Mark W Burris

Mark W. Burris, Ph.D.

Herbert D. Kelleher Professor

Zachry Department of Civil Engineering

Texas A&M University

DLEB Building Room 301B

3136 TAMU

College Station, TX 77843

Voice: 979-845-9875

Fax: 979-845-6481

E-Mail: MBurris@tamu.edu

Research Area: Transportation Economics

My efforts in teaching, research, and service all focus on improving critical analysis and decision making processes to optimize the use of, and investment in, transportation infrastructure. My motivation lies in knowing that there are finite resources available for transportation and transportation engineers have an obligation to society to maximize the benefits derived from these resources. In addition, it is rewarding to see your ideas implemented - resulting in improvement to people’s daily travel. To date, much of my research has focused on innovative tolling strategies to maximize the use of existing infrastructure. As a byproduct of this research I have investigated traveler's true values of travel time savings and reliability plus their behavioral change due to changes in travel cost.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Burris’s main area of interest is traveler behavior in response to pricing, particularly congestion (or value) pricing. He has been, and continues to be, involved in many projects in this area and has published extensively in this area of research. He has served in an evaluation and monitoring role for projects around the country, including the Houston Value Pricing Project, HOT lanes in Atlanta, Minnesota and LA, and the Lee County Variable Pricing Pilot Project. He has also led many studies and surveys on how travelers will react to innovative tolling strategies and the costs and benefits associated with those projects.

His research has provided a better understanding of traveler behavior in response to tolls and helped to improve our ability to predict their reaction. He is the immediate past chair of TRB’s Transportation Economics committee, a friend of TRB’s Congestion Pricing committee and a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. Prior to joining Texas A&M in August 2001, he was a senior research associate at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) in Tampa, Florida.

Dr. Burris won the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) New Faculty Member Award in 2007, the Dick and Joyce Birdwell Endowed Teaching Award in Civil Engineering in 2007 and was named the Charles H. Barclay, Jr. ‘ 45 Faculty Fellow, Dwight Look College of Engineering for 2008 – 2009.

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of South Florida, 2001.

Master of Science in Engineering, University of New Brunswick, 1995.

Bachelor of Engineering, Civil Engineering Co-op Program, Technical University of Nova Scotia, 1993.

TEACHING

Spring 2018 courses:

CVEN 307 - Introduction to Transportation Engineering - Syllabus

CVEN 632 - Transportation Engineering: Economics - Old Syllabus

Fall 2018 courses:

CVEN 454 - Urban Planning for Engineers - Old Syllabus

CVEN 681 - Seminar for Transportation and Materials Students - DRAFT! CVEN 681 Syllabus - 2018C.doc

RESEARCH

Funded research projects

Publications

Variable Priced Road Facilities

SERVICE

National

University

STUDENTS

Current Students:

Kartikia Jha, Ph.D. student
Sruthi Ashraf, Ph.D. student
Farinoush Sharifi, Ph.D. student
Maryam Dastgiri, PhD student
Arezoo Samimi, PhD student
Srivatsan Desikan, M.E. student
Shashank Krishnamurthy, M.E. student
Manaswini C., M.S. student

Former Students:

Kristen Novak, MS student

Kartikia Jha, MS student

Farinoush Sharifi, MS student

Seles Johnson, MS student

Sunghoon Lee, PhD student, value of managed lanes using a real options approach

Lisa Larson, PhD student

Chao Huang, PhD student, the use of prospect theory to predict managed lane decisions

AKM Abir, MS student, value of time and relibility based on empirical evidence from Katy freeway managed lanes

Namoo Han, MS student, impact of incentives on managed lane use

Medhi Mohades, ME student

Niel Going, ME student

Hemamalini Nagarajan, ME student

Reda Dalouadi, ME student

Santosh Rao Danda, MS student, value of travel time and reliability using empirical data

Justin Carlton, MS student, examining mileage based user fees

Carl Harline, MS student, examining the use of pictures in stated preference surveys

Negin Alemazkoor, MS student, how do travelers percieve reliability

Dalin Wei, ME student, value of time and reliability using empirical data

Scott Nelson, ME student, the variation in prices of dynamic tolling facilities

Jose Soto, ME Student, rural versus urban equity issues for VMT fees

Devin Moore, MS Student, the use of performance measures by small MPOs

Prem Devarasetty, PhD student, differences in travelers stated preference and revealed preference reponses

Ben Sperry, PhD student, the use of high speed rail by Texas cities

Siddharth Somayajula, ME student, examined the value of reliability and measurement of reliability

Lisa Larson, MS student, examined equity associated with various vehicle miles traveled fee scenarios

Ying Li, ME student

Partha Gupta, ME student, examined the use of I-394 HOT lanes

Justin Clark, ME Student
Charles Levecq, ME student, examined Active Traffic Management practices in Europe and the U.S.
Young Jae Cho, ME student, examined value of travel time variability
Phillip Dunham, ME student
Rahul Goel, MS student, examined the impact of HOT lane characteristics on mode choice
Henry Lieu, ME student, developed an enhanced toll viability screening tool
John Lowery, MS student, examined managed lanes in San Antonio
Sunil Patil, PhD student, modeled traveler behavior and response to value pricing mode choice options in urgent travel situations
Mandeep Pannu, MS student, examined the differences in managed lane use by traditonal carpools versus fampools
Stephen Sprague, MS student, examined the cost effectiveness of using landfill natural gas for fuel by refuse vehicles
Eric Talbot, MS student, examined through trip estimation techniques that avoidedc the need for roadside interviews

Former Students Continued:

Glenn Anderson, ME
Justice Appiah, MS
Kit Black, MS
Michael Bolin, ME
Scott Booth, ME
David Bruno, ME
Geoffrey Chum, MS
Erin Eurek, ME
Rajaneesh Jandhyam, ME
Karun Konduru, MS
Kwang Kyum Lim, ME
Lindsay Liggett, MS
Kevin Lipnickey, MS
Maneesh Mahlawat, MS
Karteeka Nalli, ME
Selvaraj Rayan, ME
Ben Sperry, MS
Jose Solari, ME
Ty Thompson, MS
Justin Winn, MS
Lei Xu, MS
Lin Zhou, MS

2008 Transportation Group Student Award Winners:

From left to right: Jon Re [Jack E. Leisch Memorial National Graduate Fellowship, Transoft Solutions Inc. Ahead of the Curve Scholarship, ITE Outstanding Student Paper Award for District 9], Ehsanul Bari [William R. "Dick" McCasland '55 Fellowship in Traffic Engineering] , Byung-Jung Park [Jacobs Engineering Scholarship & Keese-Wootan Fellowship], Mandeep Pannu [Sherryl and Steve Hofener '77 Fellowship], Xiugang Li [SWUTC Herman Award]

Not Pictured: Rahul Putha [International Education Fee Scholarship]

2007 Transportation Group Student Award Winners:

Back Row: Tom Hartmann [William R. "Dick" McCasland '55 Fellowship in Traffic Engineering], Rachael Stensrud [Keese-Wootan Fellowship], Ben Sperry [Keese-Wootan Fellowship], Yuangchang Xie [SWUTC Herman Award]

Front Row: Cameron Williams [Keese-Wootan Fellowship & ENO Fellowship], Kevin Lipnicky [Jacobs Engineering Scholarship]

Not Pictured: Xiugang Li [Sherryl and Steve Hofener '77 Fellowship]

2006 Transportation Group Student Award Winners:

Back Row: Zhirui Ye [Jacobs Engineering Scholarship], Geoffrey Chum [Daniel B. Fambro '73 Memorial Scholarship], Maneesh Mahlawat [Sherryl and Steve Hofener '77 Fellowship], Kevin Lipnicky [Joe L. Cooper '56 Endowed Scholarship], Naveen Mokkapati [Kimley - Horn Fellowship]

Front Row: Erin Saucier [E.B. "Bill" Cape '29 Civil Engineering Scholarship], Erin Eurek [ENO Fellowship]

Not Pictured: Marshall Cheek [William R. "Dick" McCasland '55 Fellowship in Traffic Engineering]