NWTRB Board Member

---

Dr. Mark D. Abkowitz was appointed to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board on June 26, 2002, by President George W. Bush.

Dr. Abkowitz is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and is director of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies.  He brings to the Board expertise in transportation safety and security, systems analysis, all-hazards risk management, and applications of advanced information technologies.

Dr. Abkowitz has served on several national and international committees, including as chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board Committee on Hazardous Materials Transport and as a member of the National Research Council Committee on Disposal of Transuranic Waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.  Dr. Abkowitz also serves on the board of Visual Risk Technologies.  He is the author of more than 70 journal publications and study reports, and has appeared on National Public Radio, Fox National News, and CNBC discussing various risk management topics of national importance.

Dr. Abkowitz has been inducted into Chi Epsilon and the National Society of Sigma Xi and is a member of the World Conference on Transportation Research Society.  He received the Distinguished Service Award in 1996 from the Transportation Research Board.

Dr. Abkowitz received a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1974.  In 1976, he received a master of science degree in civil engineering from MIT.  He was awarded a Ph.D. in civil engineering–transportation by MIT in 1980.  From 1976 to 1980, he worked as a project manager and research a investigator for the U.S. Department of Transportation.  In 1980, he joined the civil engineering faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.  During a sabbatical in 1986-87, he served as a senior analyst to the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment.  He joined Vanderbilt in 1987 as Administrative Director, Vanderbilt Engineering Center for Transportation Operations and Research.

Dr. Abkowitz lives in Nashville, Tennessee.