Biography

Martin 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, Berkeley and a doctor of philosophy degree in civil engineering from the University of Maryland. He has nearly forty years of experience in transportation engineering specializing in transportation policy, funding, and financing; highway design; highway traffic operations; highway safety; and human factors issues for a variety of public and private institutions.

Pietrucha serves as the director of Penn State’s Engineering Systems Program, research, education, and outreach program that is at the nexus of engineering, management, and the social sciences. He recently completed a seven-year term as director of the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute at Penn State. The Larson Institute is an interdisciplinary research unit in Penn State’s College of Engineering. He recently served as the president of the Council of University Transportation Centers, a professional organization of university-based transportation research, education, and outreach units. He is currently the president of the Research and Education Division of the American Road and Transportation Builders, and he also serves on the advisory board for the undergraduate Rail Transportation Engineering Program at Penn State’s Altoona Campus.

Pietrucha is a professor emeritus of civil engineering in Penn State’s the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, where he taught courses in transportation policy, transportation engineering, highway engineering and safety, and human factors. He has been principal investigator or co‑principal investigator on numerous research projects for the Federal Highway Administration, the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Pietrucha is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). He is past chair of the National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board Committee on Traffic Control Devices, ASCE’s Highway and Traffic Safety Committee, and ITE’s Transportation Education Council. He is also a registered Professional Engineer in the State of New Jersey.