Prof. Junhua Wang from Tongji University Visits Cal Poly

We were pleased to welcome Prof. Junhua Wang, Associate Professor in the School of Transportation Engineering at Tongji University, Shanghai, China to Cal Poly on April 23, 2015. Prof. Wang is currently serving as a visiting scholar at SafeTREC at the University of California at Berkeley. He presented "Chinese Road Safety Situation, Driver Behavior and Operational Safety Research at Tongji," to a large audience of students (ITE student chapter) and faculty. We enjoyed the opportunity to meet and hope we can collaborate in the future. Dr. Wang's research interests include Road Safety, Accident Modeling, Highway Geometric Design and Incident Management. He is the recipient of the 2011Hei Bei Province Advanced Technology Award, 2011 Chongqin Advanced Technology Award and 2012 Advanced Technology Award of Ministry of Security.

Plenary Presentation at Oregon Department of Transportation 2015 Geo-Environmental Conference

I was honored to be invited to deliver a plenary presentation, "The Future of Sustainable Transportation in a Connected/Automated World​," at the Oregon Department of Transportation 2015 Geo-Environmental Conference held in Eugene, Oregon on April 22, 2015. The theme of the conference was: "State of the Professions: Looking to the Future," and was a very appropriate event for commemorating Earth Day 2015. I appreciated the wonderful discussion and enjoyed the opportunity to engage with all of the participants.

Presentation at California ATSSA Chapter Meeting

I very much enjoyed the opportunity to give a presentation on "The Future of Transportation is Now: Are We Ready?" at the April 16, 2015 General Membership Meeting of the California Chapter of the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA). It was a fantastic opportunity to discuss our mutual commitment to making our transportation system safer and more efficient and I appreciated the invitation and kind reception!

ODOT Connected Vehicle Application Workshop

It was a fantastic experience to participate in the Oregon Department of Transportation's Connected Vehicle Application Prioritization Workshop in Salem, OR on April 13, 2015. Along with many ODOT colleagues and Prof. Haizhong Wang from Oregon State University, we presented an overview of applications that are relevant to ODOT and had a successful day mapping application to priorities and coming up with some conclusions. Thanks to all participants and organizers for a productive day.

Handing Over the Reins of the TRB Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics

Today I am pleased to hand over the reins of the TRB Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics (AHB45) to Dr. Soyoung Ahn who assumes the chair position. I am confident that Sue will take the committee to the next level of excellence. Special thanks from the bottom of my heart to the many dedicated members and friends for your support and tremendous volunteer commitment over the past 6 years. I'd also like to thank my predecessors Prof. Nathan Gartner and Prof. Hani Mahmassani for their support and advice. It's been an honor and a pleasure to serve in this role as committee chair. Together we have accomplished much--we've processed nearly 1000 papers and over 4000 reviews, held 6 committee meetings, a 50th anniversary celebration, several fantastic summer meetings (including one in Portland), 30 lectern sessions, 16 poster sessions, and have published nearly 200 high quality papers in the Transportation Research Record. We've seen some new exciting topics emerge, and some further developments of long-standing subjects in our field. I am particularly gratified to see the high level of activity in our subcommittees and especially among our young members and friends. Moving forward, please think about how you can be a mentor for the next generation of scholars, professionals and leaders. TRB is a very special organization, and I particularly want to thank Rich Cunard and all of the TRB staff who support what we do. I look forward to continuing to work with all of you in the coming years. Thank you again for your support and friendship.

Presentation to California Road Charge Pilot Program Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)

On March 27, 2015, I had the opportunity to participate in the third meeting of the California Transportation Commission's Road Charge Pilot Program Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) in Irvine, CA. Along with Randy Iwasaki (CCTA), Paul Godsmark (Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence) and Andrew Conway (California Department of Motor Vehicles), we had a great discussion with the TAC regarding future challenges and opportunities with the development of connected and automated vehicles. It was exciting to learn more about the TAC's progress with the Road Charge Pilot Program.

Panel Member for CCTA Redefining Mobility Summit

I was honored to be invited to participate in the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA)'s Redefining Mobility: Connected Vehicle/Automated Vehicle (CV/AV) Summit on March 31, 2015 in Concord, CA. I joined a very interesting panel discussing "Creating Change: How Technology is Reshaping the Transportation Industry," along with moderator Ross Chittenden (CCTA), and fellow panelists Joseph Whinnery (Honda), Joy Thomas (Allstate), and Andreas Mai (Cisco). We had a terrific discussion about many of the challenges and opportunities for collaboration in the future.