“To have influence, you really don’t need to have power. But what you need more than anything else is to have that almost uncanny understanding of what matters to people.” ― Anne Sweeney 

 

 “Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” ― H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
(Notes provided by Allan Penwell)

Rod has completed the Rotary Leadership Institute and is ready for taking over in July if he has enough electoral votes.

At the District 6490 conference, C-U Sunrise received honorable mention for outstanding small club.  It helped that Mary was on the selection committee.

Also at the District 6490 conference, Mary Hodson and Tom Hodson were recognized as major donors.

Mary announced that she is lining up speakers so please let her know if you have one of interest.

It is our goal to be a “Star Club” for the Rotary Foundation which means that every member donate $100 per year to the Rotary Foundation.  Right now we are $13.90 per member short of that goal which needs to be reached by July 1st.  Go on line and donate as a one-time payment or sign up to donate monthly debited from your bank account.  Thanks for your support!

 

PROGRAM

Ed introduced our speaker, Chris Barkan, who is the head of RailTEC at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  RailTEC is an academic department that focuses on railroad engineering and transportation.  Chris also brought, Francesco Bendini, who is a PhD candidate at UIUC as well as an employee of the Illinois Department of Transportation. 

The UIUC has had a long and distinguished history in railroad engineering. Significant contributions of the UIUC railroad engineering programs date back to the early years of the 20th century.

The early 1970s were a low point in railroad development as focus was more on truck transportation (rumor also has it that UIUC student Ed Perry contributed to the demise of railroad education).  At the time many rail lines became obsolete and unused, and as a result the rail lines were taken up. Since then, rail transportation has been on the upswing and RailTEC has increased its curriculum to complement this progress.  The current curriculum includes railroad infrastructure, mechanical, energy, freight, and intermodal transportation. 

Funding has come from suppliers from the railroad industry like BNSF, and there are eight professors in the department and 19 affiliated instructors.  There are more railroad related courses taught at UIUC than any other school in the United States.  Chris stated that RailTEC is a world leader in railroad education, and the program includes international students.  Railtec collaborates with a university in Sweden on projects and conducts an annual international conference.  They also have a new testing lab which is located on the CERL campus. 

There is a significant focus on high-speed rail by the school which has come out of studies of the rail efficiency in France.  An obvious high-speed rail system would include Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.  Such a system is about the size of the rail system in France.  Locally, high-speed rail proposals would have a line from Chicago to Champaign or Springfield and then to St. Louis.  The Chicago area would include stops at O’Hare, Union Station, and McCormick Place.  Think of taking a 220 mph train from Champaign to Chicago in 45 minutes vs. two hours, and you can imagine how interconnectivity would speed commerce and create new opportunities to tie into other means of transportation like airports. 

 

 

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May 12th May 19th May 26th June 2nd
Introductions Ed Perry Rod Roberts Tod Satterthwaite Lou Simpson
Invocation Oktay Baran Keith Brandau Paul Conforti Molly Delaney
Greeters Ed Perry Rod Roberts Tod Satterthwaite Lou Simpson
Jeff Van Buren Cary Woolard Harold Adams Julie Allen
Song Leader Lou Simpson Billy Stull Jeff Van Buren Cary Woolard
Notetaker Hodson Lintner Conforti Perry

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE

 

May 12 – Darrell Hoemann, CU Sunrise Rotarian and Photographer Extraordinaire, will discuss his trip to India

May 19th – Outstanding Citizen award presentation

May 26th – (meeting held in Savoy Room) TJ Blakeman, President, Champaign County Historical Society

June 2nd – Geri Wirth, representing Avicenna Community Health Center

June 9th – Megan Casey, Frances Nelson and SmileHealthy

June 16th – TBD

June 23rd – TBD

June 30th – TBD

July 7th – TBD

July 14th – TBD

July 21st – TBD