Seminar Series
Dr. Triant Flouris, Dean of the School of Aviation, Daniel Webster College, Planning for Risk and Uncertainty in Aviation Projects, October 7, 2009
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Dr. Steve Dickerson, Professor Emeritus, Georgia Institute of Technology, High Tech in Civil Engineering, August 28, 2009
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Dr. Chris Hendrickson, Carnegie Mellon University, Life-Cycle Assessment of Ethanol and Plug-in Electricity as Substitute for Petroleum, April 10, 2009
No presentation or video available
Dr. Sandra Rosenbloom, University of Arizona at Tuscon, Social Exclusions and Transportation; So Much More than Environmental Justice, March 27, 2009
No presentation or video available
Dr. Stephen van Beek, President and CEO, ENO Transportation Foundation, The Window of Opportunity is Open: Transforming Transportation Policy in the Age of Obama, March 13, 2009
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Dr. Jesus M. de la Garza, Virginia Institute of Technology, Development of a Framework for the Efficiency Measurement of Road Maintenance Strategies Using Data Envelopment Analysis, February 27, 2009
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Dr. Yanfeng Ouyang, University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign, Reliable Facility Location under Probabilistic Disruptions, January 30, 2009
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Dr. Pitu Mirchandani, The University of Arizona, Tuscon, Real-time Adaptive Traffic Management in Evacuation Operations, November 3, 2008
No presentation or video available.
Dr. Carlos Daganzo,University of California at Berkeley, Some Laws of Urban Traffic Dynamics: Analysis, Physical Evidence and Control Applications October, 2008
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Dr. C. Michael Walton, University of Texas at Austin, Funding Tomorrow’s Transportation Systems, April 11, 2008
Dr. C. Michael Walton from the University of Texas at Austin talked about "Funding Tomorrow’s Transportation Systems". This is an important critical issue in light of the national transportation crisis faced by the US in terms of system performance, funding and policy. He pointed out that the highway infrastructure alone needs an investment of $3.1 trillion over the next 30 years, and that the next national transportation authorization is considered the most critical since 1956. This bill will chart the path for transportation in the 21st century. Dr. Walton gave his vision on the new transportation for the nation and discussed the options that may be the pillars for the authorization.
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Dr. Sue McNeil, Agent-Based Models as an Insight into Managing Pavement Assets, February 22, 2008
Dr. Sue McNeil from the University of Delaware discussed the topic of asset management. In her talk "Agent‐Based Models as an Insight into Managing Pavement Assets" she proposed a framework for capturing the complex interactions among decision makers. This was done in the context of the uncertainty inherent in the process of allocating resources in a spatially and socially equitable manner over the extended periods of time that the assets are expected to provide service. In her framework, a network of pavement segments is represented as an agent‐based model, which enables one to examine the effects of agencies, politicians, user actions, deterioration, random failures and various policies on the performance of the system. The presentation defined potential agents – the pavement segments, users, politicians, and engineers – and their interactions, and explained why such agent behaviors are not captured in typical pavement management systems and life cycle cost analyses. Two prototypes agent based systems were presented and demonstrated the potential value of life cycle cost analysis and the importance of planning for catastrophic failure.
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Dr. Hani Mahmassani, Northwestern University, Dynamic Pricing, Managed Lanes and Integrated Corridor Management, November 16, 2007
No presentation or video available
Dr. Joe Zietsman, Texas Transportation Institute, Implementing Sustainable Transportation at State DOT’s, October 29, 2007
Dr. Joe Zietsman from the Texas Transportation Institute gave a talk entitled "Implementing Sustainable Transportation at State DOT's". His presentation described what sustainable transportation is and what steps can be taken to implement it. The talk was based on a study performed for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), whose goal was to develop sustainable transportation performance measures for TxDOT's strategic goals and objectives and to develop a methodology for TxDOT to implement a more sustainable transportation system. The research identified 10 performance measures through a workshop process that could address TxDOT's five strategic goals ‐ reduce congestion, enhance safety, expand economic opportunity, improve air quality, and increase the value of transportation assets. The methodology was applied to a pilot corridor comprised of a 15‐mile section of US‐281 in the San Antonio, TX area.
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Dr. Frank Koppelman, Northwestern University, Advances in Discrete Choice Modeling, October 3, 2007
Dr. Frank Koppelman from Northwestern University discussed Advances in Discrete Choice Modeling. According to Dr. Koppelman, recent developments in the structure of discrete choice models have been directed at reducing the computational burden of the multinomial probit model or increasing the flexibility of logit type models. His talk focused on the increasing flexibility of logit models, which culminated with the formulation of the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV), Mixed Logit (MXL) and Mixed GEV (MGEV) Models which combine the advantages of logit and probit models while limiting the degree of computational complexity associated with the probit model.
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Dr. Steve Dickerson, Application of Cellular Communications, GPS, and Computing to Urban Transit, September 25, 2007
In his talk entitled “Application of Cellular Communications, GPS, and Computing to Urban Transit” Professor Dickerson described a visionary idea that could change the way we think about public transportation in the near future. In his concept‐‐patented to Georgia Tech in the late 90s‐‐one would use cell phones to request a carpool, to track their location and even as a key to enter the shared vehicles. These vehicles may be driven by the users themselves and would be parked in designated lots scattered around the urban areas. After requesting a carpool, one would simply drive to the closest designated lot to take the appropriate carpool and drive to one’s destination along with other users of the system. According to Prof. Dickerson, this system would cost approximately 4.4 M$/year to operate in the Atlanta metropolitan area. “The cell phone is a key ingredient to this scheme”, said Dickerson. “It tells you exactly when and where to meet your ride, it assigns to you a rental car near your office or home when needed and allows you to access the auto and pay your fares, MARTA, car rentals and van and car pools, automatically.”
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