Ever wondered about the many routes a package travels before reaching its final destination, or about the timetables and mechanics of transporting thousands of people a day via Cy-Ride?

The department of transportation and logistics in the College of Business deals with these kinds of events every day, constantly trying to improve how people and things get from place to place.

Benjamin Allen, dean of the College of Business and professor of transportation and logistics at Iowa State, was awarded the Distinguished Transportation Research Award from the Transportation Research Forum.

He said he is “…very proud of the department.

“We have a lot of good transportation people here on this campus. We have people in civil engineering, economics and community and regional planning. The College of Business has a very strong transportation and logistics program,” Allen said.

“This campus … has a lot of people who are very good at working on transportation issues, and the nice thing about it is that they work on it from different perspectives: the engineering perspective, the economics perspective, the business perspective and from the community and regional planning perspective,” Allen said. “So it’s a very rich environment here at ISU for transportation education and transportation research.”

The Transportation Research Forum is an independent organization of transportation professionals that provides an impartial meeting ground for carriers, shippers, government officials, consultants, university researchers, suppliers and others seeking an exchange of information and ideas related to both passenger and freight transportation.

The forum is nationwide and includes approximately 600 members. Several events take place, one of which is an annual meeting where ” … they select a person who, over time, has made … significant contributions in the area of transportation research,” he said.

Allen flew to San Antonio on Oct. 18 to receive the award, which has been given to one individual annually since 1977. ISU is the only college to have the award granted to more than one faculty member. Phillip Baumel, distinguished professor of economics, won the award in 1993.

Ted Stank, assistant professor of transportation and logistics, credits Allen with helping to ” … bridge the gap between theory and practice” at ISU.

“He’s pretty much regarded as one of the top people in the field of transportation and logistics. There are about 10 to 15 people who are regarded nationally and internationally as experts in the field, and I would say that Dr. Allen is one of them,” Stank said.

The College of Business has had three deans since its beginning in 1984. The missions of the first two deans were to get the college established and then accredited. However Allen’s involvement has brought the college national and international recognition. “Dr. Allen has been instrumental in recruiting … he has been a force in structuring a department that’s recognized throughout the nation as excellent,” Stank said.

Allen said, “We have great placement of students in their programs, and a lot of great internship opportunities for the students. The transportation area was ranked second in the country in a recent article, and both logistics and transportation have always ranked in the top ten. There’s a lot of great things going on in the transportation and logistics area.”

Allen’s current projects include collaboration with Michael Crum, associate professor of transportation and logistics, to study the changes in the trucking industry in the last five years.