in this article. He also publishes a newsletter bimonthly, which is very informative. Please contact him if you wish to be on the mailing list. Howard has a similar mission and has given us an interesting and informative presentation on his activities in Europe that is shown here.

The Office of Naval Research, Manufacturing Technology Program, is supporting a liaison person in its Tokyo office to cover commercial shipbuilding in Asia and Australia. The mission of this position is to "Provide the US shipbuilding industry - shipbuilders, ship repairers, designers and engineers, equipment manufactures, and regulatory bodies - with information on the state of the shipbuilding art in Asia and Australia and search out opportunities for U.S. shipbuilding technologists to collaborate with the Asian shipbuilding community as a means of assisting the US industry achieve World Class standards of shipbuilding quality, productivity and efficiency". The office issues a bimonthly newsletter, anyone interested in being placed on the mailing list contact:

Jack Garvey, Unit 45002-Box 382, APO AP 96337-5002 email: Jack Garvey

fax 81 3 3403-9670

The Office of Naval Research, Europe, is dedicated to providing current information on technology development in the western European countries. In order to better meet your needs, our associate directors and scientists are very much interested in knowing your technology information needs. Please advise. Furthermore, if you have interest in any newsletters please pass your e-mail address to me and I will add you to the distribution list.

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Howard M. Bunch, Associate Director, Manufacturing and Ship Production, Office of Naval Research, Europe

Tel: +44-171-514-4942; Fax: +44-171-723-6359, e-mail: Howard Bunch

International Address:

ONR Europe, 223 Old Marylebone Road, London NW1 5TH, United Kingdom

U.S. Mail Address:

ONR Europe, PSC 802 Box 39

The information in this section has been taken from the SNAME Panel O-44 Web Site. You can read this and much more about the activities of Panel O-44 and other SNAME panels and activities

Tanker Environmental Performance

The Ad Hoc Panel on the Environmental Performance of Tankers was formed in May 1995 and has documented its work in a paper (Paper #10) that was presented at the Annual Meeting in Ottawa on October 17, 1997. This paper represents the summary final report of the work of the panel.

Due to some outstanding issues that were identified during the work of the Panel and also by many discussers to the report of the Panel, SNAME will convene a workshop on January 15-16, 1998, to solicit technical opinions and comments from all parties interested in the work of the Panel. For further details, please see the separate announcement in this Newsletter. Contact: jsirkar@comdt.uscg.mil

Load Lines

The IMO Sub-Committee on Stability and Load Lines and on Fishing Vessels Safety (SLF) is presently studying the issue of revising some of the technical provisions of the International Convention on Load Lines (ICLL). This initiative is because of 30 years of advances in ship technology, a proliferation of overlapping maritime safety and building codes, and new computational methods and tools. All indicate the need for a review, if not a possible overhaul, of the Convention.

SNAME formed the Ad Hoc Panel on Load Lines to parallel the SLF initiative. The panel's purpose is to conduct a preliminary investigation into the technical, operational, and programmatic aspects of a freeboard safety project, and to present the results to the maritime community at large. The panel's findings can be used by the Coast Guard in developing U.S. positions and objectives on revision of the ICLL.

The Ad Hoc Panel is chaired by Mr. Michael Dyer of Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S. Dept. of Transportation), who is also a member of the SLF correspondence group working on the ICLL project. Mr. Dyer can be contacted at (617) 494-2189 or by e-mail at dyer@volpe1.dot.gov.

Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety

The SNAME Fishing Systems Panel SC-3 was invited to participate and assist in expanding the U.S. Coast Guard outreach to industry, credibility with industry, and development of educational trainers. To this end, the Fishing Systems Panel is working in conjunction with the United States Coast Guard in the development of a practical stability curriculum for deployment to tradeshows, vocational schools, and Coast Guard training programs. The curriculum will cover basic intact stability, damage stability and damage control. It will incorporate the use of practical trainers under development by the United States Coast Guard.

There are numerous trainers being developed to educate commercial fishermen and U.S. Coast Guard fishing vessel safety program administrators in prevention of stability related casualties. Examples include the development and use of the following trainers: 1) Damage Control Trainer, 2) Interactive Intact Stability Trainer, and 3) Damage Stability Trainer. These trainers are specifically designed for interaction with an audience. Participants can learn and relearn hole plugging and patching techniques, sound stability practices, and the importance of watertight integrity and subdivision. Trainers are being built for national dissemination and use by every U.S. Coast Guard District. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard, in conjunction with the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Advisory Committee (CFIVAC), is developing a Best Practices Guide to Vessel Stability. It is expected that these trainers will be deployed nationwide by October 1, 1998.

The VOLPE Center in Cambridge, MA, is commencing a study in conjunction with the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate where maritime resources should be expended to obtain the most positive impact within the Commercial Fishing Industry. Members of the Fishing Systems Panel will be a part of an Expert Panel to evaluate the output of this study. The study is expected to be completed in September 1998. Contact: John Hunter , Seaworthy Systems, (860) 767-9061.

RoRo Safety

SNAME established the Ad Hoc Panel on Ro-Ro Ferry Safety following the sinking of the M/V Estonia in September 1994. The Ad Hoc Panel addressed critical issues associated with ro-ro passenger ferry safety through two avenues. First, the Ad Hoc Panel actively engaged in a technical dialog with the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Panel of Experts on Ro-Ro Ferry Safety. This dialog provided a rational basis for the resulting changes to IMO's regulations on RoRo passenger ferries. Second, the Ad Hoc Panel completed an assessment of the Canadian and United States RoRo passenger ferry fleets and provided recommendations for improving the safety of their operations. All of the work is documented in the Final Report of the Ad Hoc Panel. In addition, the October 1997 issue of Marine Technology was dedicated as a close out Areport@. The issue discusses the international significance of the Ad Hoc Panel's work and lists references for further reading.

Intact Stability of Tankers

The Ad Hoc Panel on Intact Stability of Tankers was formed in April 1995 to provide a technical evaluation of the lolling aspects of tankers. The panel's task was to look into the effect that design parameters have on the intact stability of double hull tankers. The paper referenced below documents the work of the panel and focuses solely on technical issues. An addendum titled "Considerations for Lolling Prevention" follows the reference in the same issue of Marine Technology and was prepared to complete the panel's work. A summary of the project and processes can be found in the T&R activities section of the July 1996 issue of Marine Technology.

Reference:

Moore, C., Neuman, J., Pippenger, D., "Intact Stability of Double Hull Tankers," Marine Technology, SNAME, July 1996

IMO recently adopted (at the 40th session of the Marine Environmental Protection Committee in September 1997) regulations for intact stability criteria for new double hull tankers. These stability criteria are to be satisfied through design except for combination carriers (OBOs) where simple operating procedures may be allowed. These regulations will be applicable for new oil tankers where the building contract is placed on or after 1 February 1999.

New Panel O-44

The information in this section has also been taken from the SNAME Panel O-44 Web Site. Learn more about the activities of Panel O-44 at www.sname.org/committees/tech_ops/O44/home.html

Charter

Panel O-44 (Maritime Safety and Environment) has been established to address issues relating to the safe carriage of passengers and cargo, and environmental protection of our world's waterways. O-44 will utilize electronic media to effectively use the valuable time of its members. This Panel will be well placed to assess the impact of evolving technology on the marine transportation system. Also, O-44 will make use of working groups, or Sub-Panels, to focus on specialized problems of interest to the Panel's members.

Panel O-44 is a new addition to the SNAME organization. Following on the success of ad hoc panels in the T&R Committee structure, O-44 will utilize the following features to effectively use the valuable time of its members. First, the Panel's direction is established through the use of its "decision paper". Secondly, the Panel's membership has been divided into regions (West Coast Region, East Coast Region, Canadian Region, European Region, and Asian Region). Vice-chairs have been established in each of these regions to give those members a close point of contact. Finally, working groups to focus on specialized problems of interest and the use of electronic media are other examples of the effective use of time.