Karen Philbrick, PhD

Karen Philbrick is the executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) at San José State University. Dr. Philbrick leads two competitively selected multi-university consortia: the California State University Transportation Consortium (CSUTC), which unifies the surface transportation research and workforce development efforts of the 23-campus California State University system, and the Climate Change and Extreme Events Training and Research (CCEETR) Program funded by the Federal Railroad Administration. 

Prior to joining MTI, Dr. Philbrick shaped the field of transportation in a variety of roles, including as assistant director of the National Center for Intermodal Transportation at the University of Denver. She has been appointed four times by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation (Secretaries LaHood, Foxx, Chao, and Buttigieg) to sit on the USDOT Transit Advisory Committee for Safety (TRACS) where she chaired the FTA Administrator’s Tasking 14-02, which identified key elements of a safety management system approach to fatigue management. 

Long committed to the USDOT University Transportation Center program, she was elected to several roles on the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) executive committee, including President in 2018-19. Dr. Philbrick also has the privilege of serving as the President of the Research and Education Division of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, where she also sits on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee. Dr. Philbrick was the co-chair of the TCRP F-29 panel “Mental Health, Wellness, and Resilience for Transit System Workers,” and she currently chairs TCRP F-32 “Culture Reform: Psychological Health and Safety at the Workplace – The Missing Elements of Successful Workforce Retention and Recruitment in Transit.”

With an eye toward seamless and equitable transportation for all, Karen also serves the industry through elected positions on the boards of the American Public Transportation Foundation, the Academic Council for the Auto Innovators Alliance, the International Transportation Learning Center, and most recently, she was elected to a three year term on the TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Commission.

Committed to recruiting, retaining, and advancing women in the transportation industry, Dr. Philbrick also serves on the WTS International Board, after serving three terms on the WTS Foundation Board. She contributes to her community through the Rotary Club of San José (the 9th largest club in the world out of more than 45,000), where she was an elected board member and President for the 2023-2024 term. 

A frequently invited keynote speaker, Dr. Philbrick has also delivered federal congressional briefings and been invited to give testimony to the California Senate Transportation Committee and the Assembly Transportation Committee. Her other intellectual contributions include a bimonthly column on transportation in the San Jose Spotlight (for which she was the recipient of the national Publisher of the Year award for independent online news), invited articles for the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and peer-reviewed journal articles focused on models of accident risk and fatigue in railroad operations, psychological trauma, and transportation accidents—including grade crossing and trespasser incidents—and cross cultural differences in helping behavior.

Dr. Philbrick has received many prestigious awards for her leadership excellence and outstanding contributions to her field. A select few include the CUTC Administrative Leadership award, being named a “Woman Who Moves the Nation by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) and, 1 of the 100 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and recognition by the YWCA Silicon Valley with a Tribute to Women Award for her contributions to the field of transportation. In 2023 the Silicon Valley Business Journal released its inaugural Power 100 list  of the most influential business leaders in the region, featuring Dr. Philbrick. The WTS Bay Area Chapter acknowledged her service with the 2023 Katherine G. Johnson Trailblazer of the Year Award and Women We Admire named her one of the top 50 women leaders of San Jose in 2025.

Dr. Philbrick holds a PhD from the University of Denver and an MA and EdM from Columbia University. She earned her undergraduate degree from California State University, Fresno.

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