Benjamin Allen, dean of the College of Business, has been appointed chairman of the National Research Council Committee for the Study of Freight Capacity for the Next Century.

“It was an honor to be asked for such a major undertaking,” said Allen, who will serve as chairman until Dec. 31, 2000.

For the next two to three decades, the committee will study freight demand projections, which will compare infrastructure capacity, look for possible shortfalls in capacity for efficient freight movement and identify policy responses.

The focus of this study is to make the economy more efficient for the next century, Allen said.

There also has been increasing evidence of “bottlenecks,” which are narrow roads where traffic’s slowed down. This study will try to solve this problem, he said.

The study also will try to identify where the freighting shortfalls are, Allen said, particularly in two areas: policy responses and research.

Allen’s responsibilities include helping to set the direction of the study, finding sponsors for the study and coming out with the final report in less than two years. He also is the chief spokesperson for the committee.

Allen’s goals are to “focus on transportation and on the tasks,” he said.

His peers said he is very deserving of the recognition.

“He’s a very nice individual and an outstanding individual for this job,” said Labh Hira, associate dean of the accounting department at Iowa State.

The NRC is a nonprofit, private organization out of Washington, D.C.

It provides technical and scientific research to the government and is administered jointly by the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, according to a press release.

Eighteen chairpeople in areas of academics, business and government from across the country were chosen to contribute to the organization.