Anthony A. Saka, PhD, PE, F.ASCE, is a professor and was the inaugural chair of the Department of Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Studies in the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. School of Engineering at Morgan State University. He is a Fellow and life member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a chartered member of the Transportation & Development Institute (TD&I), a Fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), a permanent member of the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE), and a member of the American Railway Engineers and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA).
Dr. Saka has been involved in transportation-related professional/pedagogical/research activities since 1987 and has received several scholastic and mentoring recognitions. In 2024, Dr. Saka was the recipient of the prestigious ITE’s Wilbur S. Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award. He is credited with establishing two ABET-accredited undergraduate engineering and applied science programs in transportation systems, the doctoral program in transportation & urban infrastructure systems, the post-baccalaureate certificate in urban transportation, and the new rail transportation engineering track within the existing transportation degree and certificate programs at Morgan State University and mentoring over 250 transportation engineering and planning students.
Dr. Saka has participated in projects for United States Department of Transportation, Maryland Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Transportation, Johns Hopkins University, and Michael Baker, Inc., among others; and authored several technical papers in archival publications.
Prior to joining the faculty of Morgan State University in 1992, Dr. Saka was the principal transportation planning engineer with the Rappahannock Area Development Commission (RADCO) in Fredericksburg, VA, where he served as the region’s first transportation planner; and before then was a senior civil engineer with the Department of Transportation in Chesterfield County, VA, and developed the computerized platform to support its long-range transportation planning endeavor.
Dr. Saka has been a registered professional engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland since 1994 and a member of the inaugural cohort of certified professional traffic operations engineers (PTOE) and certified professional transportation planners (PTP). He received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Transportation Systems) from the University of Virginia, Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh, and Bachelor of Arts in City & Regional Planning from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette).
Dr. Saka has been married to Ann since 1988. They have six children and six grandchildren and live in Phoenix, Maryland.