Guest Lecture, Caltrans Field Trip and Prefumo Canyon Bike Ride

This week in CE 527 Sustainable Mobility, we were thrilled to have a guest presentation from Chris Pangilinan, of the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Chris talked about his experiences with open transit data, discussed principles of universal design and also offered some career advice to our students - a great opportunity to see and hear from Chris! Also CE 423 had a wonderful field trip to the Caltrans District 5 Traffic Management Center here in San Luis Obispo - we are grateful to Jacques Van Zeventer for hosting us! There was also a great bike ride up Prefumo Canyon with several transportation students: Jerry Tran, Edward Tang, Alex Chambers and Seitu Coleman. Beautiful views!

Ken Leonard, U.S. DOT ITS Joint Program Office Director Guest Lecture

We were honored to have Ken Leonard, U.S. DOT ITS Joint Program Office Director deliver a guest lecture via video conference to the CE 423 Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) course on Wednesday May 20, 2015. Ken was joined by Mike Pina, Program Manager, Communications & Outreach from the ITS JPO, and we had a spirited discussion about the new U.S. DOT ITS Strategic Plan, transportation funding and future technological developments around connected and automated vehicles. Thanks to Ken and Mike for a great session and a great discussion!

Matthew Downey Thesis Defense

Matthew Downey successfully defended his master's thesis "Evaluating the Effects of a Congestion and Weather Responsive Advisory Variable Speed Limit System in Portland, Oregon" on May 7, 2015, and I was very pleased to have the opportunity to be there in person for the occasion. I was happy to have worked with Matthew since the fall of 2013 when he arrived at PSU, having graduated from Iowa State University. After graduation, Matthew will begin working for Felsburg Holt & Ullevig in Denver this summer, and we wish him well as he begins his professional career. Dr. Chris Monsere chaired the committee, and Dr. Miguel Figliozzi also served as a committee member.

CE 527 Sustainable Mobility Spring 2015 Field Trips

We have held two great field trips for CE 527 Sustainable Mobility during spring quarter 2015. Eugene Jud graciously escorted us for a wonderful adventure to Morro Bay and Los Osos where we learned first hand about a community driven traffic calming/complete street project on Santa Ysabel Ave. We also had a great bike education course and tour with Kevin Christian, Elissa McDade, Steve Akers, and their team from the SLO Bike Coalition!

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. 

Marisa Lee Successfully Defends Thesis

Marisa Lee, candidate for a Master of City and Regional Planning, successfully defended her thesis today, "Bicycle Tourism Plan for Economic Development: a Template for Rural Agricultural Towns and a Case Study for the City Of Winters." I was pleased to join committee chair Prof. Michael Boswell and also Prof. Jerusha Greenwood on this occasion.

Cal Poly Annual Report

The 2014 Cal Poly Annual Report features a section highlighting the 60 new faculty hired at this campus this year--"A Whole New Class at the Head of the Classroom." It is inspiring to be a part of such an impressive and energetic group!

Keynote Presentation at Arizona ITE/IMSA Spring Conference

I was honored to have the opportunity to present the Keynote Presentation at the ITE/IMSA Arizona Spring Conference at the Black Canyon Conference Center in Phoenix, Arizona on February 25, 2015. The title of the presentation was "The Future of Transportation is Now: Are We Ready?" and I enjoyed the opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities we are facing in our field. With more than 500 participants, it was a lively event, and it included a great turnout of students from the University of Arizona along with their professor Dr. Yao-Jan Wu. Special thanks to Jenny Grote for her kind invitation!

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Andrew Fremier From MTC Visits Cal Poly

We were very pleased to have Mr. Andrew Fremier, Deputy Executive Director of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and Cal Poly CE alum, visit campus this past week. He was kind enough to speak to CE 321 Fundamentals of Transportation Engineering and CE 523 Transportation Systems Planning and meet with ITE students in the new Transportation Engineering Student Project Area (TESPA) on February 19-20. Thank you for your visit!

New CEENVE Newsletter

The latest issue of the Cal Poly SLO CEENVE Newsletter features an article on the transportation program. Exciting times! A shorter version was also featured in the CENG Spring 2015 Newsletter.

Cal Poly SLO ITE Student Chapter Makes Strong Showing at Student Leadership Summit

The Cal Poly SLO ITE Student Chapter made a strong showing at the ITE Student Leadership Summit, hosted by Sacramento State University from February 13-14, 2015. Cal Poly students hosted the first summit in San Luis Obispo in 2014, and it was announced that the third event will occur at Cal Poly Pomona in 2016. This is an "of/by/for" student event and is supported by the ITE Western District. More than 20 Cal Poly SLO students participated actively in the 3 day event. Activities included a public service announcement (PSA) competition involving the design of a complete street, speed interviews, a career fair, presentation from CTC Executive Director Will Kempton, and an inspiring talk from the Sac State dean of engineering. I was also very honored to be asked to speak to the group on the topic of "Transforming Transportation Through Connectivity," where I introduced the new challenges dealing with connected and automated vehicles and other new technologies. I also enjoyed serving on the transportation industry panel and serving as one of the PSA competition judges. Special thanks to the Cal Poly SLO students for representing our university so well, and to the Sac State student team for organizing such a wonderful event.

Cal Poly Students and Faculty Join Secretary of Transportation's Online Chat

On Monday, February 2, 2015 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo transportation engineering and planning students and faculty joined Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and Google's Eric Schmidt for an online town hall meeting and unveiling of the new U.S. DOT's new “Beyond Traffic"vision document. This Virtual Fireside Chat on the Future of Transportation in America was thought-provoking and provided a great venue to discuss transportation planning and finance in the U.S.

Dr. Meead Saberi, Monash University Australia, Visits Cal Poly

Dr. Meead Saberi, Assistant Professor from Monash University in Melbourne Australia (and graduate of PSU and Northwestern, as well as member of TRB Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics) visited Cal Poly on Monday February 2, 2015. He gave a presentation on Transportation Visualization to the CE 523 Transportation Systems Planning course followed by a visualization exercise. He even got to visit the Madonna Inn! We hope to welcome Dr. Saberi back to San Luis Obispo again soon!

Redefining Mobility Panel at SANDAG Board Retreat

I was honored to join a distinguished panel discussing "Redefining Mobility: Connected and Automated Vehicles," at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Board of Directors retreat, held in San Diego, CA January 29, 2015. Randy Iwasaki of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority chaired the session, with panelists Dr. Robert Bertini, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Paul Godsmark, Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence, Toshiro Muramatsu, Nissan Motor Corporation and Dr. Bernard Soriano, California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Caliper Visits Cal Poly!

We are grateful to Paul Ricotta and David Gerstle of Caliper Corporation who visited Cal Poly today and spoke about TransCAD and their other products in the CE 527 Transportation Systems Planning class!

Randy Iwasaki Visits Cal Poly

We were very pleased that Randy Iwasaki, Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, Cal Poly alum, visited Cal Poly on Thursday January 22, 2015. Along with his colleague Jack Hall, he spoke to Dr. Bertini's CE 523 Transportation Systems Planning class, and also to the ITE Student Chapter meeting. We appreciated the opportunity to visit and discuss the future of transportation.