Florida Public Transportation Association Annual Conference in Jacksonville

CUTR was well represented at the Florida Public Transportation Association (FPTA) Annual Meeting - I was honored to be on the lunch panel with FTA Region IV Administrator Dr. Yvette Taylor and FDOT Transit Manager Ed Coven, moderated by Jacksonville Transportation Authority Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel Ford.

Williams Ackaah Ph.D. Defense

Today Williams Ackaah successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis entitled "Empirical Analysis of Real-Time-Traffic-Information for Navigation and the Variable Speed Limit System," at the Universität der Bundeswehr München. I was very pleased to be a member of his thesis committee and wish him warm congratulations and success in the future.

Kevin Carstens Thesis Defense

Today Kevin Carstens successfully defended his M.S. thesis, "Increasing Short-Term Capacity on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge," at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I was pleased to serve on his committee, and I wish Kevin nothing but the best in his next adventure at DKS Associates in Oakland, CA.

Congratulations to Greg Winfree

I've been lucky to know and work with Jane Mellow and Greg Winfree at the U.S. DOT - congratulations to Greg who is departing OST-R as Assistant Secretary after serving for nearly 7 years, for his new position as Director of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Greg and Jane are two of the best people I know!

4th Annual Florida Automated Vehicle Summit

The 4th Annual Florida Automated Vehicle Summit was held in Tampa on November 29-30, 2016. I had the opportunity to speak on a panel moderated by FDOT District 7 Secretary Paul Steinman on "CV/AV State of the Nation: V2I Deployment Coalition," along with Shailen Bhat and Gummada Murthy. I also moderated a great panel session with Joe Waggoner, Senator Jeff Brandes and Jim Barbaresso.

Respect for Previous CUTR Directors

I'm lucky to have the support of previous CUTR directors, including founding director Gary Brosch, Steve Reich, Ed Mierzejewski, Jason Bittner and Dennis Hinebaugh!

USF Designation as Bicycle Friendly University

CUTR is proud to announce that USF has been recognized as a Bicycle Friendly University by the League of American Bicyclists at the Silver Level. Special thanks to Julie Bond and the entire Bicycle Action Committee and all of the critical stakeholders for their support. Congratulations!
http://news.usf.edu/article/templates/?a=7604&z=220

Alameda County Transportation Commission Presentation

Enjoyed speaking and moderating a transportation technology panel for the Alameda County Transportation Commission today at the Berkeley City Club. Joining me on the panel were Greg Larson from Caltrans, Hans Larsen from the City of Fremont and Michael Hursch, General Manager of AC Transit.

CUTR Achievement Awards

We were honored to present the CUTR Transportation Achievement Award to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer! Here with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Florida Senator Jack Latvala. We also presented the UTC student of the year award to Austin Gibble, and the Brosch award to Trang Luong. We also held a CUTR Advisory Board meeting. Thanks to all of the participants for a wonderful event!

Transpo 2016

It was great to participate in Transpo 2016, organized by the ITE Florida Section, ITS Florida and WTS in West Palm Beach, Florida on November 14, 2016. I had the opportunity to present "Are We Ready? State and Local Agency Preparations for Connected and Automated Vehicles."
 

Florida Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Coalition Meeting

I was honored to have the opportunity to participate in the extremely energetic Florida Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Coalition meeting in Tallahassee. What an amazing collaborative effort! Special thanks to FDOT and the CUTR team!

New Crossbay Ferry

Great ride on the new #crossbayferry today! Also wonderful to visit with our Congresswoman Kathy Castor!

TRB Partners in Research Symposium

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak at (and help moderate) a very interesting session on "Smart Cities: Mobility and Access Motivating Questions," at the TRB Partners in Research Symposium: Tranformational Technologies in Detroit, MI on October 31, 2016.

WTS / COMTO Welcome Event

I was very grateful to COMTO and WTS for hosting a welcome event for me - with chapter presidents Carla Williams and Nilgun Kamp. The Tampa transportation community is extremely warm and hospitable, and I'm excited to be a part of it!

National Rural ITS Conference - Chattanooga October 2016

It was a great experience to participate in the 2016 National Rural Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (NRITS) in Chattanooga, TN from October 2-5, 2016. I gave a presentation entitled "CV2: Minimum vs. Optimal Infrastructure Support for V2I – How are Rural Infrastructure Needs Different than Urban?" There was great discussion in the session and it was wonderful to have the chance to see Chattanooga (its aquarium is amazing!)

Remembering Dan Bernstine

Very sorry and sad to learn of the death of former PSU President Dan Bernstine - he was a good, supportive, funny and authentic man and a fellow SF Bay Area native and Berkeley grad. My thoughts are with his family and friends. I'll never forget when he called me at home to inform me that we did *not* receive a large grant we were anticipating.....followed by a deadpan pause.....and then he said, "no, just kidding, we got it!" Thanks for the memories.

Visit to Portland September 2016

Honored to take a tour with the BEST Portland bike tour guide Peter Koonce! Also fun to try Biketown!

Bulls Walk and Bike Week Kickoff at USF

It was a great experience to participate in the kickoff of Bulls Walk and Bike Week at USF yesterday! Over 100 students took the WalkWise quiz, received safety information, or walked away safely with a WalkWise reflective backpack. Special thanks to the CUTR staff and USF President Judy Genshaft!