An Evening of Tributes to Joseph Schofer

Northwestern University Transportation Center, Friends and Students of Joseph Schofer present

An Evening of Tributes to

Joseph Schofer FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2023 James L. Allen Center | Evanston, IL

ABOUT JOE SCHOFER Joseph Schofer grew up in suburban Columbus, Ohio. His father was a civil engineer and attorney working for the FHWA. The Engineering News-Record was the magazine on the living room table. Joe’s brother became a civil engineer working in transportation, and his father tried to get him to choose electrical engineering. He went to Yale University to study civil engineering, motivated by KLV EURWKHU ZKR KDG DWWHQGHG WKH <DOH %XUHDX RI +LJKZD\ 7UDIƓF DW WKH WLPH WKH SODFH WR VWXG\ WUDIƓF HQJLQHHULQJ -RH JRW WR NQRZ KLV LQVWUXFWRUV ZHOO DQG wrangled a cushy, low-paying job with a professor who told him to browse the library transportation collection and bring back what he learned.

Upon graduation, he won a fellowship intended to interest new graduates in academic careers. This opportunity gave him an extra year at Yale to attend seminars and serve as a TA. Joe talked the CE faculty into letting him take fullcharge of the Strength of Materials course (later, he realized this reduced their course loads). He selected Northwestern University for graduate school on the advice of the late University of Pennsylvania professor Ed Morlok, a Yale friend already in the Northwestern Ph.D. program. $W 1RUWKZHVWHUQ KH ZDV ƓQDOO\ IXOO\ LPPHUVHG LQ WUDQVSRUWDWLRQ OHDUQHG IURP great teachers, literally lived in the Transportation Library, made lifelong friends and did research in the Transportation Center with geography professor Ed 7KRPDV +LV ƓUVW MRE ZDV DW WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI ,OOLQRLV DW &KLFDJR MRLQLQJ VRPH RI KLV Northwestern professors and starting a new program in urban systems. He was lured back to Northwestern the year the Beatles broke up (cheap hire – no moving expenses) and worked there until the year the national supply chains fell apart.

Along the way, he worked with wonderful colleagues who became the stars of the transportation world. He spent time on the dark side, serving as chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering multiple times and was recruited to be Associated 'HDQ RI (QJLQHHULQJ UHFHLYHG D ƓHOG SURPRWLRQ WR ,QWHULP 'HDQ ZKHQ WKH 'HDQ was terminated, and then spent decades as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.

He is proud of his role in helping to bring Hani Mahmassani to Northwestern as the Patterson Professor. Over the years, Joe worked with wonderful students who became his friends. They have continued to teach him as they scattered acrossthe-nation to bring high value to transportation agencies and universities. He has been deeply embedded in TRB for decades, where he learned by working with researchers, consultants, and agency leaders.

He is especially grateful for those he met along the way, those he helped, and those who supported him on this wonderful journey. Joe is married to former chemist Nancy. They share two children, Susan and Daniel, and four grandchildren. Just ask him about them.

AN EVENING OF TRIBUTES TO JOSEPH SCHOFER

6:00 pm

Cocktails

7:00 pm

Seating for Dinner

7:05 pm

Welcome Remarks and Acknowledgements, Robert Peskin

7:10 pm

Hani Mahmassani, Director, Northwestern University Transportation Center

7:15 pm

Dinner and Dessert

8:00 pm

Reminiscences: Laurence Audenaerd, Raymond Chan, Peter Caferio, John Gray, Asad Khattak

8:30 pm

Special Programming

8:45 pm

Joe Schofer and TRB Neil Pedersen, former executive director of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies

8:55 pm

Reminiscences: Chandra Bhat, Deb Miller, Steve Polzin, John Paravantis + Others

9:25 pm

Poetic Justice: A Tribute, Pat Mokhtarian

9:35 pm

A Toast to Joseph Schofer

9:45 pm

The Final Word, Joseph Schofer

Northwestern University Transportation Center 600 Foster Street | Evanston, Illinois 60208 847.491.7287 | tcinfo@northwestern.edu transportation.northwestern.edu facebook.com/infoNUTC @infoNUTC tiny.cc/NUTClinkedin