Driving Forward

Martin Pietrucha
Ph.D., P.E.
Research Associate
Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, Penn State

Dr. Pietrucha received his Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude, in civil engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also holds a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland. He has over 27 years experience in transportation engineering specializing in highway traffic operations, highway safety, human factors, and planning and zoning issues for a variety of public and private institutions.

He is currently the director of the Science, Technology, and Society Program at Penn State. He is also an associate professor with the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department where he teaches courses in transportation engineering, highway design, and highway safety. He has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on several research projects for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) dealing with topics such as: safety of older drivers and pedestrians, traffic control devices, commercial signing, highway geometric design, and safety audits.

Previously, he was a program officer for the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board (TRB), a senior staff engineer for the human factors consulting firms the Center for Applied Research (CAR) and BioTechnology, Inc., a senior engineer with the civil engineering consulting firm of Edwards and Kelcey, a faculty research assistant for the Transportation Studies Center at the University of Maryland, and a senior engineer with a New Jersey regional planning agency, the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission.

Dr. Pietrucha is a member of or has been affiliated with Chi Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Transportation Research Board, ITS America, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Society for Engineering Education. He is also a licensed Professional Engineer in New Jersey.