Webinar Presentation Summaries

Frederick Douglass Tunnel - A New Era of Passenger Rail in America

Luigi Rosa, PE, PMP, CCM | AVP, Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program | Amtrak

Our first presentation will be delivered by Luigi Rosa, Assistant Vice President for the Frederick Douglass Tunnel Program at Amtrak. With over $6 billion invested in this critical infrastructure project, Luigi spearheads Amtrak’s endeavor to bring its ambitious plan into reality. His presentation will provide key insights into the challenges and opportunities that Amtrak faces in constructing this vital asset. The project aims to modernize 10 miles of the Northeast Corridor within the Baltimore area, and play a pivotal role in the transformation of American passenger rail for the 21st century.

Operation Readiness for Rail

Andrew Mitchem | Associate Vice President | Network Rail Consulting

The transition from project delivery to a live running operation is fraught with complexity. In today’s world of integrated railroad systems the needs of the ‘operator’ need to be considered far earlier in a project timeline. Understanding the needs and requirements to successfully deliver day 1 operations requires a deep involvement within the project throughout its lifecycle.

This Presentation will discuss why operators should be engaged in a construction program as early as possible and will draw on the lessons learned from other railroad tunnelling projects from a perspective of Network Rail UK, such as Crossrail and Thameslink. The common theme being how a new railroad is integrated into an existing railroad networks. The focus on operational readiness will provide the audience with a number of key takeaways that should be developed as part of any construction program requirements package.

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2024 Industry Icon Award

2024 MDSPE Industry Icon Award Recipient

Oscar Barton, Jr., PhD, PE

Oscar Barton, Jr., PhD, PE is a Professor and Dean of the Morgan State University Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering. A native of Washington, D.C., he received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tuskegee (Institute) University, his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Applied Mechanics from Howard University in 1993.  Serving as its 3rd Dean, he joined Morgan from George Mason University after having established its Department of Mechanical Engineering in the Volgenau School of Engineering.  Prior to joining Mason, he began his academic career at the United States Naval Academy.

Dr. Barton’s research focuses on the development of approximate closed form solutions for linear self-adjoint systems, those that govern the responses of composite structures, and the analysis of dynamic systems. More recently, he investigated the dynamic response of flexible composite structures subject to periodic and random excitation. He has mentored numerous midshipmen through independent research projects and has directed two Trident Scholars, the Naval Academy’s flagship research program. He has published over 60 journal and conference articles on these topics.  While at the US Naval Academy and in its 163-year history, Dr. Barton was one of only three African-Americans to obtain the rank of tenured full professor and the first to achieve this milestone in the Division of Engineering and Weapons, Division I.  In 2010, he was the first African-American to lead the Mechanical Engineering Department as chair.

As the founding mechanical engineering department chair at Mason, Dr. Barton ushered growth of the department from 3 faculty and 12 students to 17 faculty and 385 undergraduate students and 6 doctoral students as of spring 2020. Under his leadership the undergraduate program received initial EAC-ABET accreditation retroactive to fall of 2015, reaccredited to fall 2024, established state-of- the-art teaching and research labs on the Mason’s Sci-Tech campus, and established an interim Ph.D. program.

Dr. Barton is an elected fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Registered Engineer licensed to practice engineering in the State of Maryland.  He chaired ASME’s Committee on Engineering Education, served as a member of ASME Public Affairs and Outreach Council, and served as a member-at-large on the Engineering Accreditation Commission’s Executive Committee of ABET, after having served numerous years as a program evaluator and commissioner.  He currently serves as a member on the Board of Trustees for Missouri University S & T, ASME Foundation, chairs ASME’s Nominating Committee, Army Education Advisory Committee and National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. He is Vice-Chair for the Council of HBCU Engineering Deans and is a member of the Academic Advisory Council for ABET.

Join us in celebrating Dr. Barton at the Engineers Reception & Awards Night on May 1 at the Engineers Club.

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