ManWo Ng, assistant professor of maritime and supply chain management in Old Dominion University's Strome College of Business has been invited to join the Transportation Network Modeling Committee, a national committee of the U.S. Transportation Research Board (TRB).

The TRB is a division of the National Research Council (NRC), a private, nonprofit institution that provides expertise in science and technology to the government, the public and the scientific and engineering communities. The NRC is jointly administered by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.

Ng, one of two new maritime faculty added to the Maritime Institute of the Strome College in the past two years, has worked on projects at Old Dominion sponsored by state and federal agencies, including the Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

His research focus is multi-modal supply chain management, focusing on topics such as port operations, liner shipping and supply chain management.

"Dr. Ng has been a valuable addition to our faculty, helping Old Dominion extend its reach in areas of maritime research," said Wayne Talley, the Frederick W. Beazley professor of economics and director of ODU's Maritime Institute.

ODU's expertise in port research stretches back decades, in part because of the university's location near a major, deep water port, but also because of the work of ODU faculty researchers.

At a 2012 International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) annual meeting in Santiago, Chile, worldwide university rankings for port research over the past 30 years were presented. ODU was listed eighth in the world in these prestigious rankings, second only to the University of Washington in the Western Hemisphere.

The 2014 IAME international meeting was co-hosted by Old Dominion in Norfolk last July.