Study Committee Biographical Information
Robert E. Gallamore, Chair, is Director of the Transportation Center and Professor of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences in the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Before joining the university in August 2001, he was an executive on loan from Union Pacific Railroad to the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado, where he was Assistant Vice President of Communications Technologies and General Manager of the North American Joint Positive Train Control Program. He has also served in several positions with the federal government, including Deputy Federal Railroad Administrator and Associate Administrator for Planning at the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. Dr. Gallamore recently served as chair of the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) Freight Transportation Information Systems Security Committee and as a member of TRB’s Committee for a Review of the National Transportation Science and Technology Strategy and the Steering Committee for a Conference on Railroad Research Needs. He also served on the Transportation Panel of the Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism. He received a doctorate in political economy and government from Harvard University.
Christopher P. L. Barkan is Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois, where he is responsible for the university’s railroad engineering research and academic programs. He also serves as the director of the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR’s) Affiliated Laboratory at the university. His research focuses on railroad safety and risk analyses with an emphasis on derailment prevention, tank car design, and hazardous materials transportation. He has served on the TRB Transportation of Hazardous Materials Committee and is currently a member of the Railroad Track Structure System Design Committee and the chair of the TRB Rail Group. Before joining the university in 1998, he was Director of Risk Engineering
in the Safety and Operations Division of AAR. He continues as Deputy Project Director of the Railway Supply Institute–AAR Railroad Tank Car Safety Research and Test Project, a cooperative program of the tank car and railroad industries studying ways to improve tank car safety. He received his B.A. from Goddard College and his M.S. and Ph.D. in biology from the State University of New York at Albany.
Benson A. Bowditch, Jr., is General Manager for Security and Compliance, CP Ships, Tampa, Florida. CP Ships is the parent company of Lykes Lines, TMM Lines, Italia Line, Contship, ANZDL, Canada Maritime, and Cast, which operate fleets consisting largely of containerships. Before attaining his current position in 1995, he was Manager of the Compliance Department, where he was responsible for regulatory compliance in all areas, including the hazardous cargo program. From 1990 to 1995, he was Manager of the Marine Division and Manager of Operations for West Gulf in Houston, Texas. In these positions, he was responsible for vessel operations, readiness, and manning, as well as cargo and terminal operations. He served as Port Captain in Houston and New Orleans from 1976 to 1989, positions that included responsibility for organizing responses to oil releases and other hazardous materials spills. He began his career as a sea deck officer on break-bulk cargo ships. In that position he was responsible for the prevention of oil pollution and the safe handling of hazardous cargoes. He has a bachelor’s degree in marine science from the Maine Maritime Academy.
J. Ron Brinson retired in April 2002 as President and CEO of the Port of New Orleans, a position he held for more than 15 years. The Port of New Orleans handles a significant amount of hazardous materials, particularly shipments of crude, refined petroleum products, and industrial chemicals. The deepwater port is a major transfer point for cargoes, since it connects the Mississippi River System with the Gulf of Mexico and is served by six Class I railroads. Before taking the New Orleans position, he had served for 7 years as President and CEO of the American Association of Port Authorities, where he directed the education and training program for port authority managers and congressional and governmental relations. He began his port management career in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1974. On his retirement from the Port of New Orleans, he
accepted an appointment from Louisiana Governor Mike Foster to work with the state Millennium Port Commission to develop a large state container port at a site closer to open water. He is a former chair of the National Waterways Conference and served on the TRB Executive Committee from 1989 to 1992.
Michael S. Bronzini is Dewberry Chair Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, George Mason University. He previously served as Director of the Center for Transportation Analysis at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. From 1986 to 1990, he was Professor and Head of Civil Engineering for Pennsylvania State University. His areas of expertise are transportation network analysis, marine and intermodal transportation, and transportation economics. He has served as chair of the Inland Water Transportation Committee and the Committee for the Study on Landside Access to U.S. Ports and on several other TRB and National Research Council (NRC) committees. He is a National Associate of the National Academies. He holds a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
O. Bruce Bugg is Captain in the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety, where he serves as Special Projects Coordinator. He has served with the state of Georgia since 1986. He conducts safety and hazardous materials inspections and assists with accident and hazardous materials incident investigations. He oversees internal computer support for the Law Enforcement Division and the agency’s SAFETYNET crash and inspection database. He holds state certificates as a law enforcement instructor and hazardous materials instructor. He instructs on cargo tank and enhanced radioactive inspection procedures and teaches at several regional Georgia Public Safety Academies and the Georgia State Patrol Academy. In 2003, he was named Chair of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA’s) Hazardous Materials Committee. In 2004, he was elected National Chair of the Cooperative Hazardous Materials Enforcement Development training program. He is a member of the American Society for Law Enforcement Training and the International Police Association. He has a B.A. degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Cheryl (Cherry) Burke is a Senior Consultant in DuPont’s Safety, Health, and Environment Excellence Center. She joined DuPont in 1983,
and her career has focused on risk in one form or another, initially on chronic risks and occupational health and more recently on acute risks related to the transportation of hazardous materials. In her current position, she is an internal consultant to DuPont’s many businesses, with a focus on distribution safety and risk management. She is a member of DuPont’s integrated emergency response team and is trained to a Hazmat Technician level. She is a member of TRB’s Transportation of Hazardous Materials Committee and past chair of the American Chemistry Council’s Distribution Risk Management Task Group. She works extensively with the American Chemistry Council, AAR, and other organizations in the evaluation and reduction of safety and security risks in hazardous materials transportation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Connecticut, a master’s degree in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in epidemiology from the University of Michigan.
Edward R. Chapman is Director of Hazardous Materials, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. During his 26 years in the railroad industry, he has held line and staff positions in industrial engineering, safety, budgets, system emergency operations centers, and hazardous materials. His present responsibilities include hazardous materials transportation training, compliance, emergency response, and risk reduction. He serves on committees of AAR and the American Chemistry Council. He was a member of the TRB Committee for the Assessment of a National Hazardous Materials Shipments Identification System. He is certified as a technician-level emergency responder and locomotive engineer. He holds a B.S. degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University.
Terrence M. I. Egan is Manager of the Mitigation, Analysis, and Plans Unit of the Washington Sate Military Department’s Emergency Management Division. In this position he is responsible for coordinating state mitigation strategies with hazard analyses and response and recovery plans. Before joining the state government, he served for 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he held a number of command and staff positions. He retired as a lieutenant colonel. He served the Washington State Department of Transportation as manager of maintenance and operations training. He is a past chair of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact Executive Task Force. The membership of this state-to-state mutual-aid compact
includes 48 states, two territories, and the District of Columbia. He has a B.A. degree in political science, an M.A. degree in public administration, and a doctorate in education.
Nicholas J. Garber is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Virginia. For the past 20 years, he has been engaged in research in the areas of traffic operations and highway safety. Before joining the university in 1980, he was Professor of Civil Engineering and Dean of the Faculty at the University of Sierra Leone. Before that, he taught at the State University of New York at Buffalo and was a design engineer in several consulting engineering firms. He has served on several NRC committees, including the TRB Committee for the Study of the Regulation of Weights, Lengths, and Widths of Commercial Motor Vehicles, the Committee for Guidance on Setting and Enforcing Speed Limits, and the Work Zone Traffic Control Committee. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2004 and is a member of the 2005 TRB Executive Committee. Dr. Garber earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of London and master’s and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Mellon University.
Patrick Kelley is Safety Specialist for ABF Freight Systems, Inc., a nationwide less-than-truckload trucking company. He is responsible for ensuring that the company remains in compliance with federal, state, and local hazardous materials regulations. He shares responsibility for managing spills, including taking cleanup actions and reporting to required agencies. He handles waste disposal and waste reporting associated with damaged freight and vehicle accidents. He is a member of CVSA’s hazardous materials committee, the American Trucking Associations’ hazardous materials and occupational safety and health committees, and the River City Safety and Environmental Council. Before joining ABF in 1999, he was Fleet Manager for USA Truck of Van Buren, Arkansas, where he supervised approximately 55 drivers. He earned a B.A. degree in environmental management and safety.
Michael Moreland is Manager of Hazardous Materials Transportation for Occidental Chemicals Corporation. He is responsible for regulatory compliance in all modes of transportation, including pipelines. Before joining Occidental, he was President of Moreland, Inc., a transportation compliance and training company specializing in nuclear materials
transportation. He is active in the Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC) and the American Chemistry Council. He holds a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering.
Michael Morrissette is Vice President and Director of Technical Services for DGAC, which is a nonprofit educational organization devoted to promoting safety in the domestic and international transportation of hazardous materials. It fulfills its mission by providing education through hazardous materials/dangerous goods training and conferences, technical assistance, and information to the private and public sectors. Before joining DGAC in 1995, Morrissette served with the U.S. Coast Guard in a number of positions dealing with the maritime transport of hazardous materials. He is responsible for monitoring regulatory and legislative developments affecting hazardous materials transportation, and he participates in international bodies that regulate hazardous materials movements. He holds a B.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S. degree in health science from Johns Hopkins University.
Gordon L. Veerman is Chief of the Argonne National Laboratory Fire Department, which consists of a professional force of two dozen uniformed personnel responsible for providing fire prevention and protection, emergency medical services, and hazardous materials response for the laboratory and surrounding communities through mutual aid. He has served in the department since 1962 and was appointed Fire Chief in 1976. During his career, he has consulted extensively on the fire protection of special facilities, including nuclear power plants, explosives manufacturing facilities, and hydroelectric plants. He has lectured and instructed at numerous firefighting schools and training programs, including the State University of New York at Binghamton, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the National Safety Council. He is a member of the Fire Safety Committee of the U.S. Department of Energy, the IAFC Hazardous Materials Committee, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s President Stakeholders Committee. He has a B.A. degree in fire science management from Lewis University.
