This white paper assesses the workforce development needs and current training opportunities related to transportation-sector climate adaptation. To do so, training needs were examined and opportunities identified by state and regional transportation agencies; training needs of aspiring and early-career climate adaptation professionals were catalogued; and a scan was completed of the educational opportunities in climate adaptation currently offered by U.S. universities.
The project team developed and administered the Climate Adaptation Training Needs and Opportunities Survey to assess the status of adaptation-related professional development at state DOTs and other transportation agencies. Survey respondents were asked what climate threats impacted their region and whether or not training opportunities related to climate and extreme weather adaptation were important for their agency's success. Those respondents who indicated that adaptation training was important for their agency's success were then asked which branches within their agency would benefit from such training opportunities, whether training was currently being offered to those branches, and how such training was being delivered (either externally or in-house at the agency) if it was it was being offered.
The survey used a “snowball” recruitment method, where invitees were provided with an unrestricted link to the survey and encouraged to share it with others in their networks who were knowledgeable about climate adaptation efforts. Consistent with the goals of the survey, this recruitment strategy is intended to generate responses from professionals who are active in this field of work and thus potentially represent the leading edge in the field.
The survey was developed and administered in LimeSurvey and was active for 3 months from mid-December 2017 through mid-February 2018. In total, respondents from 32 transportation agencies completed the survey, consisting of seven respondents from state DOTs, 24 respondents from MPOs or Councils of Government (COGs), and one respondent from a port authority.