Pasi Lautala, PE

Pasi Lautala

Contact

  • Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
  • Director, Rail Transportation Program, Michigan Tech Transportation Institute

Biography

Dr. Lautala was appointed in August, 2012 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering and promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. He is also the founder and the Director of Rail Transportation Program (RTP) since the program was established in 2007. He is also a member of the Executive Committee for the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute (MTTI) and has been working on Mobility topics as a university Faculty Fellow in 2020-2021. Pasi has his BS from Tampere University of Technology in Finland and his MSc. And Ph.D. degrees from Michigan Tech University. Dr. Lautala has been a leader of more than three million dollars in external research, covering a range of topics related to the rail transportation, from trespasser and crossing safety to multimodal transportation logistics and railway capacity related topics. Under his leadership, Michigan Tech has also expanded the rail research portfolio to various departments across the campus. Dr. Lautala is also one the nationwide leaders in rejuvenation of rail transportation education in academia, including at Michigan Tech, a mission that has been advanced through Michigan Tech's participation in the National University Rail Center (NURail). Since 2013, Dr. Lautala has been appointed as a member of Michigan Commission for Supply Chain and Transportation Logistics Collaboration and he has recently been appointed as the Rail Group Chair by the Transportation Research Board (TRB). He is also actively involved in the AREMA Education and Training Committee. His previous experience includes work with Finnish Railways prior to his arrival in the US, as well as five years of railroad and highway-engineering consulting experience in Chicago before his return to Michigan Tech.