The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has named Joel Jundt (seen above) – the secretary of the South Dakota Department of Transportation – to a two-year term as chair of its Special Committee on Research and Innovation.

[Above photo via the South Dakota DOT]

The Special Committee on Research and Innovation supports AASHTO, its members, and the transportation community at large by delivering strategic, high-quality research results while addressing development, technology transfer, and implementation.

Jundt – formally appointed secretary of the South Dakota DOT in March – is a native of Rapid City and graduated from South Dakota School of Mines in 1985 with a degree in civil engineering.

He has spent his entire engineering career with the South Dakota DOT, 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.