At the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington DC this week (January 9-13) Joel Jundt, South Dakota Department of Transportation (SDDOT) secretary, is being officially welcomed as a new board member for the organization.
Jundt will become a member of the Executive Committee which is the senior policy body for the TRB. The Executive Committee is comprised of approximately 25 members appointed by the chair of the National Research Council of the National Academies, which TRB is a part of.
Jundt has only been officially heading up South Dakota DOT for under a year – South Dakota governor Kristi Noem named Jundt as secretary in March 2021. “Joel has long been respected throughout the industry and has dedicated his life to promoting transportation access and opportunity in South Dakota,” said Noem at the time. “He has proven himself to be the leader who can spearhead the future of mobility here in South Dakota.”
A native of Rapid City, Jundt graduated from South Dakota School of Mines in 1985 with a degree in civil engineering. He has been a part of the DOT for his entire career, starting as a road design engineer and working his way up to be Rapid City region and operations engineer, director of planning and engineering, and deputy secretary. He began serving as interim secretary of DOT in November 2020.
As part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the TRB provides leadership in transportation improvements and innovation in all modes of transportation. TRB stimulates research and offers research management services that promote technical excellence; provides expert advice on transportation policy and programs; and disseminates research results broadly and encourages their implementation.
