UTCM Staff Directory

Melissa S. Tooley, PhD, PE

Center Director

Dr. Melissa S. Tooley joined Texas Transportation Institute as the Director of the UTCM in May 2006. She is the former Director of the Mack-Blackwell National Rural Transportation Center (MBTC) at the University of Arkansas, and she served as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas and the University of Florida. She has a decade of civil engineering consulting experience on projects involving roadway design, flood control, construction management, forensic engineering and civil infrastructure improvements.

Dr. Tooley is a past President of the National Council of University Transportation Centers and immediate past President of ARTBA’s Research and Education Division, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors. She is a member of the Board of Regents of the Eno Transportation Foundation and is a former Eno Transportation Fellowship Recipient. A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, she was selected "Young Engineer of the Year" in 1995 by the Arkansas Society of Professional Engineers (ASPE). She serves on two Transportation Research Board committees – Planning Needs and Requirements for Small and Medium Sized Communities and the TRB Committee for Education and Training. Dr. Tooley was a Master’s and PhD level recipient of the Eisenhower Fellowship, sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration. As a graduate student, she was selected as MBTC’s 1994 Student of the Year.

Martha Raney Taylor

Business Manager

Ms. Raney Taylor manages the UTCM's $6M in administrative and project funds, oversees the UTCM procurement cycle and assists PIs with project administration and reporting. She coordinates technology transfer activities of the Center, including developing three of the center’s websites, publishing all of the Center's print materials and reports, managing the UTCM Mobility Colloquium and planning portions of the UTCM's Summer Transportation Institute Scholars program. Martha earned her BS from Texas A&M in 1985, and has spent 25 years in administrative positions at the University. She joined the UTCM in May 2007.

Abigail Menke

Office Assistant

Ms. Menke earned her B.S. in Nutrition from Texas A&M in May 2011 and is currently a graduate student at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in the School of Rural Public Health. Abi provides expert office administrative support for the UTCM as well as publication and editorial assistance on Center publications and website maintenance. Abi joined the UTCM in September 2008.