Research and Technology Implementation Director

Rick Collins, P.E., is the director of the Research and Technology Implementation Office. He became director in January 2004. He is also the interim director of both the Strategic Policy & Performance Management Office (SPPM) and the Bridge Division.

He began his career with TxDOT as an engineering assistant in the Design Division.

He worked for a private engineering firm in Austin from 1985 to 1987. In 1987, he returned to the Department where he became the safety and programs engineer in the Traffic Operations Division. Collins served as the railroad liaison engineer from 1995 to 1997 and as the director of the Traffic Engineering Section from 1997 to 2004.

Collins represents TxDOT as a member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Research Advisory Committee and the state representative to the Transportation Research Board. He is also a member of the AASHTO Standing Committee on Research and serves on numerous National Cooperative Highway Research Program project panels.

Collins earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1981 from Texas A&M University and his master’s degree in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988.