Rachel Sack

Chief, Innovative Research Division

Department of Transportation

Rachael Barolsky Sack is the chief of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s Innovative Research Division and the director of the U.S. DOT SBIR program. Her work focuses on innovative approaches to program design and communication strategies for sharing information on emerging technologies, best practices, and related policies. She leads a group of 20 staff responsible for designing and implementing multi-disciplinary research programs and projects for a variety of modal agencies across the U.S. DOT. Since joining the U.S. DOT Volpe Center in 2002, Sack’s work has supported a variety of transportation areas including environmental streamlining for highway projects, technology transfer initiatives, highway safety countermeasures, and equity . She also facilitates interagency working groups and issue-specific meetings with the goals of sharing information across agencies, reaching consensus on key issues, and agreeing to action-oriented solutions. Sack has served as Federal Women’s Program manager for the U.S. DOT Volpe Center and is past president of the Women’s Transportation Seminar-Boston Chapter. She holds a master’s degree in energy and environmental analysis and a Bachelor of Arts degree in energy and environmental policy, both from Boston University (Boston, MA).