August 4, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

August 4, 2019

Costa Samaras, UTC Faculty with CEE/EPP was featured on the Energy Transition Show’s 100th podcast special. During the episode entitled “Teaching Energy Transitions” he discusses the topics covered in his courses, concepts students find difficult and what it’s like to utilize a podcast as teaching material. Listen to the full podcast here.

August 4, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

August 4, 2019

On today’s KDKA TV KD/PG Sunday Edition show, Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar sat down with Dr. Kent Harries, PITT Engineering Faculty, to discuss ideas for the Pittsburgh 2070 Transportation Plan.  The segment includes discussion on different ways to address older infrastructure, city transportation, and how to build sustainable infrastructure for the future.

Watch the full video here.

July 31, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

July 31, 2019

Brent Vernon, Director of The Governor’s Action Team, Department of Community and Economic Development, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, visited Carnegie Mellon to learn more about Carnegie Mellon’s perspective on the evolution of the autonomous vehicle industry in Pittsburgh. During Vernon’s visit he met with Raj Rajkumar, Director of Mobility21, and Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Mobility21.

July 26, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

July 26, 2019

Students advised by Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21 and UTC Faculty, were featured in a poster session that highlighted the work the students have been doing on the Forbes Avenue reconfiguration. Their research included topics like air quality, bus ridership, speed and multi-vehicle detection.

July 24, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

July 24, 2019

Roads Australia, a delegation of Australian industry and government leaders traveled all the way to North America from 22 July – 2 August 2019 to explore Future Transport: Smart Cities. Their visit was designed to deepen their understanding of the progress, challenges and emerging trends in Regulatory and Technological Innovation around future transport and smart cities – more specifically, to learn about the latest strategies and solutions and how they might apply them in an Australian context.

One of their first stops in North America was Pittsburgh for a visit to Carnegie Mellon University to Meet with Mobility21. The Australian team was interested in meeting with key participants in the future of transportation, and Mobility21 was able to provide the delegation firsthand information on the types of research, partnerships and entrepreneurship that is happening in Pittsburgh through Mobility21 to enhance the future of transportation and mobility.

The delegation met with Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21; Aaron Steinfeld; Associate Professor and UTC researcher, Carnegie Mellon University and Griffin Shultz, CEO of a Mobility21 spin-off, Rapid Flow Technologies.

Roads Australia was eager to learn more about the beneficial partnerships created through Mobility21, the variety of research projects supported by Mobility21 and how the City of Pittsburgh is working collaboratively – not competitively – to build a city focused on mobility and innovation for all.

July 9, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

July 2019

Chris Hendrickson, Director of CMU’s Traffic21 Institute and Larry Rilett, Professor of Civil Engineering, at the Univ. of Nebraska share their know-how with other researchers in the article “What Papers Does the Journal of Transportation Engineering Want?” Read the article here: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems / Volume 145 Issue 9 – September 2019.

July 5, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

July 2019

Mobility21 funded research Scalable Urban Traffic Control (Surtrac) was featured in the July edition of Ethical Corporation Magazine. The article describes how cities like Pittsburgh are using the technology to improve vehicle flow, reduce engine idling and cut carbon emissions. Read the full article (starting on page 13).  

June 28, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 28, 2019

Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, participated today in the Transportation Research Board’s “Ahead of the Curve” Subcommittee at the National Academies of Science Keck Center in Washington DC.  During the meeting, members made final edits to the ‘Instructor’s Manual’ for this course, which was designed for transportation research managers including those at the state departments of transportation and University Transportation Centers.

June 25, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 25, 2019

The Council of University Transportation Centers Summer Meeting was held in Norman, Oklahoma. The themes of this summer’s meeting included Preparing for the Mobility Future:  Workforce Development and Training Needs, Climate-Resilient Transportation Infrastructure, and Public-Private Partnerships.  Mobility21 Director, Raj Rajkumar, presented today on workforce development.

June 25, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 25, 2019

During the Annual Council of University Transportation Center’s summer meeting in Norman, Oklahoma, Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21 presented the UTC’s technology transfer plan, and how impacts and accomplishments are tracked. The meeting brings together the nation’s leading transportation professionals from academia and industry along with U.S. DOT and other transportation agency officials.

June 20, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 20, 2019

Stan Caldwell participated in a public meeting where the Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority presented plans for innovative transportation plans connecting the neighborhoods of Hazelwood, Greenfield, the Run and Oakland.

June 17, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 17, 2019

Mobility21’s Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, presented a workshop entitled “Pittsburgh’s Evolution as a Smart Transportation Testbed” at the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers Bootcamp West. The bootcamps are designed for licensed engineers to gain a broad range of knowledge and make connections with experienced professionals.

June 4, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 4-7, 2019

ITS America held their annual meeting in Washington D.C. entitled “Intelligent Mobility: Safer. Greener. Smarter.” Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, was there representing Mobility21 UTC research efforts. UTC spin-off, Rapid Flow Technologies, was an exhibitor, to showcase their Surtrac technology.

June 3, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

June 3, 2019

Mobility21 UTC researcher, Steve Smith participated in a panel at the Traffic Safety and the 5.9 GHz Band Conference in Washington D.C. along with the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, Diana Furchtgott-Roth. The purpose of the panel was to provide examples of  Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Communications deployment.  Professor Smith highlighted research deployed in Pittsburgh connecting blind pedestrians to smart traffic signals.

May 30, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 30, 2019

Venkat Viswanathan, Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and UTC funded faculty received a 2019 Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research to research how to improve battery safety in low temperatures. Learn more about the award recipients here.

May 29, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 29, 2019

Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and UTC Researcher, Christoph Mertz led Comcast’s Heartland Regional Team on a tour of CMU’s NavLab. The Comcast leadership was interested in learning more about the research, development and deployment of Mobility21-led research in the region.

May 19, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 21, 2019

Stan Caldwell, Mobility21’s Executive Director, sat down with Ken Dunlap, Managing Partner of Catalyst-Go, a company that specializes in the autonomous technologies industries, to discuss urban mobility in their latest podcast.

The podcast entitled ““Key Lessons in Urban Mobility” explores a wide variety of topics, including how Pittsburgh has transitioned from an industrial city to one that competes with Silicon Valley for companies and talent.

Ken and Stan discuss the role of Traffic21 and Mobility21 in the transformation of Pittsburgh including the model of using seed funding from partners to develop, research and deploy technology in the city. Stan discusses how the formula has led to successful university-government partnerships and how these partnerships are helping the mobility of the greater Pittsburgh region and subsequently nation-wide.

The podcast then shifts gears to discuss the whole picture of Mobility21 and how the transportation center and the future of transportation is not simply about automation but rather using new urban mobility technologies to ensure that all, not just some, communities benefit. Stan describes the difference between Pennsylvania’s approach to automation and policy compared to states like California – and how Pennsylvania’s might be a better recipe for success.

Listen to the podcast to hear Stan share the lessons he and his Mobility21 colleagues have learned and are learning while research, developing and deploying technology in mobility:  https://www.catalyst-go.com/thinkingthroughautonomy/2019/5/24/stan-caldwell-lessons-in-urban-mobility.

May 17, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 17, 2019

Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, a Distinguished Executive in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University, joined Mobility21 students, staff and faculty for a lunch and learn today to discuss the variety of transportation related research being done at Carnegie Mellon University.

May 16, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 16, 2019

Mobility21 Faculty Sean Qian, was awarded the Posner, Molloy and Pietrandrea Career Development Chair in Civil Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. With his research, CEE Assistant Professor Qian is working toward a different world, one where real-time and historical data allow us to better manage our aging and overcrowded infrastructure.

May 16, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 16, 2019

Mobility21’s Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, participated in the second workshop of the Pennsylvania Safety Transportation and Research Track (PennStart). This proposed test track is a collaboration with the PA Turnpike, FHWA and PennState. Stan attended to provide expertise on connected and automated technology testing applications.

May 16, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 16, 2019

The Leadership Involvement Networking Knowledge (LINK) from the Atlanta Regional Commission visited Pittsburgh to learn about new ideas and approaches for dealing with the issues and challenges facing metro areas. During their visit to Pittsburgh, they discovered how the city is driving innovation through city/university partnerships and much more. The team heard from Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager on how Mobility21 and the City of Pittsburgh are using partnerships to solve Pittsburgh’s mobility challenges.

May 14, 2019
Posted in What's Happening

May 14, 2019

Stan Caldwell, Exec. Director of Mobility21 presented research at the Council of University Transportation Center spotlight conference held at the Rayburn Office in Washington DC. Stan was also able to participate in visits to legislative offices to highlight Mobility21’s education initiatives, including a visit with Claire Borzner,  Legislative Assistant to Congressman Mike Doyle.