Hosts

Joseph Schofer is Professor Emeritus of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He leads the interviews, directs selection of topics, and organizes the conversation. 

Schofer served on the Northwestern faculty for more than five decades, having been chair of his department, Associate and Interim Dean of the McCormick School, and Director of Northwestern’s Infrastructure Technology Institute.

Schofer earned his B.E. degree in Civil Engineering from Yale University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in transportation engineering from Northwestern. He has published many articles and technical reports focused on transportation and infrastructure planning, management and policy-making, evaluation, and safety. He is a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, and a National Associate of the National Research Council. He has served in many leadership roles for the Transportation Research Board (TRB), a unit of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). He received TRB’s Roy W. Crum Distinguished Service Award in 2011 and the TRB Thomas Deen Lectureship in 2014. As a volunteer, he has held many advisory roles for regional and national transportation agencies. He continues to be active as in matters of transportation decision-making and policy.

Marion Sours, a journalist and Managing Editor of the Chicago plant engineering magazine Plant Services for 17 years, came up with the idea of this podcast based on her personal interest in and concern for American infrastructure. In 2008 she invited Professor Schofer to host the podcast, designed the format and built the website with her own resources. She continues to serve as producer, collaborating with Professor Schofer on selection of topics, identifying and scheduling interview guests, reviewing discussion plans, and overseeing recording sessions. In the early days She co-hosted some of the interviews, as did Thomas Herman, an experienced Chicago area radio host/producer. 

The first episode of the privately funded show was posted in March of 2009, which ran monthly through December of 2014. The show site moved to Northwestern University’s School of Engineering in 2015, funded then and now by a few alumni with deep interests in infrastructure.

Funding covers the costs of recording The Infrastructure Show at Studiomedia Recording Company in Evanston, IL.

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