It is truly an honor to serve as President of ASCE’s Transportation & Development Institute. More importantly, I’m excited about the opportunity to work with all of you who make T&DI such a strong community: our volunteers, technical leaders, young professionals, students, researchers, practitioners, and partners.
As I begin my term, I keep coming back to one simple question: How can T&DI provide even more value to our members?
To me, T&DI’s greatest strength is its people. We have tremendous knowledge and experience across our committees and councils. I would like us to build on that strength by creating more opportunities for members to connect, learn from one another, grow professionally, and turn good ideas into practical solutions. This aligns closely with our priorities around sustainable and resilient transportation, smart infrastructure, workforce development, and stronger partnerships.
One area I’m particularly excited about is artificial intelligence (AI). AI is moving quickly, and transportation professionals are already exploring how it can improve planning, design, safety, operations, asset management, and decision-making. T&DI has an opportunity to bring researchers, practitioners, agencies, and industry together to share real-world applications and lessons learned.
ASCE’s AI RACE, the AI Roadmap for Application in Civil Engineering, provides an important framework for this work. Its message resonates with me: we should embrace innovation and what AI can offer, while keeping engineering judgment, accountability, and responsibility for public safety firmly in human hands.
I would like T&DI to help translate that vision into transportation practice by helping our members understand not only what AI can do, but where it truly adds value, what risks we need to manage, and how we can use it responsibly.
At the same time, AI is only one part of the bigger picture. I care deeply about investing in our people, especially students, younger members, and emerging leaders. I want someone who is new to T&DI to feel that they have found a professional home, a place where they can connect with experienced members, contribute to meaningful work, grow professionally, and eventually become leaders themselves.
I also hope we can strengthen connections across T&DI, ASCE, transportation agencies, universities, industry, and other professional organizations. The challenges facing transportation do not fit neatly within one committee, discipline, or organization, and we can accomplish much more when we work together.
I know we will not accomplish everything in one year, and that is okay. What matters is that we keep moving forward, try new things, learn from one another, and make T&DI a community where people feel their time, experience, and ideas truly matter.
Most of all, I want to hear from you. If you have an idea for how T&DI can better support you, our members, or the transportation profession, please reach out. I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside all of you, and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.
Jianming Ma, Ph.D., P.E., PMP®, M.ASCEPresident, ASCE Transportation & Development Institute
