The February 2021 session, titled “Infrastructure Readiness: Planning & Deployment,” featured the following panelists:

Andy Wolpert
City of Columbus
Andy Wolpert is with the City of Columbus and serves as the deputy program manager for Smart Columbus. Wolpert is leading projects designed to provide mobility reliability and independence and access to alternative modes of transportation. Prior to joining the Smart Columbus program, Wolpert served as a senior technologist for CH2M in which he worked on several projects across the country. He received his BCSE from Ohio Northern University and his MSCE from The Ohio State University.
Karina Ricks
City of Pittsburgh

Karina Ricks is the City of Pittsburgh's first director of mobility and infrastructure and intent on guiding staff and partners to fulfill their mission to "provide the physical mobility essential to the economic and social mobility of all Pittsburghers." In this role, Ricks has been instrumental in developing the "Pittsburgh Principles for Shared and Autonomous Mobility" and pioneering innovative policies, projects, and programs to address existing and systemic inequities. Ricks came to Pittsburgh from Washington, D.C., where she was a principal and practice lead with Nelson/Nygaard Associates. Prior to that, she served as the director of transportation planning for the DC Department of Transportation.

Sam Amen
California Department of Transportation

Sam Amen, is the District 11 branch chief for traffic system performance, and the connected and automated vehicle (CAV) manager with California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). He has over 30 years' experience in planning, design engineering, traffic operations, construction, and project program management in both transportation and defense-related industries. He is also an adjunct professor of transportation engineering at San Diego State University, Civil Engineering Department.

Kristin White
Minnesota Department of Transportation

Kristin White is executive director of Minnesota's Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Office. White partners, collaborates, explores, and innovates transportation technologies with government, industry, researchers, and nonprofits. She is a lawyer and policy strategist who leverages her legal, policy, and strategic vision to bring public and private partners together to innovate policy and technology solutions. White leads Minnesota DOT's CAV-X Office and Minnesota's Destination CAV research and testing program to develop strategic, innovative, and collaborative ideas. She is a leader who creates innovative solutions to transportation challenges and a policy expert on trends in transportation technology and law. Her goal is to bring more empathy and leadership into the industry to drive the transportation sector to view our work through an equity lens and ensure the innovations we deliver serve community needs.

John Corbin
Federal Highway Administration
John Corbin is the transportation automation program manager for the Federal Highway Administration Office of Operations, and is also adjunct faculty in colleges of engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He previously served as the director of traffic operations in Wisconsin and Iowa departments of transportation. While with Wisconsin, he also served as the state traffic engineer, and as the freeway operations engineer and intelligent transportation systems program manager for Metropolitan Milwaukee. Earlier in his career, he worked as a traffic control engineer for the City of Milwaukee, and as a construction engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Corbin completed his undergraduate degree in transportation engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1986, obtained a Master of Civil and Environmental Engineering degree through the University of Illinois-Chicago and UW-Madison, and earned a UW Certificate in Public Administration. He is active as a fellow of both the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers, as well as in committee leadership of the Transportation Research Board.