Education
- Ph.D., Northwestern University, 1974
- M.S., Washington State University, 1967
- B.S., Washington State University, 1966
Biography
Scott Rutherford is a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Adjunct Professor of Urban Planning and Design at the University of Washington. He has taught and conducted research in the areas of transportation planning, travel demand forecasting, travel demand management and the development of public transportation systems for the past 35 years. He is currently director of the Valle Scholarship and Exchange program, which has benefited nearly 700 graduate students with outstanding financial support. In 2010 he developed an online master’s program in Sustainable Transportation that is serving nearly 100 graduate students in various stages of their work. He was one of the principle architects in the development of the UW's award winning U-Pass program which successfully mitigated vehicle trips by switching them to transit in response to a major university expansion. He is the past chair of the University Transportation Committee that is charged with major updates of the U-Pass program. He was formerly Director of the Washington State Transportation Center, Director of the Washington State Transportation Commission's Innovations Unit and Director of Research for the Washington State DOT.
Prior to coming to the UW he worked in consulting on transit projects and travel forecasting issues in Washington D.C. He has been active on local and state commissions and committees including the Rail Development Commission, the Seattle Design Commission, the Regional Transit Authority Expert Review Panel, the TransLake Study Committee and was Chair of the State Transportation Policy Plan Steering Committee. He has participated in peer reviews of travel forecasting projects for transit studies in seven urban areas and while a consultant participated in transit planning projects in 12 urban areas. Scott has a BS and MS in Civil Engineering from WSU and a PhD in Transportation Systems from Northwestern University.
Awards and Honors
- 2013 Academic Engineer of the Year, Puget Sound Engineering Council
- 2009 Life Member Status ASCE
- 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award, Women’s Transportation Seminar Puget Sound Branch
- Member, The International Water Academy, Oslo, Norway 2005
- Outstanding Service Award, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Washington Section, 2003
- Achievement Award for Outstanding Service in Public Transportation in Washington State, 1992
- Chi Epsilon – Faculty Honor Member 2003