Cal Poly SLO ITE Student Chapter - Victorious at Western District Level

The Cal Poly SLO ITE Student Chapter was victorious at the recent Western District Annual Meeting held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Out of 35 student chapters in the Western District, Cal Poly SLO was selected as the top chapter for the second year in a row, receiving the Student Chapter Award. In addition, the Cal Poly SLO team won the Western District level of the Collegiate Traffic Bowl, moving on to the national championship. There was a wonderful representation with about 18 Cal Poly students in attendance at the Western District Annual Meeting. Congratulations to all! Photos show all members in attendance; current officers (Karl Schmidt, Alex Chambers, Bobby Sidhu, Kevin Carstens, Krista Purser and Kelsey Littell); current/past presidents including Krista Purser, Kevin Carstens, Kaylinn Roseman, Travis Low, and Cameron Shew).

2015 Study Abroad: Sustainable Transportation in the Netherlands

PSU students are arriving in Delft, the Netherlands for the 2015 edition of the Study Abroad:Sustainable Transportation in the Netherlands, in partnership with Prof. Peter Furth and Northeastern University. Initiated in 2011 by Peter Koonce, this is the fifth year that PSU students have participated in this adventure focusing on pedestrian, bicycle and public transport planning and design in the Netherlands, and the fourth year I have led or co-led the program. Follow our ten student blogs below as the course unfolds:

• Ray Atkinson
• David Backes
• Katherine Burns
• Kevin Carstens
• Drew DeVitis
• Simeon Jacob
• Darryl Michaud
• Dan Peirce
• Kaylinn Roseman
• Alex Sandoval

Tour de France Grand Depart - Utrecht 2015

Mobil.TUM Conference Munich, Germany

I had the pleasure of participating again in the mobil.TUM 2015 International Scientific Conference on Mobility and Transport, with the theme Technologies, Solutions and Perspectives for Intelligent Transport Systems, held June 30 & July 1, 2015 in Munich, Germany. In addition to serving on the International Scientific Committee, I also had the opportunity to present a paper: "Development of a Multimodal Transportation System Simulation Manual: From Theory to Practice," co-authored with Brandon Nevers, George List and Mehdi Mashayekhi. I also presented two posters: "Preparing a Roadmap for Connected Vehicle/Cooperative System Deployment Scenarios: Case Study of the State of Oregon, USA," co-authored with Haizhong Wang and Kevin Carstens; and "Toward Understanding the Benefits of Transit Signal Priority: Case Study Using High Resolution Transit and Traffic Signal Data," with co-authors Wei Feng, Miguel Figliozzi and Kevin Carstens. Finally, I moderated a distinguished panel on "Cyber Physical Transport Systems – ITS On the Move Towards the Internet of Things" with Christian Carstensen, Bastian Chlond, Vito Mauro, and Matthias Althoff. Much appreciation to Prof. Fritz Busch and his team at the Chair of Traffic Engineering and Control from the Technische Universitat Munchen for the excellent and enjoyable event.

Seminar at University of the Federal Armed Forces, Munich, Germany

I had the pleasure to visit the University of the Federal Armed Forces, Munich, Germany, on June 29, 2015 where I presented a seminar entitled "Variable Advisory Speed System: Performance Measures and Outlook" at the Institute for Transport and Regional Planning, led by Prof. Klaus Bogenberger. I appreciated the opportunity to exchange ideas with Prof. Bogenberger's brilliant team! And not to mention the incredible Bavarian BBQ!

Commencement 2015

I admit: I love commencement. Seeing the huge smiles on the faces of students, parents, friends, partners, supporters is a wonderful way to end the academic year.

Simon Qin (left) and Kevin Carstens (right), class of 2015. Will add more student photos as I receive them!

Transportation Planning Dual Degree Commencement 2015

Several dual degree master's students (MCRP/MS) in transportation planning participated in commencement on June 13, 2015, including Nick Bleich, Ricky Williams, Fabian Gallardo and Shannon Baker (also Nora Chin, not pictured). We all spent a lot of time together in classes and working on projects this past year, and I'll miss seeing and working with them! I know they will all go on to great things through their work in the transportation planning field. Congratulations, good luck and please keep in touch!

Master's Degree Defenses/Exams Spring 2015

Three master's students had successful defenses and exams this past week. Nicholas Bleich defended his master's thesis, "Using Archived Transit Data to Analyze the effect of Rainfall on transit Performance Measures at the Route Level." I was happy to chair the committee along with members Prof. Anurag Pande and Prof. Cornelius Nuworsoo. Kaylinn Roseman successfully completed her M.S. comprehensive examination, "Johnson Avenue Complete Streets Project," with fellow committee members Prof. Anurag Pande and Dr. Kimberley Mastako. Sam Gross defended his master's thesis, Measuring the Influence that Components Have on Pedestrian Route Choice in Activated Alleys," with committee chair Prof. Billy Riggs and fellow member David Winslow, City and County of San Francisco. Congratulations to all!

City of Carlsbad Redefining Mobility

I had the privilege of participating in a "Redefining Mobility" panel discussion session on June 9, 2015 at the City of Carlsbad. Pictured are: Randy Iwasaki, moderator, Contra Costa Transportation Authority; Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall; yours truly; Stephanie Dougherty, California Department of Motor Vehicles; and Paul Godsmark, Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence. Great discussion and interaction with the audience about the future of transportation and technology!

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.