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About Eric I. Pas (1948-1997)
HIS LIFE AND PROFESSIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Eric Pas was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and received his Bachelor and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town. He proceeded to earn his doctorate from Northwestern University in 1980, and subsequently began teaching at Duke University.
Eric's primary teaching and research interests were in the areas of activity-travel pattern analysis, time-use research, and travel demand modeling and forecasting. He was the author or co-author of more than 60 papers in the area of travel demand analysis and urban transportation planning. He served as an advisor to Federal, State, and Metropolitan Planning Organizations. He chaired the Transportation Research Board's Task Force on Transportation Modeling Research Needs and the Board’s Committee on Passenger Travel Demand Forecasting during the 1990s. Eric also served for several years on the editorial boards of Transportation, Transportation Research A, and the Journal of Advanced Transportation, and he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Association for Travel Behavior Research.
Eric was among those who laid the foundations for, and contributed substantially toward, advanced research topics in the activity-based modeling approach to travel demand analysis. He strived to integrate developments in the social sciences, such as those in time use research, sociology, psychology and micro-economic theory, with transportation behavior analysis. He took it upon himself to assess and reflect, on a periodic basis, the developments in the field of travel behavior and time-use analysis. In doing so, he focused on how recent developments fit within the larger framework of human activity behavior and, sometimes, questioned in a constructive manner some of the directions of the current research. His periodic reflections became synonymous with wafts of refreshing intellectual breeze, providing new directions for research and spurring more creative work in the field.
Eric was also a truly gifted educator. Students at Duke University voted him to be the recipient of the Earl I. Brown II Outstanding Civil Engineering Faculty Award in 1983 and the School of Engineering Faculty Teaching Award in 1989. Eric was the Civil Engineering Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies from 1991 to 1995.
In addition to his own direct contributions to the travel behavior field, Eric contributed to the field by shaping, influencing and encouraging the work of several other colleagues and students. The IATBR Board decided to constitute the Eric Pas Dissertation Prize in 1998 as a way to keep his memory alive and recognize the best dissertation each year in the field of travel behaviour research.
(The pictures are of Eric Pas at IATBR 1997, the last IATBR conference that would be graced by the presence of Eric. The conference took place just six months before he would pass away.)
Eric Pas was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and received his Bachelor and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Cape Town. He proceeded to earn his doctorate from Northwestern University in 1980, and subsequently began teaching at Duke University.
Eric's primary teaching and research interests were in the areas of activity-travel pattern analysis, time-use research, and travel demand modeling and forecasting. He was the author or co-author of more than 60 papers in the area of travel demand analysis and urban transportation planning. He served as an advisor to Federal, State, and Metropolitan Planning Organizations. He chaired the Transportation Research Board's Task Force on Transportation Modeling Research Needs and the Board’s Committee on Passenger Travel Demand Forecasting during the 1990s. Eric also served for several years on the editorial boards of Transportation, Transportation Research A, and the Journal of Advanced Transportation, and he was a member of the Executive Board of the International Association for Travel Behavior Research.
Eric was among those who laid the foundations for, and contributed substantially toward, advanced research topics in the activity-based modeling approach to travel demand analysis. He strived to integrate developments in the social sciences, such as those in time use research, sociology, psychology and micro-economic theory, with transportation behavior analysis. He took it upon himself to assess and reflect, on a periodic basis, the developments in the field of travel behavior and time-use analysis. In doing so, he focused on how recent developments fit within the larger framework of human activity behavior and, sometimes, questioned in a constructive manner some of the directions of the current research. His periodic reflections became synonymous with wafts of refreshing intellectual breeze, providing new directions for research and spurring more creative work in the field.
Eric was also a truly gifted educator. Students at Duke University voted him to be the recipient of the Earl I. Brown II Outstanding Civil Engineering Faculty Award in 1983 and the School of Engineering Faculty Teaching Award in 1989. Eric was the Civil Engineering Department’s Director of Undergraduate Studies from 1991 to 1995.
In addition to his own direct contributions to the travel behavior field, Eric contributed to the field by shaping, influencing and encouraging the work of several other colleagues and students. The IATBR Board decided to constitute the Eric Pas Dissertation Prize in 1998 as a way to keep his memory alive and recognize the best dissertation each year in the field of travel behaviour research.
(The pictures are of Eric Pas at IATBR 1997, the last IATBR conference that would be graced by the presence of Eric. The conference took place just six months before he would pass away.)
Eric Pas Dissertation Prize Competition Process
Approved by the IATBR Board, February 10, 2015
- Call for Nominations for Award of Year N is distributed by the Secretary/Treasurer, by email among IATBR members and through other natural channels (e.g. TRB committees ADB 10, 20, 40, WSTLUR, WCTR memberships) in January of Year N+1.
- Reminders sent out 30 days and 5 days before due date.
- Neither advisor(s) nor awardee need to be IATBR members.
- Any Ph.D. thesis that is recognized by a university is eligible for submission.
- In order for the thesis to be eligible for year X, it must be officially approved by the university within year X.
- The main evaluation criteria are:
- A. Originality/innovation (contribution to the field/innovative/breakthrough)
- B. Quality of research,
- C. Scope (combination of theory, analysis, diverse research skills, innovative data collection, policy application, etc.)
- D. Scholarly insight (critical methodological reflection)
- Electronic entries should be sent to chair of prize jury with copy to Secretary/Treasurer.
- Prize jury consists of three Core Group members, appointed by the Chair of IATBR from among IATBR members, plus as many ad-hoc members as necessary (recruited by the jury Chair, in consultation with the IATBR Chair).
- The three Core Group members serve a 3-year term each. When the Chair of the jury rotates off, the core group member in position 2 becomes chair and the core group member in position 3 rises to position 2. The Chair of IATBR then identifies a new core group member to serve in position 3, and the process continues from one year to the next. Information on the constitution of past juries is available at the IATBR website.
- The Chair of the jury must recruit at least two additional ad-hoc members to serve on the jury. The additional (ad-hoc) members of the jury will be appointed after all the applications have been received, to take into consideration possible conflicts of interest and language constraints. There is no limit on the number of ad-hoc members that the prize jury chair can recruit (this number will be usually dictated by the number of entries received for the competition). An odd number of total jury members is recommended, to avoid ties.
- The core and ad-hoc jury members are responsible for the review process, but can allocate tasks to reviewers as well. These reviewers will not necessarily become ad-hoc members unless they are appointed following the procedure in the previous point. The core and ad-hoc jury members are involved in the discussion that leads to the selection of the best thesis, whereas reviewers only provide the detailed review of the specific thesis (or theses) assigned. The jury Chair should select a subset of the theses that all the members of the jury should read, taking into consideration language constraints.
- The jury chair should compile a spreadsheet of ratings, rankings, and notes on all dissertations based on the reviews, and share them with all jury members including the ad-hoc members who then collectively develop a recommendation for the Board’s approval.
- The jury chair communicates the jury recommendation to the board 60 days prior to the event where the award will be made. The jury may recommend not issuing an award in either or both category(ies) (first prize and honorable mention). The recommendation should include a summary (of about a page) containing the core arguments supporting the recommendations.
- The IATBR Board will consider ratifying the recommendation communicated by the jury chair; the Board will work with the jury to resolve any issues, concerns, or conflicts, and agree upon a final winner(s). In the event that a resolution with support from both the jury and the Board cannot be reached, the jury chair will share with the board all the review material (the theses and the review forms from all reviewers) for further discussion. The final decisions regarding the winner and honorable mentions must be based on a majority of votes of the board and jury core (not including the ad-hoc) members. If a majority of board and jury core members do not agree that a particular entry should receive an award, that entry is not awarded. This may mean that no award is made in a given category (first prize or honorable mention), or may mean that, say, only one of two proposed “tied” entries receives an award.
- The awardee and his/her advisor are notified privately by the IATBR Chair (not the jury chair) regarding the award; this should happen about 45 days prior to the event/meeting where the award will be made so that the awardee and his/her advisor can make travel arrangements.
- The jury chair makes the award announcement and presents the award at the event/meeting.
- The award is announced and made at the IATBR Business Meeting held every year at the Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington, D.C. In the years that the IATBR Conference is being held (2018, 2021, 2024, etc.), the award is announced at the IATBR Conference.
- The Award Winners of the three years prior to the IATBR Conference (e.g. the years 2015, 2016, 2017 at the 2018 conference) are invited to make presentations at the conference.
- Winner: $500 check + engraved plaque
- Honorable Mention: Certificate signed by IATBR Chair and Prize Jury Chair
- It is the responsibility of the Secretary/Treasurer to ensure that all of these prize materials are brought to the award ceremony/event.
- It is standard practice to waive registration fees and cover accommodation costs for the Winner of the Eric Pas Dissertation Prize at the IATBR Conference where he/she presents the dissertation work. Winners are expected to make their own “travel” arrangements, however. Winners are also expected to pay membership dues like everybody else.
- There is no standard practice regarding Honorable Mentions. If the conference organizers have the resources to support Honorable Mentions, that is nice; otherwise, just an invitation to present in the Eric Pas Dissertation Prize session is all that is expected.