[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 129 (Wednesday, November 15, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO DR. HERBERT H. RICHARDSON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. HENRY CUELLAR

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 15, 2006

  Mr. CUELLAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Herbert H. 
Richardson for his incredible dedication to the scientific community at 
Texas A&M University as Director of the Texas Transportation Institute 
and Associate Vice Chancellor for Engineering.
  Dr. Richardson was born in the State of Massachusetts and was 
educated at Colby College in Maine and at the Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology where he received a B.S. and M.S. degree with honors in 
1955, and the Sc.D. in 1958 from MIT. Shortly after graduation, he 
served as a faculty member, then as head of the Department of 
Mechanical Engineering and Association Dean for the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology for 27 years. Under his leadership, he 
conducted and directed a wide-ranging research program, and made 
numerous publications of his research in mechanical engineering and 
transportation systems.
  He then served as the first Chief Scientist of the U.S. Department of 
Transportation from 1970 to 1972, and joined the Texas A&M University 
System in 1984 as Vice Chancellor for Engineering, and Dean of the 
College of Engineering and Distinguished Professor of Engineering. Dr. 
Richardson brought together the three engineering research and service 
agencies--the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the Texas 
Engineering Extension Service, and the Texas Transportation Institute--
to form an integrated Engineering Program. In 1993, he became Director 
of the Texas Transportation Institute, the largest university-
affiliated transportation research organization, and Associate Vice 
Chancellor for Engineering. Under his leadership, the Texas 
Transportation Institute has become home to nine national research 
centers with expenditures ranging to $36 million.
  Dr. Richardson has also received numerous accolades and awards from 
his peers for his exemplary academic leadership such as the recently 
awarded 2006 Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award from 
Transportation Research Board, Rufus Oldenberger Medal, Centennial 
Medal and the Benjamin Garver Lamme Medal by the American Association 
for Engineering Education; and in addition to these awards, he was 
elected to several notable organizations such as the American Society 
of Mechanical Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of 
Science, National Associate of the National Academies and the Research 
Council.
  In his 22 years of academic service with the Texas A&M University 
System, Dr. Richardson has shown exemplary leadership in building 
strong academic and research programs, thus helping make the College of 
Engineering and the Texas Transportation Institute one of the 
unparalleled centers for excellent education in engineering.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to have had this time to recognize the 
strong academic leadership of Dr. Herbert H. Richardson for the Texas 
A&M University System.

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