Joseph Schofer

 Joseph L. Schofer  is an American civil engineer specializing in transportation engineering. He has been a professor, consultant and advisor of transportation systems planning, urban planning, urban infrastructure, and related topics.

He taught his last class at Northwestern University (NU) in June 2023, and retired from departmental duties in fall 2021, having begun at NU in autumn of 1970. A symposium was held in his honor on November 17 and 18, 2023, attracting students and colleagues from all his years of teaching to the Allen Center on the campus in Evanston, Illinois.

Early life and education
Schofer earned his B.E. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Career
Prior to joining the Northwestern faculty, he taught at the new Chicago Circle campus of the University of Illinois from September 1967 to June 1970, and developed the curriculum for Systems Engineering along with Martin Wachs and other staff. That campus has since merged with the UI Medical Center campus also in Chicago, and since September 1982 is called University of Illinois Chicago (UIC).

He is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (full professor since 1973). He was Associate Dean from Fall 2002 to March 2005 at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he is also Director of the Infrastructure Technology Institute since November 2007.

He has been actively engaged with the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council since 1966, chairing national policy studies on Equity Implications of Evolving Transportation Finance Mechanisms and Strategies for Improved Passenger and Freight Travel Data; serving on the Technical Advisory Committee on Capacity for the Strategic Highway Research Program.

He has been on the Northwestern University faculty since 1970, serving as chairman of the department from 1997 to 2002, and as Interim Dean of the McCormick School during 2004-2005. His research and teaching are in transportation policy planning, analysis, evaluation, and behavior.

Schofer co-hosts a podcast - The Infrastructure Show - for which he interviews infrastructure experts and posts news stories about infrastructure on a monthly basis. The first program was aired March 25, 2009 and the most recent was on November 3, 2023; all podcasts are archived at the website.

He is a member of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and a life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Awards
He received the 2011 Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award from the Transportation Research Board.

Publications
He has published 139 articles and book chapters and more than 52 technical reports.

Personal life
Joe and his wife Nancy have a son and a daughter.