On April 29, 2009, the Senate confirmed transportation industry insider Peter H. Appel to be the next administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration in the Department of Transportation. Born in 1964, Appel earned his bachelor’s degree in 1985 from Brandeis University in Economics and Computer Science, and his M.S. in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has worked more than twenty years in the transportation field, including two stints in government, first as Assistant Director for Pricing and Yield Management at Amtrak, and later as Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. Most recently, he was a principal with global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, working at its Vienna, Virginia, office since 1997. A Democrat, Appel has contributed $10,471 to Democratic candidates and causes since 1995, including $5,296 to Barack Obama.