Rolf Schmitt

LIFE Membership

In 2026 I concluded a 48-year career with federal transportation agencies, retiring as Deputy Director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) in the U.S. Department of Transportation. My career included positions in the National Transportation Policy Study Commission, the Federal Highway Administration, and the National Transportation Policy Team of the Department of Transportation. I played a central role in creating BTS as one of the principal federal statistical agencies and home to a national library, and served as Deputy Director from 2012 to 2026.

BA in geography from Cal State LA (1972); PhD in geography from the Johns Hopkins University (1978)

I moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1972 for graduate school and never left.

Drum Major 1967-68

Emeritus Member, Transportation Research Board, National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine

Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology, 1995-2026

I helped establish in Maryland Rail Commuter service in the 1980s, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in the 1990s, and the international theatre program of the Baltimore School for the Arts in the 2000s.