September 29, 2023 - Smart Mobility Connection featuring Swarun Kumar - September 29, 2023 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Safety21/Mobility21 UTC researcher Swarun Kumar.  He discussed his UTC work, \"Next Generation Radars: Toward Smart Vehicles That See What the Eye Can\'t See.”  Watch the recording here.

September 29, 2023 - Traffic21 Executive Director Moves to Federal Service - September 1, 2023 Congratulations to former Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell, who has transitioned into Director of the U.S. Department of Transportation SMART Grants Program.  The Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program funds purpose-driven innovation to build data and technology capacity and expertise for State, local, and Tribal governments.

September 22, 2023 - Mobility21/Safety21 Researchers Meet with FARIA - September 22, 2023 A delegation of Finnish professionals from the FARIA (Finnish-American Research Innovation Accelerator) network visited Carnegie Mellon and interacted with Mobility21/Safety21 researchers Katherine Flanigan, Corey Harper, Chris Hendrickson, Christoph Mertz and Sean Qian.

September 20, 2023 - Governor Shapiro Comes to CMU - September 20, 2023 Mobility21/Safety21 Interim Executive Director Karen Lightman was in attendance as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro visited the CMU campus to announce and sign an executive order that engages the CMU and the Shapiro Administration as partners in responsibly developing and deploying generative artificial intelligence applications and services for the benefit of state government and Pennsylvanians more broadly.

September 20, 2023 - Michael Baker International Selected as Program Manager for Pennsylvania Safety Transportation and Research Track - September 20, 2023 Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services, announced today that the firm has been selected as the program manager for the  Pennsylvania Safety Transportation and Research Track (PennSTART) by the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC).  Read the full press release here.

September 20, 2023 - City of Pittsburgh and UTC Researcher Project Presented During CMU Course - September 20, 2023 Mobility21/Safety21 UTC researcher Sean Qian\'s Smart Loading Zone project was presented by Rylan Siefert of the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility & Infrastructure to Professor Raelin Musuraca\'s User-Centered Research and Evaluation course at Carnegie Mellon University, where students were given an opportunity to ask questions about the project.

September 19, 2023 - Lunch and Learn Features Michael Madison from University of Pittsburgh - September 19, 2023 Mobility21/Safety21, along with Metro21: Smart Cities Institute and the Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University hosted a lunch and learn featuring Professor Michael Madison, who discussed \"Governing Smart Cities as Knowledge Commons.\"

September 13, 2023 - Safety21 Partner Launches the Fall 2023 RoboLaunch Outreach Seminar Series - September 13, 2023 Safety21 partner, the CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholars, launches the fall 2023 RoboLaunch Outreach Seminar Series! The CMU RISS RoboLaunch Initiative invites undergraduate students and the community worldwide interested in learning about robotics research, paths to graduate school, and careers to explore robotics with us!

September 13, 2023 - Safety21 Attends Appalachian Regional Commission’s Annual Conference in Ashland, KY - September 13, 2023 Mobility21/Safety21 Interim Executive Director Karen Lightman joined leaders from across Appalachia in Ashland, KY for the Appalachian Regional Commission\'s 2023 Annual Conference, Appalachia Rises: Resilience, Strength and Transformation.  The conference focused on the importance of resiliency and collaboration in the region.

September 8, 2023 - Gonzaga University Representatives Visit CMU Campus - September 8, 2023 Mobility21/Safety21 Interim Executive Director joined members of Carnegie Mellon University\'s Heinz College to host representatives from Gonzaga University, where they learned more about programs offered at CMU as they prepare to open their own Institute of Informatics and Applied Technology.

September 1, 2023 - UTC Researcher Named Director of Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at CMU - September 1, 2023 Mobility21/Safety21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras has been named the next director for the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University.  Read more here.

August 30, 2023 - US Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Visits Safety21 - August 21, 2023 U.S. Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg joined researchers from the Mobility21 and Safety21 University Transportation Centers at Mill19 to learn more about the UTC program at Carnegie Mellon University.

August 28, 2023 - Safety21 Congratulates the 2023 Robotics Scholars - August 28, 2023 Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) community of mentors, sponsors, and alumni congratulate the 2023 cohort for their successful completion of the program!  Each year, hundreds of students apply to join the RISS program.  The RISS community of sponsors makes the program and experience a possibility. Undergraduate research experiences, long recognized as a high-impact education practice, are critical to growing the nation\'s research and scientific community. Safety21 is an ongoing sponsor and partner for the RISS program.  RISS also serves as an equity deployment partner for the Center.

August 22, 2023 - TRB Highlights Mobility21 UTC Summit in Newsletter - August 21, 2023 The Transportation Research Board highlighted the Mobility21 Fourth Annual National Mobility Summit held in Washington, DC in March 2023 in a recent newsletter, highlighting Equity in Transportation.  Read the full article here.

August 21, 2023 - Mobility21 and Safety21 UTC Researcher Discusses Alternative Fuels - August 21, 2023 Traffic21 Director and Mobility21/Safety21 UTC researcher Chris Hendrickson was featured in the trade journal Route One, discussing coach and bus alternative fuels with Paul Halford.

August 15, 2023 - Robotics in Rural Pennsylvania - August 15, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Rachel Burcin curated a day of robotics and AI educator workshops in Venango, PA, as a kickoff for the 2023 educator conversations led by Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Scholars Program in partnership with the Institution for Innovation for Tomorrow and County Commissioner Chip Abramovic.  The educator day was adjacent to the first Venango Rural STEM Summit, which was originally inspired by Dr. Jordi Albo’s work in rural spaces across the world.  

August 12, 2023 - PennSTART Hosts Inaugural Training - August 12, 2023 PennSTART hosted their inaugural training class for the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) Traffic Incident Management Technical Specialist Certification.  This is a free 8-hour training course available to first responders including fire fighters, EMS, PennDOT, and others.

August 11, 2023 - UTC Researchers Submit Public Comments on EPA Standards - August 11, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jeremy Michalek submitted public comments on EPA\'s proposed light-duty vehicle GHG standards through the Vehicle Electrification Group.  Read the comments here.

August 11, 2023 - Architecture and Design Thesis Explores AVs - August 11, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Stan Caldwell joined a masters thesis review panel for CMU Master of Science in Sustainable Design student Yi Zhao.  Zhao\'s research applied innovative design applications to explore urban design and equity scenarios of shared autonomous transportation in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Pittsburgh.  Read the full report here.

August 2, 2023 - SURCOM Program Director Highlights Mobility21 Research at APTAtech - August 2, 2023 Dr. Jill Hough, Program Director at Small Urban and Rural Center On Mobility (SURCOM) recently shared Mobility21 UTC research from Sarah Fox and Nik Martelaro at APTAtech, highlighting transit technology research done by the University Transportation Center.

July 27, 2023 - Mobility21 Director Participates in Autonomy Debate - July 27, 2023 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar participated in a debate, \"Autonomy: Coasting or Crashing\" which sought to answer whether or not AVs will be mainstream in the next 10 years.  Alongside Prof. Rajkumar in the debate was Brad Templeton, founding faculty for Computing & Networks at Singularity University.

July 27, 2023 - Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship Awarded to CMU Ph.D. Student - July 27, 2023 Ph.D. candidate Sofia Martinez has been awarded the prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Transportation\'s Federal Highway Administration. Co-advised by Mobility21 UTC researchers Costa Samaras and Corey Harper she is focused on the electrification of the U.S. public transportation sector to reduce carbon emissions. Read the story

July 27, 2023 - Mobility21 Researchers Investigate Impacts of Online Grocery Delivery on Energy Use - July 27, 2023 Mobility21 UTC and CMU researchers Destenie Nock, Corey Harper, Jeremy Michalek and CMU faculty affiliate Greg Lowry have been investigating the impacts of online grocery delivery on energy use, emissions and traffic congestion.  Their work created a new tool to aid policy-making and planning sustainable, equitable transportation systems.

July 27, 2023 - UTC Program Manager Departs - July 27, 2023 While we are sad to lose Lisa Kay Schweyer as Program Manager at CMU\'s Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 National University Transportation Center (UTC), we are pleased that her efforts over the past 5 years have gained national attention and resulted in a great job opportunity. Lisa Kay\'s leadership in federal grant program management has been recognized by US Department of Transportation (DOT) staff and she serves on the board of the Association for Commuter Transportation, helps lead the paper review process for the Transportation Research Board TDM Committee and advises the CMU Student Transportation Club. Lisa Kay has accepted a job offer to move into the transportation consulting space with a dynamic Washington, DC firm, Foursquare ITP.  Her last day at CMU will be August 4, 2023.  You can keep in touch with Lisa Kay through LinkedIn. Please join us in thanking her for her dedication to CMU, the Heinz College, the College of Engineering, the US DOT UTC Program and many students, faculty, staff and partners. If you know anyone who might be interested in the Traffic21/UTC program manager position, here is the link to the job posting.     --

July 26, 2023 - PennDOT Secretary and FHWA Regional Administrator Lead STIC Meeting - July 26, 2023 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director and founding member of the Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC), participated in the meeting today to provide insight on how UTC researchers could support state transportation innovations.  The quarterly STIC meeting was co-chaired by PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll and FHWA Pennsylvania Division Administrator Alicia Nolan.

July 26, 2023 - The Ohio State University Uses AI to Monitor Traffic - July 26, 2023 Researchers at The Ohio State University, a Mobility21 UTC academic partner, have proposed using cameras installed on camera buses on campus to detect objects on the road and count vehicles in an effort to monitor traffic conditions.  Read the full story here.

July 25, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Participates in Panel Discussion - July 25, 2023 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer participated as a panelist for the U.S. DOT/UTC panel discussion during the AASHTO RAC Summer Meeting\'s Collaboration, Coordination and Outreach Meeting alongside Tyson Rupnow from the Louisiana DOT and Tim Klein from the U.S. DOT.

July 24, 2023 - Allegheny County Hosts Meeting on Comprehensive Plan - July 24, 2023 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer and Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman participated in Planning meetings for Allegheny Places, the Allegheny County comprehensive plan.  This plan establishes an overall vision for the future for Allegheny County and how to get there.

July 22, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Interviewed at Vintage Grand Prix - July 22, 2023 Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer was interviewed as part of the live video feed during the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.  She discussed Traffic21, as well as the Mobility21 and Safety21 University Transportation Centers.

July 21, 2023 - Research Recap: Modeling the impact of dynamic tolling in large-scale regional networks: A case study for Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) - July 21, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Sean Qian\'s project \"Modeling the impact of dynamic tolling in large-scale regional networks: A case study for Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC).\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

July 13, 2023 - Traffic21 Director Discusses Battery Electric vs. Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles - July 13, 2023 Chris Hendrickson, Faculty Director of Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 researcher, was interviewed by a high school student in Missouri participating in the MIT Introduction to Technology, Engineering and Science Program.  The topic of the interview was the relative desirability of battery electric versus internal combustion engine vehicles.  

July 12, 2023 - Dr. Corey Harper Attends EV Charging Symposium - July 12, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Corey Harper participated in the US DOT Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Symposium, where participants engaged in roundtable discussions focused on generated momentum for the forthcoming nationwide expansion of EVs and EV charging infrastructure.

July 10, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Discusses Challenges & Opportunities in Developing a Workforce for EVs - July 10, 2023 Mobility21 UTC faculty member, Bob Koch of the Community College of Allegheny County took part of Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities workshop on hybrid electric vehicles (EVs), which focused on maintenance and safety aspects of hybrid EVs.  Read more about the event here.

July 10, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Named Amazon Scholar - July 10, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Professor Mario Berges has been named an Amazon Scholar to work with Amazon\'s Devices and Services Organization.  Read more here.

July 7, 2023 - CMU Alum Company Gets Federal Approval for Innovative ITS - July 7, 2023 Pi-Lit and the U.S. Department of Transportation\'s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, have reached an agreement that will allow Pi-Lit\'s patented LED flares to be used by commercial vehicle operators in place of traditional, older products such as reflective triangles, fuse flares, or liquid flares, when stopped on highways or shoulders. (CMU Alum) Daniel Selevan, Chief Operating Officer for Pi-Lit, upon learning of the successful petition commented, “The Pi-Lit team is pleased to learn of the exemption that permits commercial operators to equip their fleet with the most modern technology.\"  Jim Selevan (CMU Alum) is CEO of Pi-Lit, which is a Deployment Partner of Traffic21.

July 6, 2023 - Ohio State University UTC Researchers Develop Software for Autonomous Vehicles - July 6, 2023 Safety21 UTC researchers, Bilin Aksun-Guvenc and Levent Guvenc from The Ohio State University have developed new software to aid in the development, evaluation, and demonstration of safer autonomous vehicles called the Vehicle-in-Virtual-Environment (VVE) method.  Read the story here.

July 5, 2023 - Mobility21 Director Named to Highly Automated Vehicle Advisory Committee - July 5, 2023 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar has been invited by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to participate on the Highly Automated Vehicle (HAV) Advisory Committee through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.  The HAV Committee is a partnership between public and private key stakeholders to ensure the safe integration of connected and automated vehicles on Pennsylvania’s roads and enhance Pennsylvania’s continued global leadership with this evolving technology.

July 1, 2023 - PennTec 2023 Hosts Collection Systems Smart Panel with Justin Starr - June 21, 2023 Mobility21 UTC faculty member from the Community College of Allegheny County, Dr. Justin Starr participated on the Collection Systems Smart Panel at PennTec2023, which looks to advance Pennsylvania\'s water quality professionals through education and training, promoting sound sustainable water policies, and fostering public stewardship of water resources.

June 29, 2023 - Research Recap: Helping Transit Agencies Assess Opportunities to Improve Access and Equity with Automated Vehicles - June 28, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Costa Samaras\' project \"Helping Transit Agencies Assess Opportunities to Improve Access and Equity with Automated Vehicles.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

June 29, 2023 - WTS Hosts Tour of City of Pittsburgh Traffic Shop - June 28, 2023 Mobility21 Program Manager and WTS member, Lisa Kay Schweyer joined \"WTS Pittsburgh, CMAA Three Rivers & The City of Pittsburgh\'s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) for a tour of the DOMI Traffic Shop.\"  She met DOMI staff and learned more about the signs, traffic signals, and line painting operations.

June 23, 2023 - Cleantech Open Northeast 2023 Cohort Announced - June 22, 2023 Cleantech Open, which runs the world\'s largest clean technology accelerator program, has announced the Northeast 2023 Cohort which includes Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock\'s spinout Peoples Energy Analytics and Venkat Viswanathan\'s spinout InceptEV.

June 22, 2023 - Council of University Transportation Centers Holds Summer Meeting - June 20-22, 2023 The Annual Council of University Transportation Center\'s summer meeting brings together the nation’s leading transportation professionals from academia and industry, along with U.S. DOT and other transportation agency officials.  Raj Rajkumar, Director, Stan Caldwell, Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of Mobility21 and Safety21 UTCs participated in the meeting.  Stan and Lisa Kay presented an overview of the national summits hosted by Moblity21.  And Lisa Kay led several sessions designed for the administrative professionals who work at UTCs.

June 22, 2023 - Mobility21 Researcher Awarded CyLab Seed Funding - June 22, 2023 CyLab at CMU has awarded $450k in seed funding to projects based on intellectual merit, originality, potential impact, and fit towards the Security and Privacy Institute\'s priorities.  Among those awarded was Mobility21 UTC research Fei Fang for her project \"Towards Inclusive Security and Privacy: Design for Digital Security and Privacy for the Homeless Population.\"  Learn about all of the award winners here.

June 20, 2023 - Michelin Group Explores Innovation Opportunities with Carnegie Mellon University - June 20, 2023 Michelin Mobility Intelligence Pittsburgh team, which include Mobility21 UTC researcher Christoph Mertz, explored various opportunities offered by Carnegie Mellon University, including the Manufacturing Futures Institute at Mill19 and the National Robotics Engineering Center to learn about work being done and opportunities for their beyond road business segments.

June 16, 2023 - Traffic21 Director Awarded ASCE James Laurie Prize at the 2023 International Conference on Transportation & Development - June 16, 2023 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson attended the ASCE 2023 International Conference on Transportation and Development, where he participated in the panel \"The Transportation-Energy Nexus: The March Toward Sustainable and Resilient Systems.\" During the conference he was also awarded the ASCE James Laurie Prize (an award given to a member of ASCE who has made a definitive contribution to the advancement of transportation engineering).

June 15, 2023 - PennSTART Highlighted at SAE Meetup in Pittsburgh   - June 15, 2023 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director joined a panel with Mark Kopko from PennDOT, Joe Suter from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Tim White from RIDC and moderated by Nat Beuse from Aroura to discuss plans for the Pennsylvania Safety and Transportation Research Track (PennSTART).  The panel was held in Pittsburgh for SAE Innovations in Mobility Meet-up Fueling Economic Growth in PA with PennSTART.  

June 15, 2023 - Mobility21 Updates CMU Transportation-Related Coursework Listing - June 15, 2023 Mobility21 provides a comprehensive list of transportation-related courses offered by Carnegie Mellon University ... check out the updated listing for the fall 2023 semester.  Find the list of courses offered for the current and past semesters here.

June 13, 2023 - Study Conducted by Mobility21 Researchers Highlighted in Information Systems Research - June 13, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian and CMU Professor Beibei Li were recently featured in Information Systems Research with their study that found that ridesharing platforms significantly outperform taxi systems in coping with emergencies, largely due to the benefits of technology.  Read more here.

June 13, 2023 - White House Hosts Inaugural ARPA-I Summit - June 13, 2023 Today, leaders from Congress, industry, nonprofits, academia and labor were in attendance for the launch of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure (ARPA-I).  “Newly created by the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, ARPA-I will fund high-reward next-generation physical and digital infrastructure technologies and systems that have the potential to modernize America’s transportation.” Mobility21 UTC researcher and Principal Assistant Director for Energy and The White House Office of Science and Technology  Chief Advisor for Energy Policy Costa Samaras was on hand to welcome the group as the speakers laid out the vision of the future that the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Infrastructure (ARPA-I) is designed to deliver.  Participating in the event was Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar and former Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Allanté Whitmore. The event’s proceedings were recorded and can be viewed here.

June 12, 2023 - Traffic21 at the Hitachi Rail Reception for APTA - June 12, 2023 Hitachi Rail sponsored a reception for the APTA Rail Conference at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson is pictured with a Heinz horse drawn delivery wagon and was joined by Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell.

June 5, 2023 - Congresswoman Summer Lee and US DOT Announce Transportation Safety Research Grant at Carnegie Mellon University - May 30, 2023 Congresswoman Summer Lee announced on May 30 that Carnegie Mellon University will lead a national consortium that will receive $20 million over the next five years from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to establish Safety21, a new University Transportation Center (UTC). The consortium includes partners from across the U.S. who will collaborate to ensure that autonomous, networked, shared, and integrated transportation technologies and systems are developed and deployed with safety, equity and sustainability in mind. Their work will bolster the nation’s competitive edge in domestic production and global leadership of these technologies and provide training for the transportation workforce. The transportation sector of the U.S. economy is undergoing a revolution. In the past decade, advances in sensing technologies, computing power and wireless communications coupled with AI and machine learning are directly addressing the quality and quantity of the transport of people and goods. Electric vehicles are poised to overtake gasoline-powered cars, with more driver-assist safety features than ever. Yet, there are over 40,000 automotive fatalities per year in the U.S., mostly due to human error. Technology promises much, but the state-of-the-art in highly automated vehicles is not mature enough for widespread deployment. Failures of autonomy features raise legitimate questions of trust, and connectivity presents new threats to privacy and cybersecurity. At this critical juncture, to remain competitive, domestic industry needs innovative technologies, policy frameworks and well-trained workers. Congresswoman Summer Lee meets with faculty at Carnegie Mellon University. To address these challenges, Safety21 will seek inclusive input from stakeholders, including communities, workers, users, vehicle manufacturers and researchers as it takes a holistic, system-of-systems approach to advancing connected and automated vehicle technologies and intelligent infrastructure. “This award from the U.S. Department of Transportation affirms Carnegie Mellon’s long-established leadership in developing technology and informing policy to improve our nation’s transportation network. The impact of Safety21’s research will be expanded by the center’s intentional focus on equal access to safe and sustainable transportation for all communities,” said Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon. Carnegie Mellon is leading the consortium that spans Morgan State University, The Ohio State University, University of Pennsylvania and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. The Community College of Allegheny County and the Community College of Philadelphia will receive support for innovative workforce programs tailored for the existing and emerging transportation workforce. “Through Safety21, faculty and student researchers will capitalize on the opportunities and risks that automated and connected vehicles present. The knowledge they create will be shared with transportation managers, companies and community organizations, resulting in technology transfer and deployment,” said William H. Sanders, dean of CMU\'s College of Engineering. “Safety21 is yet another example of the important work we are doing at the critical nexus of technology and society,” said Ramayya Krishnan, dean of the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. “As technological advancements in AI and electric vehicles continue to emerge, we must operate with a concentrated focus on the importance of safety, equity and the environment.” Raj Rajkumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, will lead Safety21. Rajkumar, who has earned global recognition for autonomous vehicle research, was the director of Carnegie Mellon’s last UTC, Mobility21. Safety21 will be the fourth UTC that Carnegie Mellon has managed since 2012. “Safety21’s project portfolio will enhance transportation safety through research, development, and deployment of breakthrough technologies and policy innovations. Additionally, we seek to broaden our impact by ensuring communities have equal access to safety technologies; evaluating energy use and emissions; and supporting domestic commercialization, entrepreneurship, and public policy to rally economic strength and global competitiveness,” said Rajkumar. Out of five National UTC grants awarded in 2023, Safety21 is the one national center with the theme of improving safety. UTC funding is authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. [Story by Sherry Stokes] https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2023/may/carnegie-mellon-awarded-20m-for-transportation-research

June 4, 2023 - Professor Jon Peha Presents at IEEE Conference - June 4, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha gave a presentation about how to meet the spectrum needs of connected and autonomous vehicles at the 19th IEEE International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob).  He described a novel approach in which connected vehicles supplement their current spectrum allocation with spectrum that is shared with other kinds of devices.  This was part of a session on vehicular networks for risk reduction and safety-related systems.

June 1, 2023 - Safety21 National UTC Kick-Off Meeting in Washington, DC - June 1, 2023 Raj Rajkumar, Director of the new Safety21 National University Transportation Center, led a delegation of CMU staff and partners from the Community College of Allegheny County, the Community College of Philadelphia, Morgan State University, the Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley to Washington, DC for the grant kick-off meeting with representatives of the U.S. Department of Transportation UTC program, including Director of the U.S. DOT\'s office of Research Development and Technology Dr. Firas Ibrahim and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Research and Technology Dr. Robert Hampshire.

May 30, 2023 - Smart Belt Coalition Convenes in Ohio - May 12, 2023 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell joined Smart Belt Coalition members from Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey at the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, OH.  During this meeting, Stan presented updates on the design of the PennSTART test track and CMU\'s new Safety21 National UTC.

May 27, 2023 - University of Pennsylvania Student Team Named Autonomous Karting Series 2023 Champions - May 27, 2023 Students from the University of Pennsylvania\'s Penn-Autoware Team, led by Mobility21 UTC researcher Rahul Mangharam, were crowned Autonomous Karting Series 2023 Champions for their wins in both categories of racing - reactive and open category for motion planning.  They competed against teams from UC San Diego, Purdue, UC Berkeley, and several other universities.  Watch the race here.

May 23, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Research Featured in Autonomous Vehicle International Op-Ed - May 23, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Carlee Joe-Wong\'s work was recently featured in ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle International Magazine, which highlighted her UTC project, \"Mixed-Autonomy Era of Transportation: Resilience & Autonomous Fleet Management.\"  Read her op-ed here.

May 10, 2023 - Pittsburgh Emerging Tech Community Engagement Roundtable - May 10, 2023 The City of Pittsburgh hosted a community engagement roundtable event in Hazelwood Green for thought-provoking discussion on the current state of Autonomous Vehicles in Pittsburgh and to uncover invaluable insights on how to effectively engage with emerging technologies, featuring Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell as a panelist. View expert opinions and panels from the event here.

May 5, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Provides Public Comment - May 5, 2023 Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer provided public comment in response to: Increasing Public Access to the Results of USDOT-Funded Transportation Research, Agency/Docket Number: Docket No. DOT-OST-2023-0045.  Her comments can be viewed here.        

May 4, 2023 - Students of CMU Adjunct Professor Henry Posner Present Final Class Projects - May 4, 2023 Students presented their final projects as part of the CMU course, The American Railroad: Decline and Renaissance in the Age of Deregulations of the Original Business Network.  The course is taught by Henry Posner, Carnegie Mellon University Adjunct Professor and chairman of the Railroad Development Corporation (RDC).

May 4, 2023 - Mobility21 Tours East Broad Top Pop-Up Metro - May 4, 2023 Members of the Mobility21 team toured the East Broad Top Railroad\'s Pop-Up Metro, a transit infrastructure alternative utilizing low-density freight lines and North America\'s only battery-propelled passenger cars.

May 3, 2023 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Presents Capstone for Pittsburgh Regional Transit - May 3, 2023 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Maggie Harger completed her fellowship by presenting her capstone project for Pittsburgh Regional Transit.

May 2, 2023 - Research Recap: Developing Data Collection Systems to Support Community-Driven Integrated Mobility Services - June 2, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Patrick Carrington\'s project \"Developing Data Collection Systems to Support Community-Driven Integrated Mobility Services.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

April 26, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Researcher Named University Professor - April 26, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Burcu Akinci, along with four other Carnegie Mellon University faculty members, has been elevated to the rank of University Professor, the highest distinction a faculty member can receive at Carnegie Mellon.  Read more here.

April 25, 2023 - UTC Impacts Highlighted at ITSA Annual Meeting in Texas - April 25, 2023 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell spoke on a panel titled \"Reinventing the Rustbelt: Oxidation to Innovation\" at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America\'s Annual Meeting.  The panel was moderated by Jim Katsafanas of Michael Baker Corporation and also included Colin Castle from Michigan DOT, Preeti Choudhary from DriveOhio and Stephen Zubyk from Eastgate COG in Ohio.

April 21, 2023 - Smart Mobility Connection featuring Yorie Nakahira - April 21, 2023 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC researcher Yorie Nakahira.  She discussed her UTC work, \"Safety of Intelligent Systems Operating in Uncertain and Interactive Environments.”  Watch the recording here.

April 19, 2023 - Research Recap: Towards Data-Driven and Continuous Safety Inspection of Commercial Trucks and Trailers - May 5, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Pingbo Tang\'s project \"Towards Data-Driven and Continuous Safety Inspection of Commercial Trucks and Trailers.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

April 18, 2023 - New UTC and Pennsylvania Safety Transportation & Research Track Highlighted with the Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance - April 18, 2023 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented at the bi-monthly meeting of the Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance on the new Safety21 National UTC and the Pennsylvania State Transportation and Research Track.  The alliance, organized by Pennsylvania Statewide Independent Living Council, discussed how these research efforts could support mobility for people of all abilities.

April 17, 2023 - Miovision and Mobility21 Spin-Off Company Get Big Investment - April 17, 2023 Miovision,  which acquired Mobility21 Spin Off Company Rapid Flow Technologies and maintains an office in Pittsburgh, made the following announcement: Miovision, a leading provider of intelligent transportation solutions that enable cities to reduce traffic congestion and vehicle emissions while improving public safety, announced today it has raised $260M in growth funding in a round co-led by TELUS Ventures, Maverix Private Equity and Export Development Canada (EDC). “This investment will enable Miovision to continue to develop our platform and quickly integrate new acquisitions, including our recent acquisition of Global Traffic Technologies (GTT), building on the momentum the company has achieved over the last 18 months with the acquisitions of Traffop, Rapid Flow and MicroTraffic,” said Miovision CEO Kurtis McBride. “These acquisitions are helping Miovision rapidly add new applications that we can deliver via our network of devices at the roadside and intersection, reducing the upfront cost of deploying data-driven solutions that can help cities make their transportation networks safer and cleaner while supporting broader urban planning objectives.” Read the full article here.

April 17, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Participates in Community Advisory Board Meeting at Cleveland Fed - April 17, 2023 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager, attended the first meeting of her term on the Community Advisory Council for the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank.  She was able to share her experience  working with employers and commuters and transportation to work.

April 15, 2023 - CMU Graduate Students Secure Second Place in Kellogg Design Challenge - April 15, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University graduate students from interdisciplinary courses joined forces to win second place in the Kellogg Design Challenge, the world\'s largest MBA design case competition.  Assisted by Traffic21 Director Raj Rajkumar and Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman, they were able to explore autonomous vehicles and transportation policies to narrow down the problem space for their sponsor, Nissan.

April 14, 2023 - Mobility21 Recognizes Students During National Student Appreciation Week - April 14, 2023 Mobility21 celebrates our student workers Sreya Vangala and Women in Transportation Fellow 2021-23 Maggie Harger for their hard work and contributions during National Student Appreciation Week at Carnegie Mellon University.

April 13, 2023 - Project Olympus Show & Tell Highlights Transportation Projects - April 13, 2023 The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University hosted the Project Olympus Show & Tell, a popular venue for connecting CMU startups with the wider business and entrepreneurial community.  Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock provided insight into her research, while Heinz College MISM student Adam Knapp provided information on his customer discovery kickstart, \"Parkor,\" a program that helps customers find parking in real time.

April 12, 2023 - Metro21 Executive Director Joins Discussion on Smart Cities - April 12, 2023 Karen Lightman, Executive Director of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, recently joined University of Pittsburgh Law School Professor Michael Madison for a discussion on his new book, \"Governing Smart Cities as Knowledge Commons\" to explore data in smart city planning and practice.

April 7, 2023 - Dr. Justin Starr Works With Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority on Stormwater Pipe Assessment - April 7, 2023 Mobility21 UTC partner and CCAC professor Dr. Justin Starr recently worked with the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority at the 2023 Pennsylvania Water Environment Association\'s Stormwater Summit to provide a demo of a stormwater pipe assessment using a drone.

April 6, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Joins Team for ARPA-E $3.2M EV Award - January 30, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan will partner with MIT and 24M for a $3.2 million EVs4ALL award from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).  The initiative will focus on developing fast-charging and low-cost electric vehicle batteries.  Read more here.

April 4, 2023 - Research Recap: Designing the Future of Transit Work - May 19, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Sarah Fox and Nik Martelaro\'s project \"Designing the Future of Transit Work.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

April 4, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Leads Discussion Groups at THE Climate ACTion Summit - April 4, 2023 During THE (Transportation Helping our Environment) Climate ACTion Summit, sponsored by the Association for Commuter Transportation, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager, led 3 discussion groups on Creating Equitable Transportation.  The discussion groups talked about how equity has been and can be successfully baked into decision making and transportation options that have a positive impact on climate including free transit fares, electric vehicle charging stations, and guaranteed basic mobility.

March 31, 2023 - Update from Mobility21 Sponsored RISS Student Rayna Hata - March 31, 2023 Update from Mobility21 sponsored Robotics Institute Summer Scholar Student Rayna Hata: My research with the RISS program and Dr. Stephen Smith of the Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Lab at CMU RI started in the summer of 2021. For the past two years, I have been researching methods of Blind Pedestrian Navigation on Urban Crosswalks using the PedPal app, first created by Dr. Smith and his team. This project touched upon my interest in assistive technology, a theme that has been a driving factor in many of my research projects. Assistive technology such as these is essential as vision-impaired pedestrians face multiple difficulties when crossing urban crosswalks, leading them to stray off the path or spend multiple signal cycles at the intersection. This directly impacts the safety and efficiency as they cross the intersection.   In my first summer at RISS, I researched methods on devices that could best track and localize the pedestrian, ultimately landing at ultra-wideband devices. Continuing to research under Dr. Smith during the school year and into a second summer at RISS, I worked to develop an algorithm to continually localize the pedestrian as they approach and cross the intersection, warning them if they start to stray off the path. I also worked to create a simulation where this algorithm could be tested and visualized. At the end of RISS, I presented my research to other RISS peers and professors at the Robotics Institute, where I received thoughtful feedback and comments about my research and my presentation—every moment at RISS allowed me to grow as a researcher.    My summers at RISS were also much more than just conducting research. I could attend seminars hosted by renowned researchers in various fields, see firsthand amazing research done at CMU, and form connections with peers as passionate about robotics as I am. My overall experience at RISS solidified my interest in attending graduate school and obtaining my Ph.D. in robotics to further my education and research experience in assistive technology and human-computer interaction. I am excited to return to the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute this fall as a PhD student and to learn from and research alongside incredible researchers in the field. 

March 24, 2023 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Justin Starr - March 24, 2023 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC researcher Justin Starr.  He discussed his UTC work, \"Technician Interactions with Artificial Intelligence Systems.”  Watch the recording here.

March 24, 2023 - Research Recap: Demand Learning and Supply Optimization for Last-Mile Transportation in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods - March 24, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Peter Zhang\'s project \"Demand Learning and Supply Optimization for Last-Mile Transportation in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

March 24, 2023 - CMU Student Showcases Mobility21 Research - March 24, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student Lindsay Graff presented a poster on her Mobility21 project \"A MultiModal Network Modeling Framework to Evaluate Time-Dependent Accessibility Under Generalized Costs\" at the CMU Civil and Environmental Engineering Research Showcase.

March 23, 2023 - WTS Pittsburgh Chapter Hosts 6th Annual Scholarship Gala - March 23, 2023 Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer and 2021-2023 Women in Transportation Fellow Maggie Harger participated in the 6th Annual WTS Pittsburgh Chapter Scholarship Gala.  The event was an opportunity to network with current and future transportation industry professionals and leaders, and to celebrate the achievements of the scholarship recipients.

March 22, 2023 - Dr. Destenie Nock and Her Student Participate in Scott Institute Energy Week - March 22, 2023 Mobility21 researcher Dr. Destenie Nock and her Ph.D. student Lily Hanig participated in CMU Energy Week activities, where Lily talked about her work during the poster session.

March 22, 2023 - CCAC Discusses Student Spaceflight Experiment Program - March 22, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CCAC professor Dr. Justin Starr discussed his role as coordinator of  CCAC\'s new Spaceflight Experiment Program and how they are designing experiments for space.  Watch his interview here.

March 18, 2023 - Research Recap: Connected Vehicle Infrastructure for a Smart City - March 18, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Ray Gastil\'s project \"Connected Vehicle Infrastructure for a Smart City.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

March 17, 2023 - Transportation Club Hosts Career Panel - March 17, 2023 Members of the CMU Transportation Club hosted four transportation professionals for their annual career panel event.  Panelists represented the City of Pittsburgh, Department of Mobility & Infrastructure, WSP, Pittsburgh Regional Transit, and Hitachi Rail.  The panelists shared their experiences in planning transit-oriented communities, conducting right-of-way development, managing sidewalks and curbs, and rail wayside engineering.  Students asked questions of the panelists, as well as engaged in networking at the end of the event.

March 16, 2023 - Mobility21 Hosts Fourth Annual National Mobility Summit of USDOT UTCs - March 16, 2023 Mobility21 hosted the Fourth Annual National Mobility Summit of US Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers in Washington D.C.  The summit provided a unique opportunity for over 110 researchers, government, community, and industry representatives from across the country to discuss improving mobility for people and goods as well as highlighting UTC innovations and impacts. The day began with a welcome from Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar and US Department of Transportation Director of UTC Grants Program Caesar Singh.  The day also included a keynote session, where Alasdair Cain, USDOT Director of Research, Development and Technology Coordination and several other senior leaders from the department discussed their programs and opportunities for collaborative transformational research.  The panelists included: Maryam Allahyar, Director, Research & Development, Office of Research, Development & Technology, Federal Railroad Administration, USDOT Brian Cronin, Director, Office of Safety and Operations R&D, Federal Highway Administration, USDOT Tom Keane, Associate Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, USDOT David Schneider, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Research, Demonstration, and Innovation, Federal Transit Administration, USDOT Egan Smith, Managing Director, Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, USDOT Nanda Srinivasan, Associate Administrator, Research and Program Development, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, USDOT   In addition, there were three discussion panels which focused on the topics of environment and climate change, workforce development, and equity. Environment/Climate Change – UTC Innovations and Impacts Richard Ezike, Program Communication Specialist, Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Ralph Buehler, Professor and Chair at Virginia Tech School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) Genevieve Giuliano, Distinguished Professor, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, Pacific West Region UTC Stanley Young, Research Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory   Workforce Development – UTC Innovations and Impacts Tom O’Brien, Executive Director, California State University, Long Beach College of Professional and Continuing Education Center for International Trade and Transportation Nick Geale, Vice President for Workforce Policy, American Trucking Associations Sarah Fox, Assistant Professor Human-Computer Interaction Institute, & Nik Martelaro, Assistant Professor Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University Matt Colvin, Chief of Staff, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO Hilary Nixon, Deputy Executive Director, Mineta Transportation Institute Carita Ducre, Vice President for Workforce Development and Education Services, APTA   Equity – UTC Innovations and Impacts Arlando Teller, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tribal Affairs, USDOT David Kack, Director, Western Transportation Institute and the Program Manager for Mobility and Public Transportation Carol Tyson, Government Affairs Liaison, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Steven Polzin, Deputy Director at the TOMNET UTC at Arizona State University, TOMNET UTC April Rai, President & CEO, COMTO   The day highlighted work from mobility-themed UTC\'s around the country (representing 50+ educational institutions) and concluded with a research showcase where UTCs could share their ideas and create new collaborations. View some of the photos from the day\'s events below. [envira-gallery id=\"29121\"]

March 16, 2023 - CCAC Professors Explore the Robot Revolution - March 16, 2023 Mobility21 UTC academic partners and CCAC professors Dr. Justin Starr and Robert Koch discuss the need for understanding of artificial intelligence with Futurum as the future of transportation goes electric and drives itself.  Read the full article here.

March 10, 2023 - Research Recap: Smart and Equitable Parks: Quantifying Returns on Investments - March 10, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Katherine Flanigan\'s project \"Smart and Equitable Parks: Quantifying Returns on Investments.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

March 8, 2023 - ACT Celebrates International Women’s Day with Panel - March 8, 2023 The Association of Commuter Transportation Board of Directors members, Connie McGee, Jessica Alba, Roz Tucker, and Lisa Kay Schweyer (Mobility21 Program Manager) hosted an International Women\'s Day discussion.  The conversation highlighted how empowering women in Transportation Demand Management means promoting and enabling their equal and meaningful participation, as historically, women have been underrepresented in the transportation sector.

March 4, 2023 - Research Recap: Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES-III) - March 4, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researchers Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan and Varun Shankar\'s project \"Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES-III).\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

March 2, 2023 - Fifth Annual Conference on Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transport - March 2, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Nik Martelaro participated in the Fifth Annual Conference on Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transport in San Francisco, CA, which was attended by a mix of individuals working in transit in both the public and private sectors.  Nik spoke about his work on the intersection of autonomous vehicle driving technology and the future of bus transit labor.  During the discussion, he highlighted recommendations from the recent policy brief, focusing on challenges to human-automation teaming and the potential impacts of automation on bus drivers.

March 2, 2023 - CCAC Partners with Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities for Educational Event - March 2, 2023 Mobility21 UTC academic partner CCAC worked with Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities to host the educational event \"Cow FartBus\" to teach participants about the transition from diesel school busses to low carbon busses.

February 28, 2023 - Inclusive Stem Teaching Project CMU Discussions Led by Mobility21 & Robotics Institute Program Managers - February 28, 2023 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 UTC and Rachel Burcin, Global Programs Manager for the Robotics Institute, co-chaired an information session today about the Inclusive Stem Teaching Project and a companion discussion group for members of the Carnegie Mellon University community.  Lisa Kay and Rachel will also be leading the CMU community discussion group, which will meet 3 times over the next 2 months.

February 27, 2023 - Research Recap: Equity and Transportation System Implications of Shared Autonomous Vehicle Deployment - February 24, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Corey Harper\'s project \"Equity and Transportation System Implications of Shared Autonomous Vehicle Deployment.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

February 18, 2023 - Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Holds First Regional Broadband Summit - February 18, 2023 Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission hosted the first of its kind Regional Broadband & Connectivity Summit, bringing together regional stakeholders, industry and non-profit experts, and local, state and federal governments and agencies to address equitable and affordable access to high-speed broadband internet in southwestern Pennsylvania.  Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman participated and provided her expertise on broadband.

February 17, 2023 - Transportation Club Hosts “Movie Night” On Campus - February 17, 2023 The Transportation Club hosted movie night on the CMU campus to watch \"The Terminal.\"  The event provided 23 students a chance to share in the camaraderie of the club while enjoying popcorn and a movie.

February 16, 2023 - Transportation Club Students Attend Hitachi Rail Open House - February 16, 2023 Students from the CMU Transportation Club attended the Hitachi Rail Open House to learn about the career and development opportunities that Hitachi Rail offers.  Students had the chance to speak with several of the Hitachi Rail top business leaders, toured the research labs, and participated in individualized sessions to learn more about their projects and available positions.

February 13, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Added to Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank’s Community Advisory Council - February 1, 2023 Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, was added as a member of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank\'s Community Advisory Council.  \"The Community Advisory Council (CAC) is made up of experts and leaders who reflect the diversity of the Fourth District and are focused on economic development issues such as affordable housing, financial and social determinants of health, racial and social inequalities, rural prosperity, small businesses, and workforce development.\"

February 13, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Member Named as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science - February 13, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Burcu Akinci, along with others from Carnegie Mellon University, has been elected as fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  Akinci was honored for her significant contributions to her field for data and model-drive infrastructure management through digital twins.

February 13, 2023 - Traffic21 Director Presents to National Academy of Medicine - February 13, 2023 Traffic21 faculty director and Mobility21 researcher Chris Hendrickson participated in a National Academy of Medicine roadmap panel on transportation, mobility and urban transformation with his presentation titled, \"Grand Challenge on Climate Change, Human Health and Equity: Transportation.\"

February 10, 2023 - Smart Mobility Connection featuring Rahul Mangharam - February 10, 2023 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC researcher Rahul Mangharam.  He discussed his new University of Pennsylvania course, “Tiny Machine Learning.”  Watch the recording here.

February 10, 2023 - Research Recap: Towards a Smart, Safe, and Sustainable Sidewalk: How Infrastructure Affects Users - February 10, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Ding Zhao\'s project \"Towards a Smart, Safe, and Sustainable Sidewalk: How Infrastructure Affects Users.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

February 9, 2023 - Mobility21 Program Manager Participates in ACT Winter Meeting - February 9, 2023 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21, serves as a board member for the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT).  She attended the winter board meeting and met with the new members of the ACT ImpACT Leadership cohort, where she was able to share resources with their project teams.

February 7, 2023 - Metro21 Hosts National Science Foundation Workshop at Carnegie Mellon University Campus - February 7, 2023 Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, led by Executive Director Karen Lightman, hosted participants from across the country for an invite-only workshop funded by the National Science Foundation to discuss the need to address multiple societal challenges such as mobility and access, energy efficiency, and provision of ecosystem services.  Learn more here.

February 7, 2023 - CCAC West Hills Center Offers New Toyota TECS Elite Program - February 7, 2023 Mobility21 UTC academic partner, Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) has announced the launch of a new automotive program available at CCAC\'s West Hills Center. The Toyota Technical Education College Support Elite program, a seven-week course designed as an advanced maintenance and general service class following Toyota\'s specific requirements for maintenance level certification, will be held June 6 through July 20.  Read more here.

February 2, 2023 - UTC Presentation at PA House Emerging Tech Caucus Event - February 2, 2023 Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Emerging Technologies Caucus, chaired by Rep. Napoleon Nelson from Montgomery County, met at the headquarters of Aurora in Pittsburgh.  The legislators saw one of Aurora\'s autonomous trucks and participated in a panel discussion featuring Matt Blackburn, Senior Manager, Government Relations, Aurora and Eileen Steffan, VP of Academic Affairs, Pittsburgh Technical College who discussed their innovative AV workforce education initiative and Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Mobility21 who presented his UTC research on emerging transportation technology trends.

January 31, 2023 - January 2023 Mobility21 Faculty Meeting Held - January 31, 2023 Mobility21 hosted the first UTC faculty meeting of the spring 2023 semester. The discussion included updates from Mobility21 academic partners, as well as a presentation by Erick Guerra from the University of Pennsylvania.

January 30, 2023 - Former Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Addresses Transportation Issues to Create a More Equitable World - January 30, 2023 Former Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Ngani Ndimbie (2016-2018), a senior consultant at High Street, is working to help improve transportation challenges for the underinvested and underserved communities.  Read more here.

January 27, 2023 - Research Recap: Bus on the Edge – Applications - January 27, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Christoph Mertz\'s project \"Bus on the Edge: Applications.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

January 27, 2023 - CMU Robotics Institute Partners with Locomation, Zamboni and the Pittsburgh Penguins - January 27, 2023 A student-led team from the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute, AI on Ice, has partnered with CMU spinout Locomation, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Zamboni to add autonomous capabilities to a two-Zamboni machine convoy on the ice.  UTC researcher John Dolan, a principal systems scientist in the Robotics Institue is the adviser on the project. Read more here.

January 24, 2023 - Congressmen Reschenthaler’s Staff Visits with Mobility21 UTC - January 24, 2023 Nate Nevala, District Chief of Staff for Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, visited CMU campus and met with Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of the Mobility21 UTC.  Together they toured the NavLab and learned how Dr. Christoph Mertz commercialized his UTC research.  Mr. Nevala also met with HCII Professors Sarah Fox and Nik Martelaro to discuss their UTC research on labor and bus automation and the policy brief they published.

January 24, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Hosts Digital Infrastructure & Services Workshop - January 24, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Director of the Mobility Data Analytics Center at Carnegie Mellon University Professor Sean Qian hosted the Digital Infrastructure & Services Workshop, with the goal of uniting University-Industry-Government to collaboratively address societal issues, particularly related to mobility, energy, wireless communications, and human activities.  Participants in the workshop included CMU faculty, representatives from Honda, Fujitsu, and the City of Pittsburgh.

January 20, 2023 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Jeremy Michalek - January 20, 2023 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured  Mobility21 UTC researcher Jeremy Michalek.  He discussed his policy brief, “Uber & Lyft in U.S. Cities: Findings and Recommendations.”  Watch the recording here.

January 18, 2023 - CMU Student Hannah Morin Shares EV Knowledge - January 18, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jeremy Michalek\'s second year Ph.D. student Hannah Morin, who studies Engineering and Public Policy and Material Science and Engineering, was interviewed by a Hudson High School student from Hudson, Ohio for his paper on electric vehicles, specifically the California 2035 all EV rule.

January 17, 2023 - Stan Caldwell Attends Gubernatorial Inauguration - January 17, 2023 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and CMU President Farnam Jahanian, who served on the Governor\'s Transition Team, traveled to Harrisburg for the Inauguration Ceremony for Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis.

January 16, 2023 - Mobility21 Women in Transportation Fellow Shares TRB Experience - January 16, 2023 Mobility21 UTC Women in Transportation Fellow for 2021-2023, Maggie Harger attended the Transportation Research Board\'s 102nd Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.  The meeting offered her the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in transportation research, policy, and innovative practices from across the world. Maggie reports some highlights of the event included remarks from U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm on the state of transportation policy in America, specifically the new joint office between the US Department of Transportation and the US Department of Energy.  Additionally, she was also able to view poster presentations from researchers in the field and attend lecterns on topics ranging from concrete modeling to autonomous vehicle policy. Maggie and other students from CMU were able to meet fellow students involved in transportation at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as several CMU alumni who are now professionals in the field.

January 16, 2023 - Experience at TRB’s Annual Meeting - January 16, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University student & transportation club member, Brian Hsu attended the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. \"My experience at the TRB Annual Meeting allowed me to gain insight into the research happening in the transportation industry and into the inner workings of TRB. As a future roadway engineer, I was particularly excited to see the emphasis in roadway design on safety, complete streets, and human factors. I found the discussions about the AASHTO Green Book and how to effectively implement its guidelines to be very informative. I also learned about some fascinating alternative intersection designs. Through participation in committee and subcommittee meetings, I came to understand how TRB functions and what research is occurring. By attending the TRB Annual Meeting and engaging with the research community, I can improve my practice when I become a roadway engineer. Further, the meeting was the perfect place to learn about new research and to engage with knowledgeable students, researchers, and professionals.\"      - Brian Hsu

January 13, 2023 - Graduate Research Award Program Recognizes CMU Student - January 13, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student Yanyu Wang was recognized at the 2023 TRB Annual Meeting for her 2021-2022 applied research on airport and related aviation system issues to help the public sector improve the quality, reliability, safety, and security of the U.S. civil aviation system in her paper, \"Proactive Improvements of Standard Taxi Routes in Airports Based on Reinforcement Learning and Data-Driven Simulation.\"  Her faculty mentor is Mobility21 UTC researcher Pingbo Tang.

January 12, 2023 - Pittsburgh Regional Alliance Welcomes Pohang City Delegation to Pittsburgh - January 12, 2023 The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance hosted The Pohang City Delegation, led by Mayor of Pohang City, Kang-deok Lee.  The main purpose of the visit was to establish partnerships between the City of Pohang and Pittsburgh, to discuss, explore, and collaborate around open innovation to drive future technologies, and extend regional collaboration opportunities (to the Asian market via Pohang City and to the North American market via Pittsburgh.) Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented on research, education and technology transfer activities of the Mobility21 UTC and the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute.

January 12, 2023 - University of Pennsylvania Adds New Course in Machine Learning - January 12, 2023 Mobility21 academic partner and UTC researcher Rahul Mangharam is offering a new hands-on first course in machine learning at the University of Pennsylvania, ESE3600 TinyML - Tiny Machine Learning.  Watch the course overview video here, or visit the course website for more information.

January 12, 2023 - University of Pennsylvania at 2023 TRB Annual Meeting - January 12, 2023 Mobility21 UTC academic partner University of Pennsylvania researchers and students participated in lectern and poster sessions throughout the 2023 TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, DC including: Poster Sessions: Investigating the Recovery of For-Hire-Vehicle, Taxi, and AirTrain at Two New York City Airports During the COVID-19 Pandemic - Xiaoxia Dong, Erick Guerra, Megan Ryerson Mobility Disparities in Access to Early Licensure for Teens: Toward a Definition of Driving Training Deserts - Megan Ryerson, Jasmine Siyu Wu, Xiaoxia Dong Lectern Sessions: Is Automobile Congestion a Useful Measure of Transportation Performance? An Oxford-Style Debate - Megan Ryerson Barriers and Facilitators to Participant Recruitment in Clinical Trials Involving Young Drivers and Their Parents - Thandwa Mdluli, Nicole Frager, Andrew Weiss, Catherine McDonald

January 12, 2023 - Ohio State University Showcases Work at Poster Session during 2023 TRB Annual Meeting - January 12, 2023 Mark McCord, Rabi Misalani, and Harsh Shah from Mobility21 UTC academic partner The Ohio State University showcased their project, \"Vehicle Miles Traveled Monitoring of an Urban Network Using Bus-Based Video Imagery: Empirical Evaluation and Comparison with Location-Based Service Data Derived Estimates\" during a poster session at the 2023 TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.

January 12, 2023 - Carnegie Mellon Engages at 2023 TRB Annual Meeting - January 12, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University and Mobility21 UTC researchers, staff and students took part in several lectern and poster sessions during the 2023 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting including: Poster Sessions: Estimating Dynamic Origin-Destination Demand for a Multimodal Transportation Network: A Computational Graph-Based Approach - Sean Qian and Qiling Zou Assessing the Impact of Communication Delay on Speed Harmonization of Connected and Automated Vehicles: Application of Markov Decision Switching to Field Experimental Data - Zulqarnain Khattak Identifying Safety-Critical, Heavy-Duty Vehicles in Fleets with Complementary Vehicle Inspection Data Sets Through Cross-Database Clustering Analysis - Pingbo Tang, Chenyu Yuan, Ying Shi, Ruoxin Xiong COVID-19 Public Transit Precautions: Trade-Offs Between Risk Reduction and Costs - Lily Hanig, Corey Harper, Destenie Nock Calibrating Bridge Element-Level Condition Ratings Through Weighted Inspection Behavior Analysis - Pengkun Liu, Ying Shi, Ruoxin Xiong, Pingbo Tang Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Autonomous Ground Delivery Vehicles - Thiago Rodrigues, Jeremy Michalek, Constantine Samaras Should Ridesourcing Services Pool More Rides? - Matthew Bruchon, Connor Forsythe, Jeremy Michalek Smart Curbspace: Estimating the Potential for Optimized Delivery Vehicle Parking Assignment to Reduce Double Parking, Congestion, and Energy Consumption - Aaron Burns, Jeremy Michalek, Constantine Samaras Does Congestion Pricing for Uber and Lyft Work?: Effects of Chicago\'s Downtown Zone Surcharge - Matthew Bruchon, Connor Forsythe, Charlotte Andreasen, Kate Whitefoot, Jeremy Michalek What\'s Driving Electric Vehicle Adoption?: Evaluating Changes in U.S. Consumer Preferences and Vehicle Technology - Connor Forsythe, Kate Whitefoot, Jeremy Michalek   Lectern Sessions: Taking a Multimodal Approach to Equitable Bikeshare Station Siting - Zhufeng Fan, Corey Harper Tools for Assessing Transportation Demand Management Strategies - Lisa Kay Schweyer Bridge Management Models for Load Ratings and Repair Methods - Pingbo Tang Using Automatic Passenger Counting-Automatic Vehicle Location Data to Improve Transit Reliability and Accessibility Analysis - Daryn Lee, Sean Qian A Two-Stage Multi-task Learning Model for Proactive Non-recurrent Traffic Prediction - Sean Qian Air Pollution, Greenhouse Gas, and Traffic Externality Benefits and Costs of Fully Electrifying Ridesourcing Services - Jeremy Michalek Ridesharing the Wealth: Effects of Uber and Lyft on Jobs, Wages, and Economic Growth - Adam Koling, Daniel Armanios, Jeremy Michalek, Connor Forsythe, Akshaya Jha How Clean Does the U.S. Electricity Grid Need to Be to Ensure Electric Vehicles Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? - Jeremy Michalek Exploring the Congestion, Emissions, and Energy Implications of Switching from In-Person to Online Grocery Shopping - Carlos Mateo Samudio Lezcano, Corey Harper, Destenie Nock, Gregory Lowry, Jeremy Michalek Will Pickup Truck Owners Go Electric? - Connor Forsythe, Kate Whitefoot, Jeremy Michalek  

January 10, 2023 - TRB TDM Committee Hosts Lectern Session at TRB Annual Meeting - January 10, 2023 The TRB TDM Committee hosted a lectern session today at the TRB annual meeting called \"Tools for Assessing Transportation Demand Management Strategies.\"  This session featured the highest rated TDM papers received by the TDM Committee including: How Multi-worksite Employers can Use Secondar Data to Assess Commute Trip Reduction (CTR) Opportunities (Bruce Batchelor, John Batchelor, Todd Litman) A Stated Preference Approach to Measure Perceived Benefit of Drive-Alone Users toward Shifting to Park-and-Ride: An Indian perspective (Manaswinee Kar, Shubhajit Sadhukhan, Manoranjan Parida, Arpit Shrivastava) Predicting parking occupancy for residential shared parking lots using deep learning methods considering COVID-19 Policies (Zhipen Niu, Xiaowei Hu, Mahmudur Fatmi, Shouming Qi, Dongling Wu, Shi An) Simulation-based Analysis of Different Curb Space Type Allocations on Curb Performance (Thomas Maxner, Andisheh Ranjbari, Chase Dowling) Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer, the paper review co-chair for the committee, moderated the session.

January 9, 2023 - TRB TDM Committee Thanks Mobility21 Program Manager for Efforts - January 9, 2023 During the Transportation Research Board\'s Transportation Demand Management Committee meeting, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer was presented with a certificate of appreciation for her work on the 2022 paper review process redesign.

January 9, 2023 - Dr. Destenie Nock Joins Clean Energy Works Board - January 9, 2023 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock has been named to the Clean Energy Works Board, adding her expertise to guide strategies for accelerating clean energy upgrades where they are needed most.

January 8, 2023 - Council of University Transportation Centers Holds Annual Winter Meeting - January 8, 2023 Today\'s Council of University Transportation Center\'s  winter meeting brought together the nation’s leading transportation professionals from academia and industry along with U.S. DOT and other transportation agency officials.  Raj Rajkumar, Director, Stan Caldwell, Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of Mobility21 participated in the meeting.

January 7, 2023 - Mobility21 UTC Honors “Student of the Year” Lily Hanig at 32nd Annual USDOT Awards Ceremony - January 7, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University student Lily Hanig was honored tonight as Mobility21 University Transportation Center\'s “Student of the Year” at the Council of University Transportation Center\'s annual awards event. Annually, the United States Department of Transportation honors the most outstanding student from each participating University Transportation Center for his/her achievements and promise for future contributions to the transportation field. Students of the year are selected based on their accomplishments in such areas as technical merit and research, academic performance, professionalism, and leadership. [caption id=\"attachment_28326\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"840\"] Lilly receiving her award from Dr. Firas Ibrahim, Director of the U.S. DOT’s Office of Research, Development, and Technology, and Caesar Singh, Director, University Transportation Centers (UTC) Grants Program.[/caption] Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 Institute houses Mobility21, the National University Transportation Center for Improving Mobility. Students from CMU, University of Pennsylvania, The Ohio State University, or Community College of Allegheny County were eligible for the Mobility21 UTC nomination. More about our winner: Lily Hanig, the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center for Improving Mobility Student of the Year. Lily Hanig is a Ph.D. student in Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research focuses on analyzing transportation system equity during 1) disruptive events (e.g., COVID-19 and climate change) and 2) energy transitions. Her current work assesses long-distance coverage of electric vehicles (EV) chargers along corridors in the US and future work will look at siting of EV chargers at the community level to optimize for equitable distribution and low emissions. Lily is excited to be working towards a more equitable and decarbonized transportation system during a period of disruption by new technologies in the field. In 2022, Lily won the Herbert L. Toor award for outstanding research paper submitted to the qualifier exam, \"COVID-19 Public Transit Precautions: Trade-offs Between Risk Reduction and Costs,\" and interned at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on the Mobility, Behaviors, and Advanced Powertrains team. Educating, recruiting and training new workers is critical to managing our country’s infrastructure safely and efficiently.  Mobility21 strives to help develop a transportation workforce capable of designing and maintaining the complex transportation systems of tomorrow. Help us congratulate our 2023 UTC Student of the Year! To learn more about the University Transportation Centers’ Student of the Year awards please click here.

January 6, 2023 - Metro21 Executive Director Participates in CES2023 - January 6, 2023 At the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman served as a panelist discussing \"Smart Infrastructure: Building the Future,\" and how planners are using sensors, data, analytics, and adaptability to create technological systems that will improve the day-to-day lives of citizens.

January 6, 2023 - Research Recap: Rethinking Connected Vehicles for Spectrum Scarcity - January 6, 2023 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carnegie Mellon University researcher Jon Peha\'s project \"Rethinking Connected Vehicles for Spectrum Scarcity.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

January 6, 2023 - Rahul Mangharam Named Board Member of The Autoware Foundation - January 5, 2023 University of Pennsylvania Mobility21 researcher Rahul Mangharam is kicking off 2023 as a new Board Member of The Autoware Foundation.  The foundation is a non-profit organization supporting open-source projects enabling self-driving mobility.

January 3, 2023 - Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy Creates an Easier Path to a Tech Career - January 3, 2023 Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Academy has entered into an  agreement with Pittsburgh Technical College, allowing any CMU Robotics Academy graduate who chooses to enter Pittsburgh Technical College\'s robotics and autonomous engineering technology associate degree program to receive a 12-credit exemption and save up to $4,000 on tuition.

December 20, 2022 - Three University of Pennsylvania Students Win WTS Philadelphia Awards - December 20, 2022 Earlier this month, 3 students from the Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania, were among the awardees at the WTS Philadelphia annual awards program. Nata Kovalova, a Master of City Planning Candidate received the Sylvia Alston Scholarship Award Bingchu Chen, Graduate Candidate at Master of City Planning/Master of Urban Spatial Analytics received the Circle of Continuity Award Siyu (Jasmine) Wu, Master of City Planning Candidate received the Vision for Equity Award   “WTS Philadelphia annually offers scholarships to advance the careers of individuals in the transportation industry. We accept scholarship applications from individuals who identify as a woman or gender-minority and are high school, undergraduate, and graduate students interested in pursuing careers in transportation to attract, sustain, connect, and advance individuals\' careers in this demographic in the transportation industry. WTS develops and cultivates the next generation of a diverse and inclusive workforce, from students to professionals, and prepares these individuals to join and champion a more accessible and equitable transportation industry. Scholarships are competitive and based on applicant\'s specific transportation goals, academic record, transportation-related activities, and other relevant skills.” [caption id=\"attachment_28131\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"553\"] [L-R] Carrie Long (UPENN MCP \'18 and WTS leader), Nata Kovalova, Bingchu Chen, Siyu (Jasmine) Wu, and Megan Ryerson (UPS Chair of Transportation) celebrating our UPENN WTS Award Winners![/caption]   

December 19, 2022 - CMU Students Awarded 2022 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship - \"Wenhao Ding and Jiacheng Zhu, Ph.D. students in [CMU UTC researcher Ding] Zhao’s lab, proposed a new method, Learning to Collide, to identify risky scenarios leveraging the reinforcement learning technique. This method builds a framework where the autonomous system is a victim attacked by the scenario-generation algorithm. ... Ding and Zhu’s proposal, \'Safety-Critical Scenarios Generation and Generalization for Autonomous Driving\' was awarded the 2022 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship, which promotes innovation, execution, and teamwork.\"  Read more here.

December 16, 2022 - Rajkumar Appointed to PennSTART Operating Committee - December 16, 2022 Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar was appointed to the Pennsylvania Safety Transportation and Research Track (PennSTART) Operating Committee, which held its inaugural meeting today.  Funding for the PennSTART facility in southwestern Pennsylvania was announced by PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian in August 2022.

December 16, 2022 - Heinz College Students Present Capstone Projects for Fall 2022 - December 16, 2022 CMU Heinz College Master of Information Systems Management program students engage in semester long “Capstone Projects” to apply coursework to real-world scenarios.  This week, students shared the results of their semester long research projects during a poster fair.  The projects featured today included the following transportation related projects: Torc US Ignite Chevron 2 Green Edge Technologies Blue Triton Make It Home Safe Honda

December 13, 2022 - Mobility21 Program Manager Facilitates 1st Meeting of CUTC Peer Exchange Roundtable Group - December 13, 2022 Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer facilitated the 1st CUTC Peer Exchange Roundtable Group (which was established in response to feedback provided at the 2022 CUTC Summer Meeting, to share information and support administrative staff at CUTC member centers).

December 13, 2022 - Heinz College MSPPM Students Present Capstone - December 13, 2022 Heinz College Master of Science in Public Policy and Management students from Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell\'s Systems Synthesis course presented their final capstone presentation for their client, InnovatePGH, which focused on Smart Loading Zones and Curb Management.

December 13, 2022 - CMU Student’s Work Impacting PRT’s Zero Emissions Plan - December 12, 2022 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell served as the faculty advisor to Carnegie Mellon University Energy, Science, Technology and Policy M.S. student Prathit Bhavin Dave, who completed an Applied Advanced Study project to refine the Pittsburgh Regional Transit\'s (PRT) Zero Emissions Bus rollout plan financial model and develop the user guide. PRT Chief Development Officer and project supervisor David Huffaker stated, \"This guide provides a training tool for understanding a complex financial model that will allow us to evaluate various choices that we will inevitably need to make on our zero-emission journey.\"

December 12, 2022 - Pingbo Tang Awarded Dowd Fellowship to Develop Simulations - December 12, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Professor Pingbo Tang will be supported by the Dowd Fellowship to integrate data-driven simulation games into two existing courses and one new course for \"learning operations by trying\" experiences with various civil systems.  Learn more here.

December 12, 2022 - Park Clean Up Leads to Students’ Developing New Tool for Transit Riders - December 12, 2022 On October 29, after arriving to Phillips Park to help with a local clean-up effort, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer was surprised to learn 3 Carnegie Mellon University students (Shirui Liang, Maria Manrique, Keziah Virdayanti) were also there to help with the volunteer activity.  She joined the students while picking up litter and had a chance to share what she does at CMU, hear about their trip on the local bus to the park (and uncertainty of riding somewhere new), and learn more about the students\' interest in transportation and the project they had been thinking about for their Integrated Innovation Institute Design Methods class. Within a week, the students invited Lisa Kay to meet with the project team to learn more about her experience in helping commuters find non-single occupancy vehicle travel.  From that conversation, and their own experience navigating transit systems, the group decided to work on a way to use technology to make the experience of first-time bus riders less stressful. The team, Shirui Liang, Kaila Richardson, Dongwen Xu, Siyue Shen, Saisri Akondi, Mei Tamaki, and Ashish Mangal dove in, conducted research, used various integrated innovation methods and conducted testing to finally propose their solution – an \"AR Your Guide\"! The solution is an augmented reality feature that can be integrated into existing transportation apps. The design turns the bus searching and riding experience into a \"Pokemon Go\" like game. It provides users with an interactive guide that leads them to unfamiliar bus stops and instructs people new to bus transportation how to pay, track, and request stops. The team is hoping that app developers use their work to make this solution a reality.  

December 8, 2022 - Mobility21 Researcher Participates in Pitt’s Elected Officials Retreat - December 8, 2022 Stan Caldwell applied his Mobility21 research while participating in a session on \"Shoring Up the PA Plan for Broadband to Support Economic Opportunity and for Pennsylvanians\" at the annual University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics Annual Elected Officials Retreat in Pittsburgh.

December 7, 2022 - CCAC Students Are Giving Back to the Community - December 7, 2022 In an effort to give back to the community, the students in the Ford ASSET Program at the Community College of Allegheny County assembled and dropped off a kid-sized Bronco at Eat-N-Park at the Waterfront in Homestead just for Jackson.  Robert Koch, Chair for Community College of Allegheny County Skilled Trades Department and Automotive Ford ASSET program professor was on hand for the special delivery.  Watch the video here.  

December 7, 2022 - Student Presentations on Intelligent Transportation Systems - December 7, 2022 CMU\'s students in the Smart Cities: Growth with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) class, instructed by Mobility21 Professor Sean Qian and co-instructed by Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell, hosted presentations from 10 groups of multidisciplinary master\'s students analyzing ITS technologies.

December 7, 2022 - Transportation Engineering & Safety Conference Features Mobility21 UTC Researcher - December 7, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Corey Harper was featured as a presenter on the \"Smart City Systems, Sustainable Transportation, and the Importance of Resiliency in Our Infrastructure\" panel, alongside other experts in the field at the Transportation Engineering & Safety Conference, hosted by Penn State University, to discuss how high-resolution rainfall data could improve safety and management of the transportation system during inclement weather events.  View Dr. Harper\'s presentation here.

December 6, 2022 - NextG Alliance Report Gets Insight from Professor Jon Peha - December 6, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jon Peha was one of the contributors to the NextG Alliance Academic Workshop Report on \"An examination of three key issues: Smart Agriculture, Connected Vehicles and Spectrum Access.\"

December 3, 2022 - CMU Transportation Club Hosts Networking Event - December 3, 2022 Prior to final exam week at CMU, during what can be a busy time for many students, the CMU Transportation Club hosted a networking event for its members. Because the members of the transportation club come from a variety of academic backgrounds, they do not often have a chance to meet one another in class. This opportunity to meet fellow students and share about classes, job opportunities and other overlapping interests was beneficial to all. Additionally, students got to try empanadas from Mi Empanada, a local Pittsburgh bakery. The club plans to host similar events before exam week in the spring semester.

December 2, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Ümit Özgüner - December 2, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured The Ohio State University Mobility21 UTC researcher Ümit Özgüner.  He discussed his project, “Vulnerable Road Users Dominating the Shared Spaces with Vehicles.”  Watch the recording here.

December 1, 2022 - Mobility21 Director Speaks at CMU Event for Congressman Mike Doyle - December 5, 2022 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar thanked retiring U.S. Congressman Mike Doyle for his support of the Mobility21 University Transportation Center during a Carnegie Mellon University wide special event honoring the retiring Congressman for his service.

November 29, 2022 - Peoples Energy Analytics Aims to Modernize the Energy Industry - November 29, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock, alongside her Ph.D. student Shuchen Cong, have announced the launch of their new CMU spin-out company, Peoples Energy Analytics.  The company focuses on energy poverty and data analysis, with a mission of modernizing the way the energy industry supports their customers by using a combination of smart meter energy usage analysis, surveys, and engineering models to achieve this goal.

November 23, 2022 - CMU Researchers Work to Make Peace with Nature with Tech Solutions - November 23, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Civil & Engineering Associate Professor Pingbo Tang is leading an effort to create sustainable smart cities through collaboration and research with his pilot software, Mega City 2070, which allows users to become immersed in a realistic 3D model of a city home to 50 million people in 2070.

November 22, 2022 - University of Pennsylvania President Learns About F1Tenth Autonomous Racing - November 22, 2022 University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill joined students from the F1Tenth Autonomous Racing team, led by Mobility21 UTC researcher Rahul Mangharam, to learn about their work to build safety-critical systems.

November 18, 2022 - Five Action Items Crucial to Equitable Energy Transition - November 18, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock co-authored an article to inform government agencies and philanthropic institutions how to enable an equitable energy transition through operationalized commitment to an inclusive approach to clean energy.   Read the full article here.

November 18, 2022 - Ding Zhao Explains How AI Can Help in the Climate Change Crisis - November 18, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Engineering Professor Ding Zhao explained to Lifewire that while greenhouse gas emissions from transportation account for 27% of the total US greenhouse gas emissions, intelligent autonomy can dramatically reduce that number.  Read the story here.

November 18, 2022 - Faster Battery Charging with the Use of AI - November 18, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan discussed the use of artificial intelligence known as \'Dragonfly\' in batteries to improve their efficiency.  The tool designs better electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries, which allows the batteries to charge faster.  Read the story here.

November 18, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Co-Authors Report on Current Methods for Life Cycle Analyses of Low-Carbon Fuels in the U.S. - November 18, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Jeremy Michalek co-authored a report on the life cycle assessment (LCA) methods in order to develop a reliable and coherent approach to applying LCA to low carbon fuel standards.  Read the article here.

November 16, 2022 - Mobility21 Program Manager Participates in the ACT TDM Forum - November 16, 2022 The Association of Commuter Transportation 2022 TDM Forum was held in Atlanta.  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, also a Board Member of ACT, engaged in conference sessions, and participated the board meeting.  Over 140 transportation professionals participated in the event.

November 16, 2022 - Mobility21 Part of ‘Robot Invasion’ at Pittsburgh Convention Center - November 16, 2022 Mobility21 was part of the inaugural Robotics Discovery Day, hosted by the Pittsburgh Robotics Network.  CCAC sponsored a booth where Dr. Justin Starr provided demos of a Cobot and an autonomous mobility scooter.  Also, Carnegie Mellon University\'s Rachel Burcin of the RISS program and Tim Heffernan of PA Rural Robotics participated in the event.

November 16, 2022 - PennSTART Highlighted at STIC Meeting in Harrisburg - November 16, 2022 Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) co-chair and Mobility21 Advisory Council Member Secretary Yassmin Gramian hosted the STIC quarterly meeting. Mobility21 Executive Director and founding STIC member Stan Caldwell participated in the meeting, where the PennSTART test track was highlighted.

November 16, 2022 - UTC Rural Efforts Highlighted at ARC Meeting in Washington, DC - November 16, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell joined Andrew Weinert from MIT/Lincoln Labs on a \"New Technologies\" panel during the Appalachian Regional Commission\'s Network Appalachia meeting in Washington, DC.  Caldwell, in photo with ARC Federal Co-Chair Gayle Manchin, highlighted UTC research, workforce development and technology transfer efforts targeting disadvantaged communities in Appalachia.  

November 15, 2022 - UTC Research Informs Pittsburgh’s ITS Plan - November 15, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in a workshop at the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure to develop the concept of operations for the city\'s ITS Plan.  Caldwell applied his experience from ten years of UTC research projects with the city to help inform the plan.

November 12, 2022 - CMU Transportation Club Attends Transportation Camp “Unconference” - November 12, 2022 Members of the CMU Transportation Club recently attended Transportation CampPGH, an \"unconference\" event hosted by Mobility Southwestern Pennsylvania. Individuals from a variety of backgrounds were in attendance, from areas such as academia, the private sector, advocacy groups and the City of Pittsburgh. Attendees chose the topics of discussion themselves by submitting topic idea cards, which were then sorted based on theme. The themes chosen for discussion included street design, transit-oriented communities, and advocacy work. Additionally, Vince Valdes, Executive Director and CEO of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, and Beth Osborne, President of Transportation For America presented as keynote speakers.

November 10, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Destenie Nock Featured at COP27 - November 10, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock was featured on the \"Beyond the Models - From Improbable Scenarios to Resilient Systems\" panel alongside other experts in the field at COP27 to discuss how improved energy modeling can support a more feasible, reliable and equitable energy transition. Watch the presentation here.

November 10, 2022 - CMU Transportation Club Tours xBridge Innovation Center - November 10, 2022 Members of the CMU Transportation Club took an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the xBridge Innovation Center at Pittsburgh International Airport.  This technology center is a test bed for new tech that can benefit the airport, airline partners, and air travelers. Members of the transportation club were able to see a remote-controlled vehicle that may be ultimately utilized to move passengers around the airport, algae which can filter air throughout the interior, and a delivery robot which could help facilitate the movement of goods through security. The students were also able to learn more about construction of a new terminal at the airport, and how this will help facilitate the travel of passengers arriving and departing from Pittsburgh.

November 9, 2022 - Informs Awards 2022 First Place Award to Mobility21 UTC Researcher Peter Zhang - November 9, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Peter Zhang was awarded the 2022 First Place award in the INFORMS Junior Faculty Forum Paper Competition for for his paper, \"Adjustability in Linear Robust Optimization,\" co-authored with Ningji Wei of Texas Tech University.

November 4, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Justin Starr - November 4, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Justin Starr .  He discussed his project, “Student Applications of AI for Infrastructure Inspection.”  Watch his presentation here.

November 3, 2022 - Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium Held - November 3, 2022 The Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium kicked off earlier today with Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar, providing a welcome and an overview of updates on activities and plans at the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center. Putting our research, development and deployment approach into action – the annual deployment partner symposium provides an opportunity for interaction and discussion among researchers, students and deployment partners.  Over 135 people attended today\'s symposium and engaged in the day\'s events. The Symposium’s first panel focused on Driving the Economic Engine of the Region.  The panel was moderated by Karen Lightman, Executive Director of Metro21 and featured: Scott Andes, Program Lead $1 Billion Build Back Better Regional Competition, U.S. Economic Development Administration Richard Ezike, Program Communications Specialist, Joint Office of Energy and Transportation Ellie Ezzell, Economic Development Specialist, RIDC of Southwestern PA   The event\'s keynote speaker was Carl Andersen, Technical Director, Operations Research and Development, FHWA, Turner Fairbank.  He highlighted FHWA\'s existing programs and new initiatives. The Symposium’s second panel highlighted UTC Impacts from the Partners’ Perspectives.  The panel was moderated by Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21 and featured: Rajeev Chhajer, Group Leader – Connected Technologies Research / Associate Director – 99P Labs, Honda Kelly Maurer, Director of Public Works, Cranberry Township Ben Schmidt, Global Chief Technology Officer, RoadBotics by Michelin   The event wrapped up with the UTC Research/Education Showcase & Networking Reception, which featured 19 displays: Analysis of the Potential for Micromobility to Replace Short Car Trips in Urban Areas, And Impacts on Congestion – Corey Harper and student, Zhufeng Fan (CMU): Transportation is a basic social and economic need but those mobility options conceived a generation ago may not be economically or environmentally sustainable with rising urban populations. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), the average U.S. household produces about 9.5 trips a day. About half of these trips are within three miles, but fewer than 2 percent of those trips are made by bicycle. Private vehicles like cars, pick-up trucks, and SUVs, account for almost 50 percent short distance trips (i.e., trips within 3 miles), in most U.S. metro areas. As a result, commuters are spending increased amounts of time in congestion, which has associated costs such as wasted fuel and emissions. Micromobility (defined as shared bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters) represents a significant opportunity to replace short distance trips made by personally owned vehicles (POVs) and provide first-and last-mile solutions for underserved public transit riders. The purpose of this research is to estimate the number of short distance POV trips that could be replaced by micromobility options and the resulting environmental benefits, and to develop policy recommendations that could assist policymakers in better understanding where the greatest opportunities for expanding active transportation exist. BusEdge – Christoph Mertz and student, Anurag Ghosh (CMU):  The BusEdge platform is an edge-cloud system to analyze visual data stream freshly-captured from the transit buses in a scalable and responsive manner. It includes components that execute on the bus (the edge) and on a central server (the cloud) for different kinds of real-time and non-real time road scene understanding efficiently. This data stream and the processing platform enables us to perform city scale spatio-temporal analysis. For example, we can detect which garbage cans are full and need intervention from the agency. Furthermore, we are able to detect and track long term changes in the built environment, we can detect construction zones and changes in sidewalk and inform HD map updates for autonomous vehicles. Can Ridesharing Help the Disadvantaged Get Moving – Lee Bransetter, Beibei Li and student, Seth Chizeck (CMU):  Research undertaken by co-PIs Lee Branstetter and Beibei Li has used randomized controlled trials to measure the impact of access to smartphone-enabled new transportation options, including ridehailing, on the geographic and socioeconomic mobility of low-income residents of the Pittsburgh region. Research team members will describe two projects and results to date. CMU Transportation Club – Maggie Harger (CMU):  The CMU Transportation Club aims to connect students to opportunities for networking, career development, research and education in the transportation sector. During their poster session, they will be presenting on past activities the club has hosted for students interested in the field of transportation. Members of the club will also be in attendance to share their experience and how they have developed professionally as a result of the club. Controlled Deployment of Analytical Solutions for Essential Transportation Services in Low-Income Neighborhoods – Peter Zhang (CMU): Heritage Community Transportation (HCT) provides essential transportation service in low-income neighborhoods in east Pittsburgh. We are collaborating with HCT for another year (July 2022 – June 2023) to fully roll out the deployment in a controlled way, which will help evaluate technical solutions on the ground and adjust quickly to ensure the overall success and continuity of service change. This project also provides opportunities for faculty and students to learn and conduct research in an under-studied area. Creating and Integrating Solutions for the ‘Complete Trip’ – Stephen Smith (CMU):  This project is developing a smartphone app that integrates capabilities for accessible routing, safe intersection crossing, real-time traveler-to infrastructure communication, and autonomous wheelchair navigation to provide ‘complete trip’ support for pedestrians with disabilities. Determining traffic volumes using video imagery obtained from transit buses in regular service – Mark McCord (The Ohio State University): Vehicles appearing in video imagery from cameras installed on transit buses for non-traffic purposes can be used to estimate traffic volumes over urban networks on a regular basis. A method to estimate traffic volumes from transit bus platforms is developed and applied on The Ohio State University roadway network on a regular basis. Vehicle miles traveled are monitored over time. Comparisons to road tube data and known changes in traffic by year and by time-of-day support the promise of the approach and demonstrate much better accuracy than results obtained when using data from a popular on-demand location-based-service data integrator. Dynamic Coupling Strategy for Interdependent Network Systems Against Cascading Failures – Carlee Joe-Wong, and student, I-Cheng Lin (CMU):  In networked systems, initial failures at only a small part of the network may trigger a sequential failure process called cascading failures. The vulnerability is further exacerbated in modern systems that consist of multiple networks.  We study the robustness of such systems against cascading failures and develop a dynamic coupling coefficient strategy that adjusts the portion of load being redistributed internally and externally during the cascading failure process.  We show our step-wise optimization (SWO) strategy significantly improves the robustness compared to prior work that mainly focuses on static coupling coefficients. This is shown through extensive simulations of different network topologies. F1tenth Demo – Rahul Mangharam and student, Ahmad Amine (University of Pennsylvania):  We will be showcasing F1tenth as an educational, research, and development platform. The F1TENTH Autonomous Vehicle System is a powerful and versatile open-source platform for autonomous systems research and education. We will be demonstrating the use of this platform through a sample race where two cars will be racing head-to-head autonomously. https://f1tenth.org/ Low Dimensional Representation and Analysis of Traffic Mobility – Vijayakumar Bhagavatula and student, Dereje Shenkut (CMU):  A deeper understanding of mobility patterns enables a better design of vehicular networks. One type of relevant traffic data is the set of vehicle mobility traces from a fleet of taxis. Previous works in this area were mainly conducted by doing analysis in the spatio-temporal domain. However, using spatio-temporal analysis for high-volume and high-dimensional transportation data makes it difficult to discern underlying patterns as the representation is noisy and garbled. To solve this problem, spectral analysis can be used to reduce the dimensionality of the mobility data. This technique helps find the existence of a stable, low-dimensional spectral structure (which may not be clearly visible in spatio-temporal analysis). The proposed spectral analysis approach enables the low-dimensional representation of transportation data, providing interpretable insights into urban mobility and potentially tackling practical problems like traffic anomaly detection. Mobility Data Analytics Center – Sean Qian and student, Bin Gui (CMU): Leverage multi-source emerging data to develop smart decision-making systems for public agencies and mobility service providers. https://mac.heinz.cmu.edu/ Safety-Cost Aware Inspection Strategy for Commercial Vehicle Fleets – Pingbo Tang and student, Ying Shi (CMU):  This project intends to enhance the safety of fleets of commercial trucks and trailers without compromising mobility and operating costs. Various agencies inspected safety components, such as tires, brakes, and lights through planned or roadside inspections. Targeting these inspections toward safety-critical vehicles and components can ensure safety without losing mobility. We partner with two Pennsylvania firms to create vehicle deterioration digital twins that use inspection histories to guide effective telematics for predictive operations of truck fleets.  https://sites.google.com/andrew.cmu.edu/trsafety/home Spectrum sharing for C-V2X – Jon Peha and student, Bodong Shang (CMU):  Cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) allows vehicles to communicate with each other and roadside infrastructure. Currently, the amount of spectrum available for C-V2X is 30 MHz. However, there are use cases that require more bandwidth to provide the needed data rate, reliability, and/or latency. One way to meet those needs is for C-V2X devices to also use the adjacent unlicensed band, but with today’s technology, this would yield inadequate performance. This project enables C-V2X use of unlicensed bands by designing novel spectrum-sharing algorithms that improve performance for both C-V2X and Wi-Fi. A system-level simulator was developed to evaluate the protocol designs. The Potential of Smart Curbspace to Reduce Congestion and Fuel Consumption – Jeremy Michalek, Constantine Samaras, Kate Whitefood and students, Aaron Burns and Connor Forsythe (CMU):  We are exploring the benefits of a new smart cities technology concept called Smart Curbspace which is similar to an Airbnb reservation system for vehicles and curbside parking spaces.  Our goal is to optimally schedule and shift parking reservation requests such that we can reduce the number of double parked vehicles which have negative impacts for the surrounding environment.  In the first stage of our research we focused specifically on delivery vehicle arrivals and found that a Smart Curbspace system with several parking spaces can reduce double parking and associated vehicle delay and fuel consumption.  Our subsequent research funded by Mobility21 expands our user set to include more curbspace users, e.g. ride hailing, passenger vehicles, etc., more parking spaces and a new optimization model to allow for scalability. Traffic21 Policy Papers – Stan Caldwell & Chris Hendrickson (CMU):  Informed, research-driven policymaking is central to improving our transportation sector. Our expertise in this area helps guide civic leaders to harness the power of intelligent transportation systems, while managing the inherent risks and protecting constituents. Based in the rigorous, cutting-edge findings of CMU faculty and drawing upon Heinz College’s expertise in data-driven public policy, our policy papers are a roadmap for the future of transportation legislation. https://www.cmu.edu/traffic21/research-and-policy-papers/index.html  TraffiQure Technologies – Sean Qian (CMU): A CMU technology spinoff firm, uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to provide services or products that make effective decisions in transportation based on massive data. TraffiQure is actively working for federal and state agencies on addressing data needs for multi-modal transportation planning and operation. www.traffiqure.com   The Traffic21/Mobility21 Deployment Partner Consortium is engaged for identifying real-world transportation needs, research project development and deployment, technology licensing and commercialization, student recruitment for jobs and internships, class and capstone projects. Photos from the event: [envira-gallery id=\"27490\"]

November 2, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council Holds Annual Meeting for 2022 - November 2, 2022 A talented group of national leaders comprising the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 National University Transportation Center\'s Advisory Council, assembled today for their annual meeting. Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar welcomed the group and provided an overview of updates of activities and plans. The remaining time was spent by council members sharing their thoughts on how to best transfer the knowledge generated through the UTC, the National Mobility Summit 2023, and new opportunities. # # # The Mobility21 team is a tight collaboration among Carnegie Mellon University (Lead), the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University and the Community College of Allegheny County, and brings to bear the reach and scale of all four institutions. Tackling the multi-faceted nature of Traffic21 and Mobility21 objectives requires coordinated research, education, workforce development and technology transfer.  This work is supported by researchers spanning multiple disciplines such as engineering, computer science and robotics, public policy, urban design, information systems and data analytics. The distinguished Advisory Council of national leaders provides strategic guidance and counsel.  Advisory Council members include: Amanda Ballantyne, Director, AFL-CIO Technical Institute Raymond T. Betler, Chairman of LB Foster, Former President and CEO of Wabtec Corporation Rebecca M. Brewster, President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Transportation Research Institute Robin Chase, Co-founder Zipcar, Veniam, NUMo Ty Gourley, Vice President of the Hillman Family Foundations Yassmin Gramian, Secretary of Transportation, PennDOT Charles L. Hammel III, President and owner, PITT OHIO Express Ashley Hand, Co-founder CityFi; formerly Transportation Technology Strategist Fellow for Los Angeles Katharine Kelleman, Chief Executive Officer at Port Authority of Allegheny County Jane Lappin, former Director, Public Policy & Government Affairs, Toyota Research Institute Ken McLeod, Policy Director at The League of American Bicyclist James A. Misener, Senior Director, Product Management at Qualcomm and former Director of UC Berkley PATH David Roger, President of the Hillman Family Foundations Paul Skoutelas, President and Chief Executive Officer of The American Public Transportation Association Kirk Steudle, President, Steudle Executive Group, former Senior Vice President of the Econolite Transportation Systems Group and subsidiary CAVita, and former Director of Michigan Department of Transportation Vincent Valdes, Executive Director, Southwestern PA Commission   Learn more about the Advisory Council members here.

November 2, 2022 - “Future of Work” Grant Awarded - November 2, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Lee Branstetter\'s project that investigates how artificial-augmented learning can help accelerate student learning in community college information technology courses has been awarded one of 14 \"Future of Work\" grants by the National Science Foundation.  Read more here.

October 27, 2022 - Mobility21 Advisory Council Member Named to Michigan Transportation Hall of Honor - October 27, 2022 Mobility21 University Transportation Center Advisory Council member Kirk Steudle, along with Greg Johnson, Sharmyn Elliott , and Sam Crowl were recently inducted into the Michigan Transportation Hall of Honor for 2022.

October 24, 2022 - Carnegie Mellon’s Career & Professional Development Center Presents First Autonomous Vehicle Focused Career Fair - October 24, 2022 Facilitated by the Mobility21 University Transportation Center, Carnegie Mellon\'s Career & Professional Development Center, in partnership with Heinz College Career Services, first autonomous vehicle focused career fair was held on CMU\'s campus.  The event provided students an opportunity to meet with companies in the autonomous vehicle industry.

October 24, 2022 - Metro21 Hosts ‘Enabling the Implementation of Integrated and Scalable Smart Cities’ Listening Session - October 24, 2022 Metro21: Smart Cities Institute Executive Director, Karen Lightman moderated a listening session with diverse stakeholders from around the United States, including rural, urban and suburban perspectives, to better inform understanding of mobility/transportation challenges.  NSF funded Metro21 to host this Enabling the Implementation of Integrated and Scalable Smart Cities listening session.

October 21, 2022 - Mobility21 Program Manager attends Tribal Colleges and Universities and University Transportation Center Summit - October 21, 2022 The First Americans Land-Grant Consortium (FALCON) held its 18th Annual Conference, kicked off by a pre-conference event Tribal Colleges and Universities and University Transportation Center Summit.  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager participated in the summit and presented an overview of the UTC’s work.

October 19, 2022 - Professor Destenie Nock Named Minority Issues Forum Paper Competition Finalist - October 19, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Professor Destenie Nock has been named a Minority Issues Forum Paper competition finalist for her energy poverty paper, \"Unveiling Hidden Poverty Using the Energy Equity Gap\" in Nature Communications with Shuchen Cong, Lucy (Yueming) Qiu and Bo Xing.

October 19, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Publishes Policy Brief on Mixed Autonomy Era of Transportation - August 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Carlee Joe-Wong co-authored the recently published policy brief, \"Mixed-Autonomy Era of Transportation: Resilience & Autonomous Fleet Management.\"  Read the full policy brief here.

October 17, 2022 - Research Recap: Ridehailing Service Equity in Normal and Rare Conditions - October 17, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Jeremy Michalek, Daniel Armanios, and Destenie Nock\'s project \"Ridehailing Service Equity in Normal and Rare Conditions.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

October 17, 2022 - National Association of Development Organizations Hold Annual Conference In Pittsburgh - October 17, 2022 National Association of Development Organizations Conference’s plenary session featured Rachel Burcin, Global Programs Manager for the CMU Robotics Institute, Tim Heffernan, Director of the PA Rural Robotics Program, Gina Masciola of WQED, and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager speaking on the ‘Rust Belt to Smart Belt: Autonomy, Economic Development, & STEM Education Models for Inclusion, Change and Vibrant Communities.’  Over 430 people were in attendance.

October 14, 2022 - Miovision Acquires SCS Spinout Rapid Flow Technologies - October 14, 2022 Rapid Flow Technologies, a traffic technology company co-founded by School of Computer Science Professor and Mobility21 UTC researcher Stephen Smith and former Ph.D. student Gregory Barlow, has been acquired by Miovision, a Canadian company with a similar mission to the Carnegie Mellon University spinout. Learn more about the acquisition here.

October 13, 2022 - University of Florida ‘Careers In Transportation Class’ Includes Mobility21 Speakers - October 13, 2022 The University of Florida was awarded a grant from the Council of University Transportation Centers to encourage students to choose transportation as a profession. To do this, they developed a 1-credit course featuring speakers from academia, government, and the private/consulting sectors.  At today\'s class both Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager shared their career journeys with the students.

October 11, 2022 - UTC Research Presented at Mobility Summit - October 11, 2022 Stan Caldwell from Mobility21 National UTC and Eric Donnell from Penn State\'s CIAMTIS Regional UTC participated in a research panel for a Mobility Summit in Harrisburg, PA hosted by the 82 Alliance, in  partnership with PennDOT, to ensure Pennsylvania remains an economically competitive region that prioritizes people before vehicles.

October 7, 2022 - Penn Transportation Club Hosts First Guest Lecture of Fall Semester - October 7, 2022 Members of the Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania\'s Penn Transportation Club hosted their first guest lecture of the Fall ‘22 semester, where city planner and Penn graduate Robert Ravelli spoke about the intersections of transportation and land use planning. 

October 7, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Sarah Fox and Nik Martelaro - October 7, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researchers Sarah Fox and Nik Martelaro .   They discussed their project, “Considerations on the Future of Human-Automation Teaming in the Transit Workforce.”  Watch their presentation here.

October 6, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Named Wimmer Faculty Fellow - October 6, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CMU CEE Assistant Professor Katherine Flanigan has been named one of the 2022-23 Wimmer Faculty Fellows at the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Education Innovation.  These fellowships are made possible by a grant from the Wimmer Family Foundation and are designed for junior faculty members interested in enhancing their teaching through concentrated work designing or re-designing a course, innovating new materials, or exploring a new pedagogical approach.  Read more here.

October 1, 2022 - Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us - October 1, 2022 Metro21 Intern and Heinz College Masters Student Bobby Lincoln moderated a discussion with Congressman Ro Khanna and Congressman Conor Lamb on the future of technology. Representative Khanna discussed his new book, \"Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us,\" which offers a revolutionary roadmap to facing America’s digital divide, offering greater economic prosperity to all. In Khanna’s vision, “just as people can move to technology, technology can move to people. People need not be compelled to move from one place to another to reap the benefits offered by technological progress” (from the foreword by Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics).

October 1, 2022 - Metro21 Joins Panel for Sustainable Cities Innovation: Balancing Financial Priorities and Well-Being Webinar - October 1, 2022 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman joined speakers from the public and private sector to discuss strategies for the decarbonization of cities, with a focus on how technology can be used to create future sustainable cities that do not compromise on wellbeing in today’s volatile economic environment. View the recap of the event here.

September 30, 2022 - University of Pennsylvania Student Earns Recognition for Best Masters Student Paper - September 30, 2022 University of Pennsylvania masters student Jasmine Siyu Wu received \"The Ed McClure Award for Best Masters Student Paper\" for her paper, \"Understanding Inequities in Access to Teen Driver Education.\"  Jasmine\'s advisor is Mobility21 UTC research Professor Megan Ryerson.   Read more here.

September 29, 2022 - Smart Cities Connect Fall Conference Features Professor Sean Qian - September 29, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian joined panelists at the Smart Cities Connect Fall Conference in Washington, DC to discuss \"Safe Reliable Daily Travel Using Emerging Technology,\" which highlighted federal research investments that an lead to the safe and reliable daily movement of people and goods on the highway system.

September 27, 2022 - Professor Nik Martelaro Presents “What Could Go Wrong?” Alongside the Block Center for Student Game Night - September 27, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Nik Martelaro worked with the CMU Block Center for student game night to present \"What Could Go Wrong?,\" a game that encourages teams of students to identify and discuss novel situations where real-world application of AI or robotics could lead to unique policy or moral questions.

September 26, 2022 - ASCE International Conference on Transportation & Development Holds Advisory Committee Meeting - September 26, 2022 Chris Hendrickson, faculty director of Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 UTC researcher, participated in the first meeting of the ASCE International Conference on Transportation and Development\'s Advisory Committee.

September 23, 2022 - Traffic21 Director Participates in Global Clean Energy Action Forum - September 23, 2022 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson participated the 2022 Global Clean Energy Action Forum, which featured a high-level plenary, topical roundtables with energy and science ministers from 31 countries, CEOs and experts, side events, technology demonstrations, and other activities.

September 23, 2022 - Scott Institute Hosts A Panel Discussion Featuring Leonore Gewessler - September 23, 2022 The Scott Institute at CMU hosted a panel discussion which featured Leonore Gewessler, BA, Federal Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology, Republic of Austria.  Carnegie Mellon panelists included: Prof. Jana Kainerstorfer (Biomedical Engineering) Prof. Franz Franchetti(Electrical and Computer Engineering, Associate Dean for Research, College of Engineering) Dr. Christopher Martin (President, Carnegie Bosch Institute, Director of R+D at Bosch’s Research and Technology Center) Mr. Matt SanFilippo (Chief Partnership Officer, College of Engineering) Mr. Matt Bartman (Director for Research Partnerships and Pittsburgh Native, College of Engineering)

September 21, 2022 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Participates in ITS World Congress - September 21, 2022 2020 - 2022 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Maggie Harger recently participated the ITS World Congress, an international event that brings together world leaders, practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and private industry to advance and unite the intelligent transportation systems industry.  This conference offered an opportunity to learn about current advances in intelligent transportation systems around the world, as well as strategies of implementation and policy considerations.

September 18, 2022 - Mobility21 Presents at ITS World Congress 2022 - September 18, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell, Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer, and UTC researcher Steve Smith presented the \"Managing AI in Transportation\" session  at the ITS World Congress 2022.  The session covered an overview of technology and AI impacts in transportation today, AI in traffic control devices, and AI for safe, equitable, and efficient mobility of people and goods.  In addition, later in the week, Stan moderated a session on Automated Vehicle Policy.

September 15, 2022 - Professor Destenie Nock Answers Three Questions with Peter Kerwin - September 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Professor Destenie Nock addressed questions surrounding her research in a recent interview where she discussed creating an energy equity metric that illustrates the socioeconomic divide in access to energy.  Read the full interview here.

September 13, 2022 - Transportation Club Hosts First Meeting of Fall Semester - September 13, 2022 Traffic21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell presented to the CMU Transportation Club at their first general body meeting of the year about the University Transportation Center.  The inaugural meeting had 30+ students in attendance from various backgrounds, including undergraduates, graduate students, students in public policy, engineering, architecture and information systems management.  The students were able to learn about the club, meet members of the board, and learn about how to get involved.  2020 - 2022 Women in Transportation Fellow, Maggie Harger serves as the chair for the club.

September 13, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Project “Developing Data Collection Systems to Support Community-Driven Integrated Mobility Services by Patrick Carrington, Jodi Forlizzi, Sarah Fox and Nik Martelaro Highlighted IN TRB E-Newsletter - September 13, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Patrick Carrington, Jodi Forlizzi, Sarah Fox, and Nik Martelaro\'s UTC project, \"Developing Data Collection Systems to Support Community-Driven Integrated Mobility Services\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the Research Roundup section.  Read the newsletter here.

September 13, 2022 - Ray Gastil Joins Panel at ASTC Annual Conference 2022 - September 13, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Remaking Cities Institute Director Ray Gastil joined panelists from around the country at the recent ASTC Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, where they discussed programs that forge innovative connections between science centers, museums, and communities and urban planning: \"Build (Your Community) Back Better, Discovering Your Museum Superpowers to Enhance Community and Urban Planning.\"

September 12, 2022 - U.S. DOT Inspector General Eric Soskin Tours CMU’s UTC - September 12, 2022 While visiting Pittsburgh for a conference, US DOT Inspector General Eric J. Soskin and staff members Anthony Wysocki and Audre Azuloas visited Carnegie Mellon University\'s Mobility21 National University Transportation Center (UTC) to learn more about the UTC program and see first-hand examples of research, education and technology transfer initiatives including spin off companies.  The Inspector General met with UTC faculty, students and staff, toured the Nav Lab, and got to check out a connected and automated vehicle.

September 12, 2022 - Ray Betler Visits Classroom Funded by He and His Wife, Joneen - September 12, 2022 While meeting with UTC faculty, Traffic21 Advisory Council member Ray Betler, former CEO of WABTEC and currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of L.B. Foster, made his first visit to an undergraduate engineering lab that he and his wife Joneen generously funded in CMU\'s new Ansys Hall.

September 9, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Megan Ryerson and Jasmine Siyu Wu - September 9, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Dr. Megan Ryerson and University of Pennsylvania\'s Center for Safe Mobility data analyst Jasmine Siyu Wu .   They discussed their project, “Identifying Community-Level Disparities in Access to Drivers Education and Training: Toward a Definition of Driver Training Deserts”  Watch their presentation here.

September 1, 2022 - National Safety Council Discusses Worker Safety - September 1, 2022 CMU Heinz College Dean Ramayya Krishnan participated in a Congressional Roundtable with Senator Bob Casey, leaders from the National Safety Council, and thought leaders from unions and the private sector, to discuss Mobility21\'s research on transportation worker safety.

August 31, 2022 - RISS Scholar Tessa Guengerich’s Evolution into the Transportation Sector - August 25, 2022 In just a few years, a lot has changed for Tessa Guengerich.  She graduated from college, got her first job, and landed a role in the automated vehicle industry. In both June 2018 & 2019, Mobility21 welcomed Tessa Guengerich to the CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program. At the time, Tessa was an undergraduate student at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.  She arrived in Pittsburgh hoping to learn more about machine learning and programming and learn more about the implementation of robots outside of academia. Tessa said she was excited to learn about things she wasn’t exposed to before (computational statistics and machine learning) and was also excited to be surrounded by other students from around the world. The program provided exposure to hearing and seeing a lot of presentations from different faculty members at CMU about their research. As a Chemical Engineering student, most of the talks were outside of Tessa’s traditional curriculum, but that\'s exactly what she enjoyed most about RISS -- learning about research she wouldn\'t have been exposed to otherwise, and trying her hand at tasks that initially intimidated her. In August 2019, Tessa was offered a job as a Robotics Engineer and began working for Carnegie Mellon University at the National Robotics Engineering Center.  The job was a continuation and expansion of the project she assisted with while part of RISS. Looking to stretch and gain new skills, she joined ARGO AI, working as part of the Hardware Special Projects team.  The job allows her to stay in Pittsburgh and continue to connect with her RISS mentor, Rachel Burcin.  Tessa has also been able to give back, serving as a mentor to other RISS students. Rachel Burcin, Robotics Institute Global Programs Manager of Carnegie Mellon University and Co-Director of the RISS program added:  “Working together with Mobility21, we have been able to walk alongside students to open doors and chart new pathways.  Tessa is applying her background, research experience, and passion for education to innovate and promote inclusion in the self-driving industry.  Our partnership with Mobility21 brings together research, industry, and education to re-envision who driving transportation.” [caption id=\"attachment_15283\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"] Rachel and Tessa[/caption] Where does Tessa think she will be in 10 years?  Tessa wants to continue to work in transportation, she says she feels proud to be working in the industry and sees how self-driving cars will help people with disabilities, and increase accessibility.  She says ARGO has locations all over the world, and perhaps she will be able to travel to one of their other locations. ------------------ Carnegie Mellon’s RISS Program is an eleven-week summer (June 1 to mid-August) undergraduate research program that immerses a diverse cohort of scholars in cutting-edge robotics projects that drive innovation and have real-world impact. Launched in 2006, RISS is among the best and most comprehensive robotics research programs for undergraduates in the world. The CMU Mobility21 University Transportation Center has sponsored RISS students since 2017.  The UTC views research and education as two sides of the same coin. We cannot educate for future generations without exposing them to research, development and deployment. We have and will continue to focus on education and workforce development in equal and complementary measure to research, development and deployment.  In addition, the Mobility21 sponsored RISS students have unlocked over $1,000,000 in scholarship support to continue their STEM education.

August 24, 2022 - CMU Presents Faculty Discussion on Technology as a Force for Good - August 23, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Gabriela Gongora-Svartman joined CMU faculty from Heinz College in a Faculty Dialogues presentation, \"Technology as a Force for Good,\" to discuss how their and teaching in the growing field of public interest technology is creating a more prosperous, just and collaborative future for all.

August 23, 2022 - Ohio State University Discusses Vulnerable Road Users with The Bike Lane - August 23, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and The Ohio State University Professor Emeritus Umit Ozguner discussed vulnerable road users and automated vehicles  in a recent issue of The Bike Lane Newsletter.  Read the article here.

August 22, 2022 - Robolaunch 2022 Reaches Over 13,000 Worldwide - August 22, 2022 Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute hosts undergraduate student researchers from around the world annually through the Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program.  With its committed community of mentors and partners, the Robotics Institute helps launch these scholars into robotics graduate programs and industry with nearly 25 RISS alums receiving offers of admissions to the CMU SCS graduate programs.  This summer, the scholars joined with the RISS community of alumni and friends of the program to design and create RoboLaunch, an outreach and broadening participation initiative. RoboLaunch offered a series of talks and conversations from diverse pioneers & RISS alumni exploring how robotics research/education can be fun. Thirteen sessions were held.  Sessions included Intro to Robotics and the AI Driving Olympics, Robotics for Stress Reduction in Children, and Snakes in Space.  The result:  RoboLaunch engaged over 13,000 individuals across the US and around the world.

August 18, 2022 - Traffic21 Welcomes German Embassy’s Head of Transportation and Digital Infrastructure - August 17, 2022 Dr. Joachim Eichhorn, Head of Transportation and Digital Infrastructure Section of the German Embassy visited the CMU campus and met with Stan Caldwell to learn about Traffic21 and the Mobility21 UTC efforts and discuss potential areas of collaboration with German universities and companies.

August 17, 2022 - UTC Researcher Discusses Green Energy in the Inflation Reduction Act - August 17, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock discussed the Inflation Reduction Act and the benefits of the bill for the energy sector with PBS during a recent discussion about green energy.  Read the interview here.

August 16, 2022 - Hajra Shahab – Traffic21 Women In Transportation 2020 – 2022 Fellow, Graduates - August 16, 2022 Hajra joined Carnegie Mellon University’s MSPPM-DA program in 2020 as a transportation fellow for Traffic21 Institute. Reflecting on her time as a student of Heinz College, she feels honored to have had the opportunity to become a part of the CMU community and be surrounded by some of the best minds under one roof. For someone who deeply cares about how their work impacts society, Hajra says Heinz College turned out to be a perfect fit where she was constantly reflecting and exploring impact of different technological breakthroughs on society at large and how to maximize their social benefits. Her coursework, projects and research mostly centered around transportation and mobility that constantly opened up multiple pathways, especially within the autonomous mobility space which landed her an internship at Aurora, a self-driving vehicle technology company. Since then, she has started to critically understand autonomous driving technology and was able to further expand her research to multi-modal transportation systems including autonomous delivery robots through her research assistantship in the Civil Engineering Department at CMU. “Joining CMU as a Traffic21 fellow truly set the foundation of every milestone that I achieved in graduate school. With the help of this fellowship, I was not only able to explore opportunities on-campus within the space of transportation and mobility, but also assume leadership roles on multiple occasions and carry out multiple community-led initiatives for Pittsburgh community at large.” Upon graduation, Hajra joined EBP-US as a Data Analyst- Transportation Economics focus and currently working with multiple DOTs, state agencies and other stakeholders to conduct mileage-based user fee socio-economic equity analysis, benefit-cost studies and cost optimization projects. She hopes her work continues to improve the state of transportation and mobility by making it sustainable, equitable and accessible for communities across the globe.

August 15, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Provides Keynote at APTA Tech Conference - August 15, 2022 Aaron Steinfeld, a Mobility21 researcher, presented the keynote at the 2022 APTAtech Conference. His talk, \"Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Transit: A View from the Research Forefront,\" provided attendees with information on how AI and robotics research are tackling complex transit needs and discussed recommendations for how to incorporate advanced technologies into practice. The presentation included content from his work with the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Public Transportation (which Steinfeld co-directs), and Mobility21 UTC.

August 15, 2022 - University of Pennsylvania’s Megan Ryerson Lends Advice for Travel and the Middle Class - August 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Megan Ryerson from the University of Pennsylvania\'s Weitzman School of Design discussed travel and the middle class and how long travel will be sustainable with Penn Today. \"We need an intercity transportation strategy focused on equitable access,\" she says. Read the full article here.

August 14, 2022 - Mobility21 Program Manager Featured on Brewing Data Web/Podcast - August 10, 2022 Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer will be the featured guest on tomorrow\'s edition of Brewing Data.  She will be discussing University Transportation Centers, transportation research, and transportation demand management. Brewing Data is a 30-minute interview style webcast, moderated by Robert Kohler @AirSage. The webinar is live streamed on LinkedIn and YouTube.  The live discussion was also converted into an audio-only podcast and transcribed into an article to be featured in AirSage Magazine. Tune in to hear this webinar.

August 12, 2022 - Burcu Akinci Included in Pittsburgh Business Times 20 People to Know in Energy - August 12, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Burcu Akinci was highlighted in the Pittsburgh Business Times as 20 People to Know in Energy, highlighting her recent role as head of the CMU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  Read more here.

August 12, 2022 - How do Autonomous Vehicles See the World? – A Robolaunch Workshop - August 12, 2022 Mobility21 sponsored 2021 RISS-student Rayna Hata was a co-leader for the  Robolaunch workshop, “How do Autonomous Vehicles See the World?”  Mobility21 partnered with the RI summer Scholar’s program and Dr. Stephen Smith to help launch Rayna Hata’s into robotics research.  Now, Rayna is paying it forward by sharing and teaching what she has learned.  Rayna joined Neehar Peri to design a workshop exploring autonomous vehicles as part of the RISS Robolaunch Initiative: How Do Autonomous Vehicles See the World? Explore the workshop here: https://youtu.be/xAOxuz1IjXk

August 11, 2022 - RISS Robolaunch Hosts Special Seminar on STEM Outreach, Media & Robotics - August 10, 2022 The Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) RoboLaunch program hosted a special seminar on STEM Outreach, Media & Robotics, \"Can Hollywood Help Save Math Education?\" with Dr. Michael Milford.  The discussion focused on leveraging and partnering with media to drive exclusive STEM outreach.  View the conversation here.

August 11, 2022 - PennDOT Announces State-of-the-Art PennSTART Facility - August 11, 2022 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian has introduced the PennSTART facility, a state-of-the-art safety, training and research facility in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Located in Mount Pleasant, this facility will provide real-world training for emergency responders, transportation technology companies, and research institutions while supporting the local economy.  It would build on the growing technology and AV industries in the region, as well as support jobs and business development. [video width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" mp4=\"http://mobility21.cmu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Raj-PennStart.mp4\"][/video] For more information, read the story at PAcast.

August 10, 2022 - National Operations Center of Excellence Hosts Professor Sean Qian for Data & Decision Making for Operations Event - August 10, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Professor Sean Qian spoke at a recent webinar hosted by the National Operations Center of Excellence.  His session was titled, \"A Framework/Methodology to Support Data Fusion, Analysis, and Decision Making,\" which featured case studies on the use of data for planning and operations.

August 9, 2022 - Center for Executive Education in Technology Policy Visits NavLab - August 9, 2022 The Center for Executive Education in Technology Policy (CEE-TP), led by Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha, hosted an in-person course that brough 14 participants from 12 countries to the CMU campus to visit NavLab, headed by Mobility21 UTC researcher Christoph Mertz, as part of their program.  

August 9, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Featured at ITSPA Annual Meeting - August 9, 2022 Stan Caldwell presented his Mobility21 research on emerging transportation technology and industry trends at the Intelligent Transportation Society of Pennsylvania\'s Annual Meeting at the Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Manheim, PA.

August 8, 2022 - APTA Workshop with Mobility21 Program Manager Focuses on Resilience Planning & Implementation - August 8, 2022 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 moderated a featured session on Resilience Planning and Implementation during  APTA’s Sustainability / Operations Planning and Scheduling Workshop.  The discussion covered how “More and more agencies are working to develop resilient transit infrastructure against emergencies, natural disasters, climate change or significant changes in development patterns and demographic.” Panelists included: Andrew Biesterveld, Senior Director of Capital Projects, Central Ohio Transit Authority, Columbus, OH; Hannah Lyons-Galante, Climate Resiliency Specialist, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Boston, MA; Breanna Gribble, Senior Resilience Manager, STV Incorporated, New York, NY; Catherine Kummer, Charlotte Area Transit System, Charlotte, NC.

August 5, 2022 - Mobility21 Faculty Mentor Summer 2022 RISS Scholars - August 5, 2022 The Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program held their closing ceremony and provided an opportunity for the 2022 scholars to share their posters.  Among the mentors who provided guidance to the summer scholars were Mobility21 UTC faculty members including Srinivasa Narasimhan, Christoph Mertz, and Steve Smith.   Read more about the closing ceremony here.

August 4, 2022 - Association of Commuter Transportation Holds 2022 International Conference - August 4, 2022 The Association of Commuter Transportation 2022 International Conference was held in Chicago.  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, also a Board Member of ACT, engaged in conference sessions, served as a conference buddy to 3 first-time attendees, and participated the board meeting.  Over 520 transportation professionals from all over the world, were in attendance for the event.

August 3, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC researcher Viswanathan Discusses How Climate Tech Start-Ups Can Survive the Market - August 3, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan discussed with GreenBiz how smaller climate tech startups can keep their company\'s value when the market situation fluctuates.  Read the story here.

August 1, 2022 - CMU CEE Students Experience a 3D Experience of the Future Through Mega City 2070 - August 1, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CMU College of Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Pingbo Tang will allow CMU graduate students an opportunity to use his pilot program of software, Mega City 2070, to experience a 3D model of a futuristic and interconnected built environment in the year 2070.  Read more here.

August 1, 2022 - Dr. Destenie Nock Explains Energy Justice in a Recent NSF-Funded Video - August 1, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock explains energy justice in a new video, funded by the National Science Foundation.  The video covers three types of energy justice (distributional, procedural, and recognitional). Reaching energy justice requires achieving equity in the distribution of costs and benefits, the social and economic participation in the energy system, as well as remediating social, economic, and health burdens on vulnerable groups which have been disproportionately harmed by the energy system. Watch the full video here.

July 27, 2022 - PA STIC Meeting Held in Harrisburg - July 27, 2022 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Mobility21 Advisory Council member,  Secretary Yassmin Gramian welcomed State Transportation Innovation Council  members, including Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell, to Harrisburg for the first in person meeting since the pandemic and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pennsylvania\'s award winning STIC.

July 27, 2022 - Traffic21 Faculty Director Participates in the National Research Council’s workshop on Pathways for a Just Transition - July 26-27, 2022 Traffic21 faculty director and Mobility21 researcher Chris Hendrickson participated in the National Research Council\'s workshop on Pathways for a Just Transition on July 26 and the Accelerating Deep Decarbonization in the US Committee meeting on July 27 in Washington DC.

July 26, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Research is Awarded the Philip and Marsha Dowd Fellowship - July 26, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CMU College of Civil & Environmental Engineering Associate Professor Pingbo Tang was recently awarded the Philip and Marsha Dowd Fellowship, which is awarded to a faculty member in engineering to recognize educational contributions and to encourage the undertaking of an educational project.

July 20, 2022 - Chatham University Collaborates with CMU to Create an EcoVillage to Make the Community a ‘Living Lab’ - July 20, 2022 Mobility21 CMU UTC researcher Stefani Danes is guiding the Rachel Carson EcoVillage at the Chatham University Eden Hall campus, a development that \"embodies practices in social and ecological sustainability,\" according to university officials.  Read the full story here.

July 20, 2022 - Professor Steve Smith Named President Elect of Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence - July 20, 2022 Mobility21 UTC research and CMU Robotics Institute Professor Steve Smith has been named President Elect for the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, a nonprofit scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines.  He will complete his term as President Elect and begin duties as President in 2024.

July 18, 2022 - Mobility21 Director & Researchers Present at Summer Engineering Experience - July 18, 2022 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar presented \"Connected and Autonomous Vehicles\" to a group of high school students who are attending this year\'s Summer Engineering Experience (SEE) program. Other UTC researchers who presented included Christoph Mertz, who presented his \"Bus on the Edge\" project and Pingbo Tang, who provided students with an opportunity to engage in an advanced infrastructure lab activity with bridges, as well as an air traffic control presentation. The SEE program features a combination of lectures, group worktime, independent making activities, and facilitated special projects where students explore engineering and transportation in a variety of disciplines.

July 15, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Analyze Impact of Work Zones on Automotive Accidents - July 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Burcu Akinci and Sean Qian, along with CMU Civil & Environmental Ph.D. student Zhuoran Zhang,  have created a work zone safety analysis model that proves the causal relationship between work zones and increased car crashes. “Causal models are crucial for improving road safety around work zones because they help us identify and analyze the various factors that impact risk in each scenario,” said Akinci, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Read the full article here.

July 15, 2022 - What’s New with Mobility21 Women in Transportation Fellow Maggie Harger - July 15, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University incoming second year Master’s student and Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Maggie Harger recently started her summer internship with the US Department of Transportation Volpe Center.  Prior to starting her Master’s degree, Maggie worked in the greater Seattle area to implement accessible and equitable public transportation projects as a mobility coordinator for the North King County region. She is interested in public transportation due to its ability to provide access to economicopportunities for people, as well as its positive impact on carbon emission reduction. This summer, Maggie will be assisting with a variety of projects for partners across the DOT. For example, she is working to support the Federal Transit Administration\'s RAISE Discretionary Grant Program through the compilation of resources and data for decision makers, as well as researching material for the Federal Highway Administration\'s Complete Streets program.  She looks forward to continuing her work this summer, as well as learning more skills related to policy implementation at a federal level.

July 14, 2022 - Mobility21 Researchers Publish Paper on Potential Hydropower Contribution to Mitigate Climate Risk and Build Resilience in Africa - July 14, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras co-authored a paper with Ana Lucia Caceres, Paulina Jaramillo, Scott Matthews and Bart Nijssen titled \"Potential hydropower contribution to mitigate climate risk and build resilience in Africa,\" which evaluates the potential synergies between hydropower, wind and solar resources in each power pool.  Access the full paper here.

July 5, 2022 - IEEE Publishes University of Pennsylvania Paper on Autonomous Vehicle Racing - July 5, 2022 Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania Professor Rahul Mangharam and Johannes Betz, along with Hongrui Zheng, Alexander Liniger, Ugo Rosolia, Phillip Karle, Madhur Behl and Venkat Krovi co-authored a paper published by IEEE titled \"Autonomous Vehicles on the Edge: A Survey on Autonomous Vehicle Racing,\" which represents the first holistic survey that covers the research in the field of autonomous racing.

July 1, 2022 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson Writes Decarbonization Editorial for ASCE - July 1, 2022 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson authored an editorial for the American Society of Civil Engineers in the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems titled \"Deep Decarbonization and Transportation Engineering.\"  Read the editorial here.

July 1, 2022 - NEUAC Annual Conference Welcomes Dr. Destenie Nock - July 1, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock was welcomed at the NEUAC Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA to give a talk on \"Identifying Multiple Forms of Energy Poverty: Energy Burden and Energy Deficits\" alongside co-speakers Luling Huang and Shuchen Cong to explain the concepts of energy burden and energy poverty and how they are influenced by the end user behavior.

June 24, 2022 - Innovative Institute for Tomorrow Gets New Home at “The Franklin” - June 24, 2022 Mobility21 Deployment Partner Consortium Member PA Rural Robotics Initiative and its Executive Director Tim Heffernan have gotten a new space for their Innovative Institute for Tomorrow for STEM activities at \"The Franklin,\" an old vacant hotel and event venue.  The institute also received multiple high level prestigious grants to further programming, including PA smart grants from the PA Department of Education and Carnegie Mellon University.  Read the full article here.

June 22, 2022 - Challenges in Machine Learning and Game Theory for Social Impact - June 22, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Fei Fang presented \"Challenges in Machine Learning and Game Theory for Social Impact\" as part of the Robotics Institute Summer Scholars RoboLaunch, a Robotics Outreach Initiative.

June 21, 2022 - 29th International Symposium on Sustainable Systems & Technology - June 21, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Principal Assistant Director for Energy and Office of Science and Technology Policy and Chief Advisor for Energy Policy, Costa Samaras gave the opening keynote, Advancing a Clean Energy Revolution for All, at International Symposium on Sustainable Systems & Technology (ISSST 2022) in Pittsburgh, PA.

June 17, 2022 - Council of University Transportation Center’s Annual Meeting - June 15 - 17, 2022 Held earlier this week, the Annual Council of University Transportation Center\'s  summer meeting brought together the nation’s leading transportation professionals from academia and industry along with U.S. DOT and other transportation agency officials.  Raj Rajkumar, Director, Stan Caldwell, Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of Mobility21 participated in the meeting.

June 16, 2022 - Dr. Destenie Nock Explains How to Identify Hidden Forms of Energy Poverty - June 16, 2022 Dr. Destenie Nock recently posted a video where she explains her research on identifying hidden forms of energy poverty.  Watch the video here and read the research paper here.

June 16, 2022 - Get on the Bus Team Meets to Move Forward with Phase 2 - June 16, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CMU Robotics Institute Professors Steve Smith and Zak Rubenstein and Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman met with project team members from Allies for Children to discuss phase 2 of the Get on the Bus project to review data for route overview and to discuss next steps towards implementation.

June 15, 2022 - Mobility21 Hosts Delegation of Urban Planners and Policymakers from Germany - June 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Dr. Destenie Nock and Dr. Corey Harper presented their research to a delegation of urban planners and policymakers from Germany with the Heinrich-Boell Foundation.  They discussed automated vehicles, public transit ridership during COVID, and other topics to provide data to the delegation to shape the sustainable, inclusive and democratic transformation of our societies and economies.

June 15, 2022 - AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia - June 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Nik Martelaro and Jodi Forlizzi along with CMU President Farnam Jahanian were part of a panel organized by the CMU Block Center at the AFL-CIO\'s 29th Constitutional Convention, to discuss building workers\' input on the future of technology in a groundbreaking new strategy.  Watch the panel recording here.

June 13, 2022 - CMU Scott Institute Seed Grants For Energy Research Announced - June 13, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Corey Harper was among the five faculty-led projects awarded a seed grant by the CMU Scott Institute for his project, \"Combining Transportation and Grid Models to Evaluate the Equity Implications of EV Charging and Grid Infrastructure Deployment Decisions in Emergency Evacuation Scenarios.\"

June 9, 2022 - Carnegie Mellon University Block Center Spring 2022 Project Funding Announced - June 9, 2022 The CMU Block Center for Technology and Society announced the spring 2022 funded projects, which included projects led by several Mobility21 UTC researchers: Professors  Jodi Forlizzi, Sarah Fox, and Chinmay Kulkarni  for their continued research on designing automation policies for workers in the hospitality industry. Rick Stafford to develop a web-based tool to address to shortcomings of current practices in community asset mapping, which will be piloted in multiple municipalities in the region. Beibei Li and Lee Branstetter to continue to investigate new transportation options to drive low-income citizens to greater success. Rick Stafford and Valerie Karplus to develop an integrated research effort to characterize job opportunities in a regional transition to clean energy, with a focus on mapping the skill sets of today’s underemployed and vulnerable populations to employment opportunities in a decarbonizing regional economy.

June 8, 2022 - Association of Commuter Transportation Higher Education Council Convening - June 8, 2022 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 UTC and Michelle Porter, the Director of CMU’s Parking & Transportation Services participated in today’s Association of Commuter Transportation Higher Education Council.  The group works to address shared issues, encourage information sharing, expand awareness, advance future trends and technologies, and advance policies that support equitable access to all types of campus transportation and mobility programs.

June 8, 2022 - Professor Katherine Flanigan Installs Sensors for Smart Parks Project - June 8, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Professor Katherine Flanigan recently worked with the City of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, and Metro21 to install sensors throughout Mellon Park as part of her Smart & Equitable Parks project to assist city officials and planners in quantifying data-driven returns on potential investments to parks and mobility services.

June 6, 2022 - CMU Student Interns with SEPTA, Thanks to a Transportation Club Visit Earlier this Year - June 6, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University rising Junior, Ken Huang, started his summer internship at SEPTA on June 6.  Growing up in San Francisco, Ken rode transit and liked that he could get to where he wanted to go without worrying about parking or being stuck in the city’s traffic congestion. In 2020, Ken came to CMU to learn more about the technical side of transportation, enrolling in the school’s civil engineering program.  He quickly found the Transportation Club and joined.  This past year, Ken joined the leadership team. During the 2022 spring semester, he participated in a club visit to Philadelphia, where the students visited the University of Pennsylvania (a Mobility21 UTC academic partner) and SEPTA. During the SEPTA tour, Ken asked lots of questions.  The SEPTA staff person suggested Ken apply to work at SEPTA.  The other club leadership encouraged him to follow-up, which he did. And now he is working for SEPTA as a summer intern, assisting with engineering work for various infrastructure projects including bus loops/turn arounds.  He is also interested in transit planning and hopes to get some exposure to that as well.

June 3, 2022 - MetroLab Hosts 2022 Annual Summit - June 3, 2022 MetroLab Network hosted the 2022 Annual Summit in Chicago, IL and featured Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman on three panels.  The summit brought together leaders from across the country to discuss partnerships, mobility and data, and resilience.

June 3, 2022 - Mobility21 Meets with Representatives from Bosch-Germany - June 3, 2022 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar met with representatives Thomas Matschke and Hans-Georg Horst from Bosch-Germany who visited CMU campus and discussed UTC related research and opportunities for collaboration.  This was supported by CMU\'s Carnegie Bosch Institute.

June 3, 2022 - International Conference on Transportation & Development Plenary Features Traffic21 Director - June 2, 2022 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson was a featured speaker during a plenary session at the International Conference on Transportation & Development titled \"Envisioning the Future of Cities and Transportation\" along with Paula Hammond, Senior Vice President and National Transportation Market Leader of WSP USA and Dr. Hani Mahmassani, William A. Patterson Distinguished Chair in Transportation of Northwestern University.

June 2, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Team Provides Final Update on Research Project - June 2, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC researcher Peter Zhang, his students Yidi Miao and Hao Hao, and Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met with community partner Heritage Community Initiatives to provide a final update on the research project, \"Demand learning and supply optimization for last-mile transportation in disadvantaged neighborhoods.\"

June 2, 2022 - Robots Can Learn to Safely Navigate Warehouses - June 2, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Ding Zhao, along with a team of CMU engineers and computer scientists, have been working to develop the warehouse robots of the future.  \"Warehouse robots need to be smart enough to deploy quickly and navigate safely in new dynamic environments.\" - Ding Zhao Read the full story here.

June 2, 2022 - Automated Road Transportation Symposium (ARTS) 2022 Focuses on Infrastructure, Policy and AVs - June 2, 2022 Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council member and chair of the TRB Vehicle-Highway Automation Committee, Jane Lappin, will be hosting the 2022 TRB  Automated Road Transportation Symposium (ARTS).  ARTS convenes global thought leaders from the industry, government and research communities to collaborate on the opportunities and challenges associated with automating road transportation.  US Department of Transportation Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology Robert Hampshire will give the keynote, and 20 interactive “deep-dive” breakout sessions will be held.

June 2, 2022 - University of Pennsylvania Researchers Submit Video for ITS World Congress 2022 Competition - June 1, 2022 Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania researchers Dr. Rahul Mangharam, Dr. Helen Loeb, along with students Xiatao Sun and Zhijie Qiao submitted \"Drive Right: Simulator for Safe Autonomous Driving\" for the ITS World Congress 2022 video competition.  The 2022 video competition asks the question, \"How do you envision disruptive technologies will transform transportation and outcomes for generations leading to greener communities and more resilient systems, increased access and equity, and safer, smarter roads for all?\"

May 31, 2022 - Executive Education – Looking for Your Feedback - May 31, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy offer an executive education program, “Managing AI in Transportation.” The program was developed by the experts at Heinz College’s Traffic21 Institute to explore critical areas that are required for breaking down public and private organizational barriers and understanding how managing AI can benefit key stakeholders throughout the transportation industry. As we continue our planning efforts for future Executive Education Program offerings, we would like to get your feedback.  Please take a few minutes to answer this survey:  Take the survey now. As a thank you, if you include your contact information and decide to sign up for the 2023 Managing AI in Transportation class, you will be able to sign up at the discounted rate.

May 27, 2022 - Traffic21 Researchers Publish Policy Brief - May 27, 2022 Mobility21 researchers Nik Martelaro and Sarah Fox from the Carnegie Mellon University Human-Computer Interaction Institute led a team of researchers in publishing the Traffic21 policy brief, \"How to Make Sense of Bus Transit Automation: Considerations for policy makers on the future of human-automation teaming in the transit workforce.\"  Learn more here.

May 25, 2022 - Mobility21 Highlights the Work of Ding Zhao in U.S. DOT Video - May 25, 2022 Mobility21 UTC produced a video to highlight projects by UTC researcher Ding Zhao for an upcoming U.S. Department of Transportation Forum on  Cybersecurity.  The video focuses on key projects funded by the Mobility21 UTC in which Ding Zhao focuses on trustworthiness, cybersecurity and privacy in transportation applications.  Ph.D. student, Diana Gomez is also featured in the video discussing her role in the lab.

May 24, 2022 - Pennsylvania Chambers of Commerce Join for Annual Meeting and Reception - May 24, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell traveled to state capital Harrisburg, PA, where he participated in the joint Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Chambers of Commerce Annual Meeting and Reception.  Stan met with state legislators and state officials, along with deployment partners to provide updates on UTC impacts and accomplishments.

May 23, 2022 - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2022 Hosts Workshop on Autonomous Racing - May 23, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Rahul Mangharam and Johannes Betz of the Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania hosted the 2nd Workshop on Opportunities and Challenges with Autonomous Racing, hosted by the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.  The main objective of this workshop was to attract the interest of the robotics community on research challenges specific to high-speed autonomous racing.  Watch all of the workshop sessions here.

May 20, 2022 - Mobility21 Executive Director Discusses Research with Aviation Industry Professionals - May 20, 2022 Stan Caldwell provided a tour of CMU, as well as industry automated vehicle research and development sites, to officials from the Allegheny County Airport Authority and Spirit Airlines.  Caldwell discussed his Mobility21 research on emerging transportation technology and industry trends, along with its economic impact on the Pittsburgh region.

May 15, 2022 - Heinz College Students Present Final Capstone and Thesis Presentations - May 15, 2022 Students in the Heinz College MISM and MSISPM programs presented their final capstone projects and thesis presentations over the course of two days, two of which were advised by Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer, and included clients from the US Department of Transportation, PennDOT, and Honda.

May 15, 2022 - Women in Transportation Fellow Hajra Shahab Graduates and Awarded the Barbara Jenkins Service Award - May 15, 2022 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow 2020-2022 Hajra Shahab was the 2022 recipient of the Barbara Jenkins Service Award at the Heinz College graduation ceremony for the class of 2022.  The award is given annually to a graduating student who has demonstrated service to the Heinz College community and made significant contributions to the quality of life for residents in the Pittsburgh region.

May 12, 2022 - The Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Workforce - May 12, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University and CCAC hosted a panel discussion, \"The Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Workforce,\" which included speakers:  Mobility21 UTC partner and CCAC professor Dr. Justin Starr, Joel Reed of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network, Michael Sebetich of Argo AI, and Mark Kamlet of Carnegie Mellon University. The panel dispelled common misconceptions of AI and shared how to work symbiotically with AI.

May 4, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Appointed to IIJA Study on Impacts of AVs - May 4, 2022 As part of the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act, Congress directed the Federal Highway Administration to conduct a study of the impacts of Automated Driving Systems (ADS) in consultation with a defined expert panel.  Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was appointed to this panel as a representative from academia and participated in the initial panel discussion today focused on ADS impacts on the roadway infrastructure.

May 4, 2022 - UTC Researchers Participate in AFL-CIO Workshop at CMU - May 4, 2022 The CMU Block Center for Technology and Society hosted a workshop on campus with the AFL-CIO Technology Institute and the AFL-CIO Industrial Unions Council to discuss impacts of manufacturing technology on the workforce. Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar make a presentation titled \"Perspectives on Alternative Pathways for the Development of Autonomous Vehicles and the Convergence of Connectivity, Electrification and Autonomy\" and other UTC researchers participated including, Nik Martelaro, Sarah Fox and Stan Caldwell. Mobility21 Advisory Council Member Amanda Ballantyne was also particpated and is Director of the AFL-CIO Technology Institute.

May 1, 2022 - Stan Caldwell Appointed to the 100 Questions Initiative on Urban Mobility and Transportation - April 28, 2022 The 100 Questions Initiative seeks to map the world’s 100 most pressing, high-impact questions that could be answered if relevant datasets were leveraged in a responsible manner. This domain is focused on identifying the top 100 questions related to urban transportation and mobility. This work is essential due to the need to steer the use of data more purposefully to better inform decisions on urban development. The GovLab, along with CAF -  Development Bank of Latin America, the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI), and the New Urban Mobility Alliance (NUMO) will collaborate in identifying priorities for the field by creating and sourcing a curated community of “bilinguals” from around the world. Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell was selected as one of the bilinguals and participated in the first panel discussion and formulated questions related to his UTC research.

April 29, 2022 - Traffic21 Institute Launches New Donor Fund        - April 29, 2022 The Director of the Traffic21 Institute, Chris Hendrickson is excited to announce the establishment of a new donor fund at Carnegie Mellon University to support the work at Traffic21.  \"Since 2009, we have conducted research and partnered with the community and industry partners to produce mobility solutions that improve safety, equity and efficiency of transportation systems.  The real world impacts include applications of artificial intelligence helping feed kids during COVID, improvements to traffic signals which reduce emissions from vehicles and smooths motorists travel, and tools that save municipalities money on roadway maintenance.\" The Traffic21 Fund will help support the initiatives  including student education, workforce development,  research deployment, and technology transfer.  Stan Caldwell, Traffic21  Executive Director has helped several researchers transfer their work  into new products, services and companies.  “We are preparing the current and future workforce from high school students to Ph.Ds. with the tools they need to manage emerging transportation technologies.  In addition, we have supported researchers in spinning off seven companies who employ workers and support economic development in our region.” We invite you to be part of the inaugural donor cohort supporting our work.  We will be recognizing this inaugural group of donors at our fall Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium in the fall of 2022. All gifts made through this fund are fully tax-deductible.  Consider making your gift today, https://mobility21.cmu.edu/welcome-to-the-traffic21-fund-page/.

April 27, 2022 - Association of Commuter Transportation Hosts 2022 Future of Commuting Summit - April 26, 2022 Today, the Association of Commuter Transportation 2022 Future of Commuting Summit convened in Pittsburgh, featuring local leaders discussing Transforming the Steel City: Kim Lucas, Managing Director, Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, City of Pittsburgh David Huffaker, Chief Development Officer, Port Authority of Allegheny County Chris Watts, Vice President of District Development, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and Vincent Valdes, Executive Director – President & CEO, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer engaged the speakers in conversation as she moderated the session. Over 110 participants from across the US, Canada, and Costa Rica engaged in the day\'s events.  

April 26, 2022 - CMU Engineering & Public Policy Course Focuses on Transit in the City of Pittsburgh - April 26, 2022 CMU\'s Spring 2022 Engineering and Public Policy Senior Project Course was focused on transit in the City of Pittsburgh and culminated with a poster session highlighting five  group projects.  Mobility21 researcher Destenie Nock was co-instructor of the course and UTC researchers Corey Harper and Stan Caldwell served as advisors and provided feedback throughout the course and at the poster session.  In the photo is Professor Nock and Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure Acting Director Kim Lucas along with some of the students.

April 26, 2022 - Federal Transit Administration’s Chief Innovation Officer Joins Remaking Cities by Design Dialogues - April 25, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Ray Gastil of the Remaking Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University hosted Federal Transit Administration\'s Chief Innovation Officer Karina Ricks on Remaking Cities by Design Dialogues.  Karina discussed new directions for local mobility and new insights since delivering her lecture on mobility justice with the Remaking Cities Institute in the fall of 2021.

April 25, 2022 - Research Recap: Real-Time Traffic Analytics at Intersections - April 25, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Srinivasa Narasimhan\'s project \"Real-Time Traffic Analytics at Intersections.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

April 25, 2022 - Pittsburgh’s Smart Loading Zones Launch Event - April 25, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the ribbon cutting of the City of Pittsburgh\'s new Smart Loading Zone Pilot Project, launched in cooperation with the Pittsburgh Parking Authority and Automotus. Mobility21 researcher Sean Qian is working through a Department of Energy grant to evaluate this pilot.

April 25, 2022 - Carnegie Mellon University Professor Paulina Jaramillo Authors Report for Transportation and Climate Policy - April 25, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering Professor Paulina Jaramillo served as coordinating lead author of the transportation section of the newly released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report for climate policymakers. \"Our chapter includes several cross-cutting boxes, such as how changes in urban form would affect transportation.\" - Paulina Jaramillo Read the full story here.

April 23, 2022 - Carnegie Mellon University’s Transportation Club Hosts Bike Ride - April 23, 2022 Students affiliated with the Carnegie Mellon University Transportation Club recently participated in a bike ride around downtown Pittsburgh. The event allowed students to network with one another, as well as learn about the active transportation network within the city. The group biked for a total of seven miles, beginning at Hamburg Hall at the CMU Campus, then along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail towards the Strip District. The trail follows parts of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio River, and allowed the students to see a unique side of downtown Pittsburgh.

April 22, 2022 - Pittsburgh Robotics Network Hosts The State of Our Autonomous Vehicle Industry - April 22, 2022 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Hajra Shahab and Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the \"The State of Our Autonomous Vehicle Industry\" event hosted by Pittsburgh Robotics Network. \"Seeing industry leaders in the AV space coming together to discuss the future of this technology and the industry at large was an enriching experience. Hearing from leaders from Aurora, Argo AI, Motional, Waymo, and Locomation about the humble beginnings of this technology to full-scale commercialization and IPO listings speaks to how much the industry has grown in a couple of years. It was also quite interesting to see how each industry leader was or has been very closely affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University, particularly the Robotics Institute and University Professor William (Red) L. Whittaker who happens to have mentored almost everyone on the panel during their time at CMU. Professor Red also received the Pittsburgh Robotics Impact Award for his Leadership and Excellence in Robotics at the event.\" - Hajra Shahab

April 22, 2022 - 2022 Pennsylvania Broadband Symposium - April 22, 2022 Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer at the University of Pittsburgh Mark D. Henderson kicked off the 2022 Pennsylvania Broadband Symposium by highlighting technology as the key to unlocking and participating in the economy. Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman moderated the panel \"Access and Technologies,\" which featured: Nathan Flood, President & CEO, KINBER Sam Garfinkel, Executive Director, Meta Mesh Wireless Communities Lance Grable, Director, Office of Planning and Redevelopment, Beaver County Andy Stutzman, Project Director for Civic Technology, ExCITe Center, Drexel University Learn about the symposium and watch the panel here.

April 22, 2022 - Mobility21 Hosts PennDOT’s ‘Moving Forward with STEM’ Discussion - April 22, 2022 The Mobility21 UTC hosted the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Secretary Yassmin Gramian and other leaders in the industry for PennDOT\'s \'Moving Forward with STEM\' panel discussion. Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, opened the event welcoming the panelists and attendees on behalf of Carnegie Mellon University.  He highlighted the university\'s history in STEM and the UTC\'s focus on workforce development. Hajra Shahab, the 2020 - 2022 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow then introduced the panel and the moderator for the event: Matt Blackburn, Senior Manager, Government Relations, Aurora; Rachel Burcin, Manager of Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute Global Programs; Robert Koch, Chair for Community College of Allegheny County Skilled Trades Department and Automotive Ford ASSET program professor; Audrey Russo, CEO Pittsburgh Technology Council  PennDOT District 11 Executive Director Cheryl Moon-Sirianni (moderator)         Panelists then shared their views on the importance of STEM, cultivating the next generation of transportation industry workers, and Pittsburgh’s leading role in the transportation revolution (through higher education institutions and transportation-related technology companies). Additionally, the panel discussed ways to increase diversity and equity in STEM and the transportation workforce. Over 100 national industry leaders from departments of transportation, intermediate units, school districts, higher education institutions, transportation providers, community organizations, industry as well as students registered for the event and participated by submitting questions for the panel. You can view the video of the discussion here.

April 19, 2022 - SWPA Connected Initiative Launches Connectivity Roadmap - April 19, 2022 A briefing was held on Phase 1 Results of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Connected - Equitable Broadband Access Plan for local government officials and foundations who funded the plan.  Mobility21 UTC researchers Jon Peha and Stan Caldwell presented, highlighting the CMU faculty and student contributions to the planning process.

April 14, 2022 - Professor Katherine Flanigan Introduces Sensing in CEE Project Course - April 14, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CMU College of Civil & Environmental Engineering Professor Katherine Flanigan is providing students with hands-on experience to solve complex problems in engineering by introducing the topic of sensing in her course, \"CEE Challenges: Design in a Changing World.\"

April 12, 2022 - Burcu Akinci Named Head of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering - April 12, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Burcu Akinci, Paul Christiano professor and leading researcher in the field of data-driven approaches to construction and infrastructure, has been named the next Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.  Read the full story here.

April 7, 2022 - Metro21 Lunch and Learn: Monitoring Infrastructure - April 7, 2022 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman led a panel of experts to discuss challenges and solutions to current and future infrastructure monitoring.  Panelists included: Burcu Akinci, CMU Civil & Environmental Engineering Katherine Flanigan, CMU Civil & Environmental Engineering Sebastian Scherer, CMU Robotics Institute Benjamin Schmidt, Roadbotics, Inc.

April 6, 2022 - Mobility21 Highlighted to Visiting Delegation from Dortmund - April 6, 2022 A delegation from the City of Dortmund, Germany visited Pittsburgh and CMU, hosted by the Scott Energy Institute, to learn about our work with technology in energy, transportation, food systems, etc.  Stan Caldwell presented an overview of Mobility21, and UTC researchers Don Carter and Ray Gastil presented their research associated with the Remaking Cities Institute.

April 4, 2022 - CMU Adjunct Faculty Member Henry Posner III Is Making History - April 4, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University adjunct faculty member Henry Posner III is making history with his railway, RDC Deutschland, to help transport Ukrainian refugees from the Polish border into Germany.  Read the full article here.

April 4, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Academic Partner Rahul Mangharam to Lead Autoware CoE - April 4, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher, Rahul Mangharam from the University of Pennsylvania will be leading the Autoware Center of Excellence, with the objective of bringing together industry and academia to advance Autonomous Driving technology based on Autoware Open-Source Software. \"The Autoware CoE for autonomous driving was setup because we believe that all machines that move people and goods will have a significant element of autonomy. Our goal is to develop OpenAV software for OpenEV platforms. As electric vehicle platforms get standardized, we produce production-grade open-source autonomy software stacks for systems in logistics, material handling, cargo delivery, last-mile and closed-system transportation solutions. Our team of engineers develop the autonomous driving modules of perception, planning and control to lower the barrier of entry and expand the availability of autonomous driving capability for industry, government and researchers. The CoE is backed by the $14MM DoT Mobility21 National University Transportation Center and serves as a physical developer laboratory for over 60 Autoware partners, DoT projects and University of Pennsylvania\'s robotics researchers.\" - Rahul Mangharam Read the full article here.

April 1, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Participate in NSBE 48th Annual Convention - April 1, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Dr. Destenie Nock and Dr. Corey Harper participated in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) 48th Annual Convention in Anaheim, CA.  NSBE is one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the United States.

March 25, 2022 - Freight Mobility Research Institute Hosts 7th Annual UTC Conference for the Southeastern Region - March 25, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Pingbo Tang\'s UTC research project, \"Towards Data-Driven and Continuous Safety Inspection of Commercial Trucks and Trailers\" was presented by his student, Chenyu Yuan, at the 7th Annual UTC Conference for the Southeastern Region in Boca Raton, FL.  The goal of the conference was to disseminate information about UTC research and encourage collaboration on future projects.

March 25, 2022 - Research Recap: Synthesis of Research Results and Technology Trends to Inform Federal, State, Regional and Local Policies for Smart Mobility of People and Goods: Phase 3 - March 25, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Stan Caldwell and Chris Hendrickson\'s project \"Synthesis of Research Results and Technology Trends to Inform Federal, State, Regional and Local Policies for Smart Mobility of People and Goods: Phase 3.\"  Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

March 24, 2022 - Mobility21 Participated in Fifth Annual WTS Pittsburgh Chapter Scholarship Gala - March 24, 2022 CMU students Hajra Shahab, Maggie Harger, and Sreya Vangala, joined by Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer, participated in the Fifth Annual Women in Transportation Pittsburgh Scholarship event.  Attendees enjoyed an evening of networking with current and future transportation industry professionals and leaders and celebrated their achievements.

March 23, 2022 - Rail-Volution Hosts Webinar “Communicating to a Changing Rider Base” - March 23, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Megan Ryerson from the University of Pennsylvania joined an expert panel in the field of transportation for a Rail-Volution webinar, \"Communicating to a Changing Rider Base.\"  The webinar addressed changing ridership patterns and priorities for transit service delivery.

March 23, 2022 - Can Pittsburgh Have Mobility and Justice for All? - March 23, 2022 Mobility21 Women in Transportation Fellow 2018-2020 Bonnie Fan, along with Paul O\'Hanlon from the advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit talked about what it would be like to create a more equitable transit system for everybody with City Cast Pittsburgh\'s Senior producer Megan Harris and newsletter editor Francesca Dabecco.  Read the report here or listen to the interview on Apple Podcasts here.  

March 22, 2022 - Utilizing School Bus Routes and Machine Learning to Deliver Meals to Families in Need in Award Winning - March 22, 2022 Professor Steve Smith\'s Mobility21 UTC and Metro21 project, \"Utilizing School Bus Routes and Machine Learning to Deliver Meals to Families in Need\" has been named winner in the IDC Government Insights’ Fifth Annual Smart Cities North America Awards in the field of public health and social services.  With 20 municipalities recognized, IDC said it demonstrates the commitment by local government officials and technology suppliers in collaborating to develop smart city initiatives for the betterment of all.

March 22, 2022 - Teachers Bring Robotics to Special Education Classrooms Celebrating Champions for Access - March 22, 2022 Hundreds more students across the region are now experiencing robotics thanks to innovative teachers and a partnership with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU). Through a two-part pilot series designed by the AIU & Carnegie Mellon, educators developed and piloted a series of robotic activities & lesson plans for special education and life skills classrooms. Lead schools participating in the pilot included: Baldwin High School, Carlynton High School, Friendship Academy, Hampton Township High School, Northgate High School, Norwin High School, Quaker Valley High School, and Steel Valley High School. The Allegheny Intermediate Unit project lead, Dr. Heather Moschetta, who also volunteers as a Special Olympics coach, described the importance and excitement of bringing this content to a broader range of students: “It is unfortunate that some of our learners lack access to STEM fields such as robotics. The goal of this project is to make robotics content accessible to students who otherwise may not have had the opportunity. The teachers who participated created amazing activities and lessons that can expand access for many, many students in the future.” The activities and lesson plans build upon the Emmy-nominated PBS Learning Robot Doctor television series created in 2020 by WQED Media, Robowits, LLC. (a Mobility21 UTC Deployment partner), Carnegie Mellon University faculty and staff, and PA Rural Robotics with support by the  Pennsylvania Department of Education. Neurodiversity Week is March 21 -27 and World Autism Day is April 2.

March 21, 2022 - U.S. DOT RD&T Video Forum on Artificial Intelligence - March 21, 2022 The U.S. Department of Transportation\'s University Transportation Centers  program as part of the Office of Research, Development and Technology, in collaboration with the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, hosted a video and discussion forum today, focusing on emerging technologies and research in transportation. Mobility21 UTC researcher Steve Smith\'s video highlighting the use of artificial intelligence to solve real-world transportation problems was featured during this program. Access the forum recording here.

March 18, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection featuring Helen Loeb - March 18, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Helen Loeb.   She discussed her project, “Self-Driving Technology and \'Trust\' - Can a Driving Simulator Help?”  Watch her presentation here.

March 17, 2022 - Pennsylvania Holds Legislative Hearing on HAVs - March 17, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell attended a field hearing on pending highly automated vehicle legislation with the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee.  The hearing was held at the Westmoreland County Community College Advanced Technology Center at RIDC Westmoreland. Stan had the opportunity to meet with state legislators, as well as labor and industry officials to discuss his UTC research on emerging transportation technology policy.

March 15, 2022 - Fellows Attend Argo AI Self Driven Women Early Talent Summit - March 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC\'s Women in Transportation Fellows Hajra Shahab and Maggie Harger participated in Argo AI\'s Women\'s History Month celebration at the self-driving tech startup. The Self-Driven Women Early Talent Summit brought together women from STEAM backgrounds who have a shared passion for the technology industry. The event allowed  attendees to learn about Argo AI, the self-driving industry, and the ever evolving transportation sector in general. The event included a panel discussion comprising of female leadership at Argo AI, followed by a keynote session by Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer Summer Craze Fowler, who is also a professor at Carnegie Mellon.

March 15, 2022 - Mobility21 Director Joins Insight LiDAR’s Technical Advisory Board - March 15, 2022 Mobility21 UTC  Director Raj Rajkumar has been named to Insight LiDAR\'s Technical Advisory Board to support their development of next-generation, long-range FMCW LiDAR for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and the Autonomous Vehicles market.  Read the full story here.

March 14, 2022 - SXSW Panel on Driving AV Technology Forward for Citizens - March 14, 2022 Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar participated in the South by Southwest conference, along with Mobility21 Advisory Council member Yassmin Gramian, PennDOT Secretary of Transportation, Courtney Ehrlichman of Panasonic Smart Mobility, and Andrew Woelfling of Argo AI to discuss \"Driving AV Technology Forward for Citizens.\" The panel highlighted how the public, private, and academic sectors in Pennsylvania are working together to grow the autonomy industry safely in the state.

March 12, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Women in Transportation Fellows & Transportation Club Members Build Connections with Academic Partner - March 10-12, 2022 Mobility21 UTC\'s Women in Transportation Fellows Hajra Shahab and Maggie Harger, along with members of the Carnegie Mellon University Transportation Club board, Ken Huang, Brian Hsu and Rajanikant Tenguria  traveled to meet with students from Mobility21\'s academic partner, the University of Pennsylvania. The purpose of this visit was to learn about the academics, research activities and build connections with the students at Penn. During their visit, the students had the opportunity to participate in an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority\'s (SEPTA) regional rail network and office headquarters in downtown Philadelphia. [SEPTA is the regional transit agency for the City of Philadelphia, serving five counties in the Greater Philadelphia area and connecting to transit systems in Delaware and New Jersey. It’s services include regional rail, buses, trolleys, subway and a high-speed line to western suburbs.] One of the highlights  was touring the SEPTA command center, where employees were planning transportation logistics related to President Biden\'s upcoming visit to Philadelphia. Additionally, students were given a tour of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and the Fisher Fine Arts Library at Penn. Of the trip, Ken Huang said, \"I really enjoyed meeting students at Penn who were equally interested in public transportation as I am. I also learned a lot from our tour of the SEPTA system and control center. This was a great opportunity to better understand how a large transit agency keeps its daily operations safe and smooth, something that I\'ve always thought about as I ride with my local transit agency.\" Rajanikant Tenguria added, \"The trip perfectly combined practical learning and the much needed spring break. It was helpful to understand the intricacies of the SEPTA network directly from the headquarters. It was a great bonding and networking event within CMU and Penn\'s Transportation Clubs as we were able to share knowledge and learn from each other.\" Finally, Brian Hsu stated, \"Touring SEPTA’s system and their control center showed us the impact technology has on public transit operations now and provided us insight into how technology can be leveraged for transit operations in the future. It was great to network with students at the University of Pennsylvania who share similar interests in transportation.” Overall, the students look forward to future networking opportunities, and plan to keep in touch with those who they met at the University of Pennsylvania. * This visit was conceived in January 2022 when students had the opportunity to meet at the 101st Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. *

March 10, 2022 - New Videos Available — Learn More About the History of NAVLAB - March 10, 2022 [caption id=\"attachment_24258\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"] https://www.ri.cmu.edu/robotics-groups/navlab/[/caption] Watch an interview with NAVLAB’s John Kozar, Engineer & Manager (retired) and Christoph Mertz, Principal Project Scientist to learn more about the history of NAVLAB. The interview was conducted on January 27, 2022, by Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Traffic21 Institute and the Mobility21 University Transportation Center. The interview was edited into several topic areas: History of NavLab: https://youtu.be/wmrYZMbH-FM Changes in Technology: https://youtu.be/JRjG0rP9-v4 NavLab, Roadway Maintenance & Roadbotics: https://youtu.be/qYOHOS0_ooo Thoughts on the Future: https://youtu.be/ns2jiPkAoKE Advice for Students: https://youtu.be/JAx4c-7wLLM Looking Back – Lessons Learned: https://youtu.be/eStc0Jzq9w8 Final Thoughts: https://youtu.be/E_cLM2XGgW8   “The Carnegie Mellon University Navigation Laboratory group builds computer-controlled vehicles for automated and assisted driving. Since 1984, [they] have built a series of robot cars, vans, SUVs, and buses. More recent research of Navlab expand to smart infrastructure, focusing on machine vision application and affordable sensors.” - https://www.ri.cmu.edu/robotics-groups/navlab/ https://www.ri.cmu.edu/robot/navlab-i/ Additional background on NAVLAB can be found in the article “How a big blue van from 1986 paved the way for self-driving cars” written by Shubham Agarwal and published February 5, 2022 on Digital Trends.

March 4, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Yang Cai - March 4, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai.   He discussed his project, “Improve Mobility for Low-Vision People with Augmented Reality.”

March 4, 2022 - UMass INFORMS Speaker Series Features Destenie Nock - March 4, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock  presented at the OIM and UMass INFORMS Speaker Series. Dr. Nock presented a study that investigates bus ridership from April to September of 2020 and the risk of contracting COVID-19 on the bus by combining a transportation data analysis and an epidemiological model of COVID-19 risk.

March 4, 2022 - Rachel Burcin Has Been Named a 2022 Pennsylvania STEM Ambassador - March 4, 2022 Rachel Burcin (HNZ ‘07), Robotics Institute Global Programs Manager of Carnegie Mellon University, has been accepted as one of 19 ambassadors in the Pennsylvania STEM Ambassador 2022 Program.  Over the course of the next 10 months, Rachel will partner with state-wide education advocates to shape STEM education in the commonwealth by targeting vital policy conversations to legislative leadership in the areas of STEM Learning ecosystems, computer science, state and federal policy for formal and informal education, and workforce needs.  Rachel is a Mobility21 education and workforce development partner working to expand access to robotics research and education programs. “The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a leader in STEM and, to maintain that edge, we must develop leaders to advocate for bipartisan support in advancing, impactful STEM education policies,” said Steven Williams, associate director of the Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network (PSAYDN).  “The PA STEM Ambassadors are vital to shaping STEM education and workforce policies. They played a role in shaping PAsmart and the landscape of STEM Learning Ecosystems.”

March 3, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Highlighted in Course for Building Managers - March 3, 2022 The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Pittsburgh Chapter hosted a continuing education credit course for property managers, owners and  brokers real estate license renewal.  In a session on drone technology, Stan Caldwell presented his UTC research on industry trends and potential impacts of advanced air mobility and was joined by Pittsburgh based drone company AERAS, who discussed their innovative drone applications for buildings.

March 3, 2022 - Mobility21 Researcher Studies Micromobility Infrastructure - March 3, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Corey Harper is studying how micromobility can affect traffic congestion and how to achieve climate change targets set forth by the federal government.  Read the full article here.

March 1, 2022 - Prototype Drone Designed to Monitor Bridges and Other Infrastructure - March 1, 2022 Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University\'s Robotics Institute, led by Kris Kitani, and involving UTC researcher Sebastian Scherer, are working with Shimizu Corp., a Tokyo-based construction and civil engineering company to enable automated systems to more accurately detect and monitor cracks in reinforced concrete. Read the full story here.

March 1, 2022 - UTC Researcher Erick Guerra Published in Journal of Transport and Land Use - March 1, 2022 An article about Mobility21 UTC and University of Pennsylvania researcher Erick Guerra\'s project, \"What the Heck is a Choice Rider? A Theoretical Framework and Empirical Model\" was featured in the Journal of Transport and Land Use.  Access the article here.

February 28, 2022 - Remaking Cities by Design Interviews Chris Reed of Stoss Landscape Urbanism - February 28, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Ray Gastil interviewed Chris Reed of Stoss Landscape Urbanism on remakingcitiesinstitute on Instagram Live to discuss how a commitment to urbanism can help to rethink and remake cities.

February 25, 2022 - Transportation Club Hosts Annual Career Panel - February 25, 2022 The Transportation Club hosted its annual \"Careers in Transportation\" panel discussion, moderated by Jocelyn Malik of Heinz College, with panelists joining from the public and private sector including: Amitai Bin-Nun, Senior Research Scientist, Motional Lauren Doyle, Environmental Scientist, SAI Consulting Ellie Newman, Section Mgr. of Service Development, Allegheny County Port Authority Students from different different colleges within CMU attended to learn how each panelist paved their career path, projects that keep them engaged, and potential opportunities for young professionals in the transportation sector. Several key themes within transportation caught the audience\'s attention and were the subject of the question and answer session, including the on-time public transit performance, bus scheduling, sustainable transportation, growing autonomous vehicles industry and environmental frameworks for transportation infrastructure.

February 23, 2022 - Research Recap: Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES – III) - February 23, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Venkat Viswanathan\'s project \"Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES - III).\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

February 22, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Project “Vehicle and Pedestrian Trajectory and Gap Estimation for Traffic Conflict Prediction” by Alexander Hauptmann Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - February 22, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Alexander Hauptmann\'s UTC project, \"Vehicle and Pedestrian Trajectory and Gap Estimation for Traffic Conflict Prediction\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the Research Roundup section.  Read the newsletter here.

February 18, 2022 - Career Day at 2022 Pittsburgh Auto Show - February 18, 2022 Mobility21 UTC academic partner Community College of Allegheny County and the Greater Pittsburgh Auto Show once again held “Career Day at the Auto Show.\"  This event promotes the automotive technician trade and what’s coming in the future for these potential technicians.  The event was attended by over 300 local high schools juniors and seniors enrolled in automotive programs at Career and Technology Centers. These students also had the opportunity to attend the electric drive event sponsored by Duquesne Light, which featured Ford electric vehicles. Students and attendees were able to drive an electric vehicle around an oval short track inside the Pittsburgh Convention Center.

February 17, 2022 - 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship Awarded to Fei Fang - February 17, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Fei Fang was among 118 others who have been awarded the 2022 Sloan Research Fellowship, which honors early career scholars whose achievements put them among the very best scientific minds today.  Read the full story here.

February 17, 2022 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Helps Presents ‘Mobility for Who?’ - February 17, 2022 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow 2018-2020 Bonnie Fan, along with other members of Pittsburgher\'s for Public Transit, presented \"Mobility for Who? Rebuilding Bridges to Transportation Justice\" to discuss ways to make transit accessibility equitable for all.

February 16, 2022 - US State and Commerce Department Delegation Visit on Energy and Smart Cities - February 16, 2022 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman presented the work of Metro21, Traffic21, Mobility21 and the Mobility Data Analytics Center to the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Vassilev, the U.S. Embassy of Bulgaria, Bulgaria\'s trade delegation, and members of the Department of Energy\'s International Affairs to discuss smart city initiatives for economic competitiveness and sustainability.

February 16, 2022 - FCC Appoints Jon Peha for 2022 Technological Advisory Committee - February 16, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha has been selected to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Technological Advisory Council (TAC) for 2022.  The TAC is comprised of a diverse array of leading experts that will help the FCC identify important areas of innovation and develop informed technology policies supporting America’s competitiveness and job creation in the global economy.

February 15, 2022 - February 2022 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting Held - February 15, 2022 Mobility21 hosted the first UTC faculty meeting of the spring 2022 semester. The discussion included updates from Mobility21 academic partners, as well as a presentation by Patrick Carrington.

February 15, 2022 - Stan Caldwell Receives 2022 CUTC – ARTBA Award for Administrative Leadership - February 15, 2022 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell received the CUTC - ARTBA Award for Administrative Leadership, which recognizes outstanding administrative leadership contributions to the transportation field by non-academic appointments.  View the acceptance video here.

February 14, 2022 - DOE ARPA-E OPEN 2021 Program Awards CMU $3.2 Million - February 14, 2022 The U.S. Department of Energy\'s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program announced funding awards for 68 research & development projects.  Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan was part of the awarded funding, alongside his team led by Cornell University focused on developing an electrochemically-formed, carbon-favorable cement technology known as ADVENT.  Read about the winning projects here.

February 11, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Applied to NCHRP Project - February 11, 2022 Stan Caldwell was invited to join a Transportation Research Board  National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) workshop for  Project 20-126(01) Developing a Research Program for Programmatic Issues of Future System Performance.  Stan applied his research in emerging transportation technology policy and industry trends to help develop research problem statements for the project.

February 11, 2022 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Mark McCord - February 11, 2022 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Mark McCord.   He discussed his project, co-authored with Rabi Mishalani, Benjamin Coifman, Harsh Shah, and Shahrzad Charmchi Toosi of The Ohio State University, “Monitoring Roadway Vehicle Miles Traveled using Video Imagery from Transit Buses in Operational Use.”  Watch his presentation here.

February 3, 2022 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellows Participate in WTS Event - February 3, 2022 Women in Transportation fellows with the Traffic21 institute at Carnegie Mellon, Hajra Shahab and Maggie Harper, participated in the WTS Pittsburgh Chapter meeting at the Engineers Society of Western Pennsylvania. The fellows were able to connect with female professionals in the transportation industry, and better understand the variety of career paths available in the transportation sector.

February 2, 2022 - Stan Caldwell Awarded ITSPA Person of the Year - February 2, 2022 Traffic21/Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell received the Person of the Year Award from the Intelligent Transportation Society of Pennsylvania.  Stan serves as a founding member of the Unmanned Aerial Systems Task Force with the vision of \"safe and strategic integration of UAS technologies in Pennsylvania\'s transportation system.\"  He also serves on the ITSA Broadband Deployment Task Force, the ITSA AV Safety Task Force, and is the chair of the ITSA Standing Committee on Emerging Technologies.

February 1, 2022 - Research Recap: Accessibility with GetGoing - February 1, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Maxine Eskenazi, Alan Black, and Yulan Feng\'s project \"Accessibility with GetGoing.\" Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

February 1, 2022 - IN2 2022 Channel Partner Strategic Award & Funding - February 1, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researchers Corey Harper and Destenie Nock of the Scott Institute have been selected for an IN2 2022 Channel Partner Strategic Award, to examine how the deployment of EV charging infrastructure will impact disaster response performance metrics across low and high-income communities in emergency evacuation scenarios.  Read about all of the winners here.

January 26, 2022 - U.S. DOT Hosts Virtual Workshops to Showcase Inclusive Design Challenge Prototypes - January 24 & 26, 2022 The US Department of Transportation hosted two virtual workshops - January 24 and January 26 - to showcase current prototypes under development by the Inclusive Design Challenge semi-finalist teams, including Carnegie Mellon University. Stage I of the Challenge requested written proposals describing the design solution and semifinalists were announced in January 2021.  Stage II had Semifinalists provide an update on their progress. Final demonstration and prizes are expected to be awarded in summer 2022.

January 25, 2022 - Endgame: Decarbonization-How Do We Get There Features Mobility21 UTC Researcher - January 25, 2022 Dr. Jeremy Michalek, Mobility21 UTC researcher, Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Engineering and Public Policy and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Director of Vehicle Electrification Group joins a panel discussion on national decarbonization strategies for The Block Center for Technology and Society and the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.

January 25, 2022 - SAFE Welcomes Allante’ Whitmore as Director of Autonomous Vehicle Initiative - January 25, 2022 SAFE has announced that former Mobility21 Diversity Fellow Allanté Whitmore has been named Director of their Autonomous Vehicle Initiative, leading efforts to advocate for well-thought out and safe policy solutions to advance critical AV technology. Read more here.

January 20, 2022 - Mobility21 Researcher Presents “Managing AI in Transportation” to DVRPC - January 20, 2022 Mobility21 researcher Stan Caldwell presented an overview of the Traffic21/Heinz College Executive Education Course “Managing AI in Transportation” to 35 participants from New Jersey and Pennsylvania at the quarterly meeting of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) Transportation Operations Task Force Meeting.  This is a quarterly meeting that DVRPC facilitates to bring their various transportation partners together that provides an opportunity for agencies to coordinate and share information regarding their TSMO Programs, and share information about new and innovative technologies or best practices.

January 19, 2022 - 6th Annual Smart Cities Technology International Symposium Focuses on Infrastructure - January 19, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Community College of Allegheny County Professor of Advanced Technology Justin Starr participated in a panel discussion about the risks and security concerns where AI meets critical infrastructure at the 6th Annual Smart Cities Technology International Symposium. Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman also hosted a panel at the symposium entitled \"Smart Isn\'t Smart Enough - Redefining the Smart City Through Co-Creative Partnership,\" where the discussion focused on how the  pandemic has shone a bright light on the inequities that lie within our communities, particularly low-income communities and communities of color, and we must turn our focus to creating equitable and sustainable communities for all through co-creative partnerships between academia, government, non-profit and the private sectors. View the panel sessions here.

January 18, 2022 - CMU Faculty Receive Navy NEPTUNE Partnership for Hydrogen Electrolysis and Battery Research - January 18, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan, along with his colleagues, have been honored to be the research leads for the Office of Naval Research (ONR 33) NEPTUNE program research team at Carnegie Mellon University.  Read the full story here.

January 14, 2022 - UTC Students Attend Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting - January 14, 2022 Students from 3 of the academic partners of Mobility21, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pennsylvania and The Ohio State University  attended the Transportation Research Board’s 101st Annual Conference in Washington, DC.  The conference offers an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in transportation research, policy, and innovative practices from across the world. Highlights of the event included remarks from keynote speaker, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on the state of transportation policy in America, emerging challenges, poster presentations on a variety of topics including transportation demand modeling, automated vehicles, emerging technologies and lectern sessions on maintaining equity across transportation systems. The students also met for a networking dinner where they shared experiences working and learning about the field of transportation.

January 14, 2022 - Students Share Their Experiences at the TRB Annual Meeting - January 14, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University students & transportation club members, Donner Kahl and Ibraheem Ameer attended the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. \"I had the opportunity to listen to and engage with policy experts and industry professionals. For me, one of the sessions that stood out was about mobility in the developing world. The discussion varied from models that have worked previously, introduction of new micro mobility options, to the sustainability of these practices to improve mobility for more people in these countries ...I not only got to connect with industry experts but also got this amazing opportunity to become associated with a committee at the conference.\" - Ibraheem Ameer \"I met industry leaders in measuring the economic impact of infrastructure developments. Sessions included collaborations between professionals to develop practical community engagement plans for urban transportation improvements. Speakers addressed a range of topics, including discussing the importance of public outreach for automated vehicle adoption. The influence of Traffic21 and CMU was apparent during my conversations with researchers and businesses. Mentions of the institute, university, or professors received nods of recognition and engaging inquiries....The annual meeting acted as a station where I learned about the exciting opportunities and relationships within transportation and from which I can take the line that best suits my interests and abilities...\" - Donner Kahl

January 12, 2022 - Best Presentation Award at Workshop on Doctoral Research in Transportation Analysis, Planning and Policy Goes to Mobility21 Diversity Fellow - January 12, 2022 Mobility21 Diversity Fellow Allante\' Whitmore was selected for a Best Presentation Award for the Workshop on Doctoral Research in Transportation Analysis, Planning and Policy at the TRB Annual Meeting.

January 12, 2022 - Transportation Demand Management Showcase at TRB Annual Meeting - January 10 & 11, 2022 On January 10, Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer presided over the Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Showcase at the 2022 TRB Annual Meeting.  The poster session highlighted new TDM strategies, advanced modeling techniques, and innovative visions for the next generation of demand management, both from employer and worker perspectives.  Schweyer is a new member of the TRB TDM Committee and she also participated in the committee meeting held January 11.

January 11, 2022 - CMU Block Center Highlights Work of Mobility21 UTC Researcher Sarah Fox - January 11, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sarah Fox and her colleagues were recently spotlighted by CMU’s Block Center for Technology and Society for their work on Hospitality Workers in the Age of Automation.  Read the full blog post here.

January 11, 2022 - Carnegie Mellon University Honored with the CUTC Technology Transfer Leadership Award at 2022 Winter Meeting - January 10, 2022 At the 2022 CUTC Winter Meeting and Awards Banquet tonight,  Carnegie Mellon University was awarded the Council of University Transportation Center\'s 2021 Technology Transfer Leadership Award for its efforts through its Mobility21 University Transportation Center.  Watch the acceptance video here. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) launched the Traffic21 Institute in 2009 with the motto of \"Research, Development and Deployment\" to connect cutting edge research being done at the university with \"real-world\" transportation practitioners and challenges they faced. With dramatic changes in the field of transportation driven by rapid advancements in information and communications technologies, CMU recognized that researchers doing work in transportation were housed in many departments of engineering including civil and environmental, electrical and computer, mechanical, systems, etc.  Furthermore, there were researchers from other disciplines including computer science, robotics, public policy, business, architecture and design, etc.  Therefore, CMU has kept this transportation research funding open to all faculty in the university. The technology transfer program is designed to: Reach out to public and private transportation practitioners to identify real-world problems. Share those real world problems with researchers. When there is alignment, connect researcher with practitioner to jointly scope out a research project that can be pilot deployed in the field. Identify research funding. Support the research and pilot deployment. In successful deployments, support transfer of the technology or policy research for agency adoption or commercialization. Support faculty with their spin off companies. Continue to re-engage with deployment partners. The program began in 2010 with seed funding from the Hillman Foundation, 12 researchers and 20 deployment partners. Researchers are supported by CMU\'s Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.  In 2021 the Mobility21 UTC sponsored two Swartz Center Innovation Fellows who were working on spin off companies. By and large, what attracts entrepreneurial professors and students to CMU is a liberating technology commercialization philosophy.  This underlying philosophy, dubbed \"Five Percent, Go in Peace\" serves as CMU\'s technology transfer model and is the driving force behind Greenlighting Startups. Developed on the Carnegie Mellon campus, \"Five Percent, Go in Peace\" is a first-of-its-kind spinoff-model for academia that has, itself, become one of the university\'s great inventions. \"The goal of Five Percent, Go In Peace, was to create a transparent, expedient and easy to understand process that minimizes extensive negotiations,\" said Carnegie Mellon Provost and Executive Vice President Mark S. Kamlet. \"Through this unique model, we have simplified our approach to free entrepreneurs so they can do what they do best.\" There have been six spin off companies at CMU that were supported by UTC research. With support from the US DOT University Transportation Centers program, CMU and its Traffic21 Institute has grown its original 20 deployment partners into a formal Deployment Partner Consortium with over 180 active public, private and non-profit members.  An annual symposium is held to continually foster the collaboration among students and researchers along with their research deployment partners. Deployment partners are invited to participate in a seminar series, the Smart Mobility Connection, held throughout the school year where research is highlighted and networking is enabled.   Partners are also subscribed to the Smart Transportation Dispatch which is a weekly email newsletter of transportation technology news from CMU and around the world. CMU has demonstrated the scalability of this model within the university through the growth of the consortium and its reach into students and faculty across the campus. Starting in 2015 CMU began applying this deployment partner model nationally with other UTCs.  Using the annual consortium symposium as a model, CMU sponsored the first National Safety Summit of University Transportation Centers in Pittsburgh, convening a national group of public and private transportation leaders to discuss real-world problems and inviting over a dozen other UTCs to highlight their research.  In the second year this event was moved to Washington, DC to further engage a national audience of partners and UTCs from across the nation.  CMU has hosted a total of six national summits under the themes of safety and mobility. When the US DOT UTC program required UTCs to develop and implement formal technology transfer plans, CMU’s Technology Transfer Plan was recognized by US DOT as one of two model programs and shared with other UTCs.

January 9, 2022 - Council of University Transportation Centers Awards Lifetime Achievement Award to Al Biehler - January 9, 2022 Former Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Institute Executive Director, Al Biehler was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Transportation Professional and Public Service by the Council of University Transportation Centers. As his nomination states: \"Al has had a long and distinguished career of professional and public service. He served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation as well as having a lengthy career of service at the Pittsburgh region Port Authority of Allegheny County transit agency. He has been President of AASHTO and a member of the Executive Committees of both APTA and TRB. Al served eight years a PennDOT Secretary and implemented a Smart Transportation program which streamlined and stabilized the Commonwealth\'s transit program, accelerated PennDOT\'s highway project delivery processes, and ensured that highway projects became assets for the surrounding community. He co-founded the State Smart Transportation Initiative and currently serves on the Executive Board. After finishing his appointment as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Transportation in 2011, Carnegie Mellon was fortunate to attract Al as a Distinguished Service Professor and [the first] Executive Director of the...Traffic21 Institute.\" View Mr. Biehler\'s acceptance speech here.

January 8, 2022 - Mobility21 UTC Honors “Student of the Year” Rick Grahn at 31st Annual Awards Ceremony - January 8, 2022 Carnegie Mellon University student Rick Grahn was honored tonight as Mobility21 University Transportation Center\'s “Student of the Year” at the Council of University Transportation Center\'s annual awards event. Annually, the United States Department of Transportation honors the most outstanding student from each participating University Transportation Center for his/her achievements and promise for future contributions to the transportation field. Students of the year are selected based on their accomplishments in such areas as technical merit and research, academic performance, professionalism, and leadership. Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 Institute houses Mobility21, the National University Transportation Center for Improving Mobility. Students from CMU, University of Pennsylvania, The Ohio State University, or Community College of Allegheny County were eligible for the Mobility21 UTC nomination. Meet our winner: Rick Grahn, the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center for Improving Mobility Student of the Year. Rick Grahn is a research assistant working under Dr. Sean Qian and Dr. Chris Hendrickson in the Mobility Data Analytics Center. His research interests include shared modes and public transit, with a focus on how to best integrate new technologies to improve their efficiency, accessibility, and reliability in both urban and rural settings. Rick is looking forward to a career in research addressing sustainability and equity issues within the transportation system. He is also a registered professional engineer in California. In 2021, Rick published a paper in Transportation Research Part C and a paper in ASCE: Journal of Infrastructure Systems. Educating, recruiting and training new workers is critical to managing our country’s infrastructure safely and efficiently.  Mobility21 strives to help develop a transportation workforce capable of designing and maintaining the complex transportation systems of tomorrow. Help us congratulate our 2022 UTC Student of the Year! To learn more about the University Transportation Centers’ Student of the Year awards please click here.

January 7, 2022 - Research Recap: Smart Glasses for Improving Mobility of Low Vision People (Phase Two) - January 7, 2022 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Yang Cai\'s project \"Smart Glasses for Improving Mobility of Low Vision People (Phase Two).\"  Recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

January 5, 2022 - TVS Motor Company Appoints Venkat Viswanathan as Technical Advisor - January 5, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Venkat Viswanathan was recently appointed as Technical Advisor for electric mobility by TVS Motor Company.  Prof. Viswanathan is also a technical advisor and Scientific Advisory Board Member at QuantumScape, a company developing next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles.  

January 5, 2022 - Traffic21 and CMU Host Senator Wayne Langerholc Jr. at Mill19 - January 5, 2022 Traffic21 and Carnegie Mellon University welcomed Senator Wayne Langerholc, Jr. at Mill 19  to unveil SB 965, legislation that would permit AV companies to test vehicles meeting autonomy levels 3, 4 or 5 of SAE International\'s J3016 parameters for automated driving systems. Also in attendance at the press conference were CMU President Farnam Jahanian, PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian, Senator Jay Costa, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, and many others. Watch the full press conference here.

January 4, 2022 - Mobility21 Research Project “Safe Intersection Crossing for Pedestrians with Disabilities” by Steve Smith Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - January 4, 2022 Mobility21 UTC researcher Steve Smith\'s UTC project, \"Safe Intersection Crossing for Pedestrians with Disabilities\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the Research Roundup section.  Read the newsletter here.

December 28, 2021 - Latest Consequential Podcast on Transit of the Future Features UTC Researchers - December 28, 2021 Public transportation is one of the most critical aspects of our infrastructure, but it is also one of the most imperiled and underfunded. This episode looks at how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan\'s historic investment in public transit and other targeted policymaking can build the transportation systems of the future, with guests and UTC researchers Stan Caldwell and Corey Harper, as well as Eric Goldwyn, and Anthony Foxx. Consequential is a Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University podcast that looks at the human side of technological change and develops meaningful plans of action for policymakers, technologists and everyday people to build the kind of future that reduces inequality, improves quality of life and considers humanity. In its third season, Consequential will examine how AI and machine learning will impact research practices and data collection, as well as the development and dissemination of knowledge. Topics will include combatting disinformation, the ethics of crowdsourced research, and representation in open source software development. Hosted by Lauren Prastien and Eugene Leventhal.

December 21, 2021 - New Policy Report on “How COVID-19 Affects Major Trends and Forces Shaping The Future of Transportation” - December 21, 2021 Stan Caldwell applied his UTC research on emerging transportation technology policy in support of a year-long advisory round-table exploring  “How COVID-19 Affects Major Trends and Forces Shaping The Future of Transportation” for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian.  CMU Heinz College Master of Public Policy and Management student Erick Shiring served as research assistant throughout the project to PennDOT Senior Policy Advisor and report lead Roger Cohen.  Mobility21 UTC research Professor Megan Ryerson from the University of Pennsylvania also served on this round-table advisory group and applied her UTC research. Research & Policy Papers - Traffic21 - A transportation research institute of Carnegie Mellon University - Carnegie Mellon University (cmu.edu)

December 21, 2021 - National Academies Releases New Report on Improving Safety of ‘Duck Boats’ - December 20, 2021 The National Academies released a new report on improving safety of ‘Duck Boats’ used for commercial passenger service, called Options for Improving the Safety of DUKW Type Amphibious Vessels.   The review of the report was overseen by Traffic21 Director and Mobility21 researcher, Chris Hendrickson, and Craig Philip of Vanderbilt University.

December 17, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Presents Keynote to Chinese Overseas Transportation Association (COTA) - December 17, 2021 Chris Hendrickson,  Director of the Traffic21 Institute and researcher in the Mobility21 UTC, presented a keynote talk on \"Recent ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering Editorials\" for the Chinese Overseas Transportation Association (COTA) during the opening ceremony of the 21st COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals.  Watch the his keynote presentation here.

December 16, 2021 - Emerging Transportation Technology Trends Shared with High School Students and Teachers - December 16, 2021 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC Executive Director & researcher, presented a session on his emerging transportation technology policy research to high school students and faculty from suburban and rural school districts throughout western Pennsylvania.  The event titled Automotive Technician Scholarship Contest & Student / Instructor Transportation Update was sponsored by Bob Koch from Mobility21 UTC academic partner, Community College of Allegheny County and held at their West Hills Campus Automotive Technology Center.  There were 62 attendees, 39 of which competed for scholarships.

December 15, 2021 - Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman Redefines the “Smart” in Smart City - December 15, 2021 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman\'s recent blog for Pittsburgh Region defines smart cities of the past, and provides a thoughtful path forward for more connected, equitable and sustainable cities of the future. Read the full blog here.

December 13, 2021 - Honda Visits CMU and Learns about UTC Research - December 13, 2021 A group from Honda R&D America visited CMU and met with various UTC researchers including Sean Qian, Stan Caldwell, Nik Martelaro and Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar.

December 10, 2021 - Research Recap: Development of a Safe, Profitable, and Fair Robotaxi Deployment Strategy - December 10, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Ding Zhao\'s project \"Development of a Safe, Profitable, and Fair Robotaxi Deployment Strategy.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

December 9, 2021 - Mobility21 Presents at Transportation Engineering & Safety Conference - December 9, 2021 Mobility21 presented the Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference session “Welcome to the Smart Cities – Managing AI in Transportation.”  This conference session provided a preview of several topics included in the executive education session, including an overview of technology and AI impacts in transportation today, AI and predictive analytics and how to make a better decision with transportation data, and equitably applying AI for safe and efficient transportation.  Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 moderated the session.  The other CMU speakers included UTC researchers:  Sean Qian on AI and Predictive Analytics:  How to Make Better Decisions with Transportation Data, Allanté Whitmore on Equitably Applying AI for Safe and Efficient Transportation, and Stan Caldwell on the Technology and AI Impacts in Transportation Today.

December 9, 2021 - Heinz College Masters Students Present Capstone - December 9, 2021 CMU Heinz College Masters of Information Systems Management Capstone students Shiyi Liu,  Yanwen Peng. Jiaoying Mu, Kehan Li,  Yilin Hua and Zhenyuan He made a final presentation of their capstone project developing an automated truck departure user interface.  The client was Klara Oberhollenzer, Manager of Development Autonomous Truck Mission Control Product & Partnerships at Daimler Truck North America and the course advisor was Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21 UTC.

December 8, 2021 - UTC Researchers Attend ITS America Annual Meeting in Charlotte - December 8, 2021 UTC researchers attended the ITS America annual meeting in Charlotte this week.  CMU Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. Candidate and Swartz Center Innovation Fellow Matt Guttenberg presented his research with Professor Venkat Viswanathan on their INCEPTS software, which optimizes EV charging and is poised for commercialization.  Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented annual accomplishments of the Emerging Technologies Standing Committee to the ITSA Board, presented his UTC research in an executive session titled “Equity, Climate, Safety and Infrastructure for Automated and Autonomous Mobility Deployments” and participated in the quarterly meeting of the Smart Belt Coalition.   Watch Stan\'s panel here.

December 6, 2021 - Mobility21 Highlights the Work of Professor Steve Smith in U.S. DOT Video - December 6, 2021 Mobility21 UTC recently highlighted projects completed by UTC researcher Steve Smith for a U.S. Department of Transportation Forum on Artificial Intelligence in Transportation video.  The video focuses on key projects funded by Mobility21 UTC that Professor Smith implemented the use of artificial intelligence to solve real-world transportation problems.  Watch the 5 minute video here.

December 3, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Sarah Fox - December 3, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Sarah Fox.   She discussed her project, \"Centering Operators’ Perspectives in Designing the Future of Transit Work.” Watch her presentation here.

December 2, 2021 - Professor Lee Branstetter Presents His Work at the Heinz Informal Lunch Seminar - December 2, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Lee Branstetter, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University\'s Heinz College, presented his ongoing work \"Closing the Opportunity Gap Among Marginalized Students: Using Human-Computer Teaming For Motivational Mentoring and Content Tutoring\" at the Heinz Informal Lunch Seminar (HILS).

December 2, 2021 - CMU Students Share Final Capstone Projects - December 1-2, 2021 Students of the CMU Heinz College engage in semester long “Capstone Projects” to apply coursework to real-world scenarios.  Today, students shared the results of their semester long research projects during a poster fair.  The projects featured today included the following transportation related projects: Team US Ignite, advised by Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer Team Daimler Trucks North America, advised by Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell

December 2, 2021 - Congressman Higgins Discusses Transportation & Infrastructure with Mobility21 - December 2, 2021 Congressman Brian Higgins, member of the United States House of Representatives serving New York’s 26th congressional district, spoke to Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar, Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC researcher Steve Smith, and Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman to discuss the broad array of federally supported intelligent transportation and infrastructure research at CMU.  

December 1, 2021 - UTC Researcher Appointed Co-Chair of PennDOT’s Advanced Air Mobility Subcommittee - December 1, 2021 Mobility21 researcher Stan Caldwell joined Joby Aviation’s Max Fenkell in co-chairing the first Advanced Air Mobility Subcommittee of PennDOT’s new Unmanned Aerial Systems Task Force.  The subcommittee is meeting to discuss potential initiatives to safely advance applications of this emerging technology in the Commonwealth.

December 1, 2021 - Research Recap: Analysis of the Potential for Micromobility to Replace Short Car Trips in Urban Areas and Impacts on Congestion - December 1, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Corey Harper\'s project \"Analysis of the Potential for Micromobility to Replace Short Car Trips in Urban Areas and Impacts on Congestion.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

November 24, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Joins White House Office of Science & Technology Policy - November 24, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras recently joined the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy as Principal Assistant Director for Energy and Chief Advisor for Energy Policy.  Read the full press release here.

November 23, 2021 - Pittsburgh Coro Fellows Learn How Transportation Research Impacts Public Policy - November 23, 2021 The 2021-2022 Group of Fellows from the Coro Center for Civic Leadership (Pittsburgh) conducted an “Established Nonprofit Sector Leaders Interview” with Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell to learn how transportation research, education and technology transfer initiatives from University Transportation Centers impact public policy.

November 22, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-trucks [PISES]” by Venkat Viswanathan Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - November 22, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan\'s UTC project, \"Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks [PISES]\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the Research Roundup section.  Read the newsletter here.

November 19, 2021 - New Executive Education Program Introduced on ICT Policy - November 19, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha announced a new executive education course on Information and Communication Technology policy to leaders in developing countries through the CMU Department of Engineering & Public Policy.

November 18, 2021 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Attends Western Area MASITE Presentation - November 18, 2021 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow 2021-2023 Maggie Harger  attended the Western Area MASITE In-Person Presentation and Social  hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Section of the Institution of Transportation Engineers, which offered networking opportunities as well as the chance to learn about mobility projects underway in the City of Pittsburgh.

November 16, 2021 - Dates Announced for 2022 Executive Education Program “Managing AI in Transportation” - Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy announce the dates for the 2022 executive education program, “Managing AI in Transportation.”  The virtual session will be held May 2 - 6, 2022. The program was developed by the experts at Heinz College’s Traffic21 Institute to explore critical areas that are required for breaking down public and private organizational barriers and understanding how managing AI can benefit key stakeholders throughout the transportation industry. “Since Traffic21’s founding more than 10 years ago, we have seen firsthand the various ways AI is impacting and improving transportation,” said Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Traffic21.  “From asset management to automated vehicles, the use of AI is transforming transportation sector, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to share what we have learned with both public and private sector managers to leverage the power of this technology and mitigate its risk.” Participants in the program will explore the impact of disruptive technology on transportation; AI in traffic control devices; AI in connected and autonomous vehicles; the role of AI in predictive analytics; AI in transportation asset management; the equitable application of AI for safe and efficient transportation; and how to develop and implement an enterprise AI strategy. The first program cohort competed the course in May 2021.   One participant reflected, “As a company, we’re always looking for ways to use new technologies to make our business better.  Better understanding what AI can and can’t do, what it needs to succeed, and ways of thinking about problems using an AI \'lens\' will all be long term beneficial.” Learn more about the session and sign up here. ****************************************************** ABOUT CMU HEINZ COLLEGE The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy is home to two internationally recognized gradu­ate-level institutions at CMU: The School of Information Systems and Management and the School of Public Pol­icy and Management. This unique colocation combined with its expertise in analytics set Heinz College apart in the areas of cybersecurity, healthcare, the future of work, smart cities, and arts & entertainment. ABOUT TRAFFIC21 Traffic21 is a multi-disciplinary research institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Its goal is to design, test, deploy, and evaluate information and communications technology-based solutions to address the problems facing the transportation system of the Pittsburgh region and the nation. Housed within the institute is the US DOT funded, Mobility21 National University Transportation Center. The Pittsburgh region serves as a “learning lab,” deploying solutions that can be applied around the nation and the globe. Traffic21 leverages Carnegie Mellon’s leadership in relevant areas such as intelligent transportation systems, smart infrastructure, cyber security, human factors, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and connected and automated vehicles.

November 15, 2021 - Özgüner earns IEEE Lifetime Achievement Award for Intelligent Transportation Systems Research - November 15, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher and professor at The Ohio State University Ümit Özgüner  was awarded the 2021 IEEE Lifetime Achievement Award for Intelligent Transportation Systems Research.  Ümit is active as Faculty Emeritus with Ohio State’s Electrical and Computer Engineering program and is current Transportation Research Center Chair in Intelligent Transportation Systems. He is also Director of the Crash Imminent Safety University Transportation Center.

November 12, 2021 - Open Energy Outlook Seeks Input from Mobility21 UTC Researcher - November 12, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock has been named to the Uncertainty Assessment team for Open Energy Outlook of the United States.  Her team, along with several others, is committed to formally advising the core team and participating in annual workshops to help set the research agenda.

November 12, 2021 - The New York Times Features Impacts of Ridesourcing Systems from Mobility21 Researchers - November 12, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers Costa Samaras and Jeremy Michalek, along with their doctoral student Jake Ward, discussed the impacts of ridesourcing systems, which was featured in The New York Times editorial.  Read the editorial here.

November 12, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection featuring Pulkit Grover - November 12, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Pulkit Grover.   He discussed his project, \"Towards New Accessible Neural Sensing Technologies for Portable Use During Driving.”  Watch his presentation here.

November 11, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Reviewing CUTC Doctoral Dissertation Nominations - November 11, 2021 Chris Hendrickson, Director of the Traffic21 Institute and a Mobility21 UTC researcher, is part of a panel reviewing doctoral dissertation nominations for the Council of University Transportation Centers\' Charles E. Wootan Memorial Award.

November 9, 2021 - Mobility21 Innovation Fellow Luke Lyle Shares His Experience - November 9, 2021 During Mobility21 Innovation Fellow Luke Lyle\'s time, he concentrated on developing a novel growth method for gallium oxide, a semiconducting material for high power electronic applications. This material is critical for developing renewable energy technology by increasing the efficiency of power electronics in electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar cells, and batteries. In addition to developing the growth method, he also participated in dozens of business lectures designed by the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. These lectures included topics varying from licensing intellectual property to budgeting and was also involved in one-on-one business mentoring with the help of an entrepreneur-in-residence. The largest portion of the fellowship was participation in the I-Corp program, where he spoke to over 30 different researchers, professors, program managers, business analysts, and scientists addressing the viability of gallium oxide-based electronics and common bottlenecks for other wide bandgap semiconductors. This portion was the most crucial to his professional development throughout the program as it gave him comprehensive understanding of the wide bandgap semiconductor market and informed which solutions to scientific problems are most important to commercializing gallium oxide-based devices.

November 9, 2021 - Research Recap: Joint Optimization of School Bus Routes and Last-Mile Services - November 9, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Peter Zhang\'s project \"Joint Optimization of School Bus Routes and Last-Mile Services.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

November 5, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Launches Start-Up Company - November 12, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan and others have launched their start-up company Chement, a zero emissions cement production company that will allow for cleaner and cheaper carbon capture.

November 4, 2021 - Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium Held - November 4, 2021 The Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium kicked off earlier today with the Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar, providing a welcome and an overview of updates on activities and plans at the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center. The keynote speaker for 2021 Symposium was Yassmin Gramian, Secretary of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The Symposium’s first panel focused on Equity/Justice and Mobility.  The panel was moderated by Stan Caldwell and featured: Ben Bear, CEO, Spin Carol Lewis, Chair, Transportation Research Board, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Irene Marion, Director, Department of Civil Rights, DOT Beth Osborne, Director, Transportation for America The second panel focused on Environment/Climate Change and Mobility.  The panel was moderated by Chris Hendrickson and featured: Rachael Nealer, Deputy Director for Transportation Technology and Policy at White House Council on Environmental Quality Rohan Patel, Senior Global Director, Public Policy and Business Development, Tesla Kelsey Owens, Environmental Protection Specialist, US Department of Transportation The Symposium also featured 7 research and academic project presentations, comprising the UTC Academic and Research Showcase.  The projects allowed for a brief Q&A with the researchers upon the conclusion of their video presentation. Over 130 people from academia, government, community and industry registered to attend the symposium.  View the full list of presenters and videos of the sessions here.

November 4, 2021 - Leadership Pittsburgh XXXVIII Cohort Visits CMU Campus - November 4, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers and CMU faculty welcomed the Leadership Pittsburgh XXXVIII cohort to the CMU campus for their class session on infrastructure.  They participated in a program highlighting how CMU is leading new development of infrastructure technologies to encourage livability and sustainability (ATLAS moonshot) and is illuminating the social inequities posed by prior infrastructure decisions. Individuals in attendance included: Rob Hamilton, Executive Director, Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard Beth Larkin, Senior Vice-President, Michael Baker International Bill List, Director, Capital Markets Funding & Hedging, Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Karen Markle, Senior Development Consultant, ZMark Health Maisha Sturdivant, Vice-President, New York & Partner Plan Operations, Highmark Health

November 4, 2021 - CAMMSE Research Symposium Features Traffic21 Director as Keynote Speaker - November 4, 2021 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson delivered the keynote presentation during the Fourth Annual CAMMSE Research Symposium.  CAMMSE (Center for Advanced Multimodal Mobility Solutions and Education) is a Tier 1 University Transportation Center and a consortium of five universities, led by The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, each with programs in synergistic research, education, technology transfer and innovation on multimodal transportation planning, design, operations, and maintenance.

November 3, 2021 - Mobility21 Director Tours AV Policy & Research with Pennsylvania Legislators - November 3, 2021 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar and Mobility21 UTC researcher Ding Zhao met with Pennsylvania State Legislators including (left to right) Representative Josh Kail, Senator Joe Pittman, Representative Natalie Mihalek, Senator Ryan Aument, and Senator Pat Stefano.  Rajkumar provided a tour of his level 4 automated vehicle and discussed automated vehicle-related UTC policy and technology research. Ding Zhao was able to give a demonstration of  an autonomous sidewalk delivery robot.

November 3, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council Holds Annual Meeting for 2021 - November 3, 2021 A talented group of national leaders comprising the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 National University Transportation Center\'s Advisory Council, assembled today for their annual meeting. Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar welcomed the group and provided an overview of updates of activities and plans. The remaining time was spent in roundtable discussions, where council members were joined by Mobility21 UTC researchers and focused on: Equity/Justice and Mobility Sarah Fox, CMU Erick Guerra, PENN Allante Whitmore, CMU Environment/Climate Change and Mobility Katherine Flanigan, CMU Corey Harper, CMU Jeremy Michalek, CMU Sean Qian, CMU The next annual meeting of the Advisory Council will be in November 2022. # # # The Mobility21 team is a tight collaboration among Carnegie Mellon University (Lead), the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University and the Community College of Allegheny County, and brings to bear the reach and scale of all four institutions. Tackling the multi-faceted nature of Traffic21 and Mobility21 objectives requires coordinated research, education, workforce development and technology transfer.  This work is supported by researchers spanning multiple disciplines such as engineering, computer science and robotics, public policy, urban design, information systems and data analytics. The distinguished Advisory Council of national leaders provides strategic guidance and counsel.  Advisory Council members include: Amanda Ballantyne, Director, AFL-CIO Technical Institute Raymond T. Betler, former President and CEO of Wabtec Corporation Rebecca M. Brewster, President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Transportation Research Institute Robin Chase, Co-founder Zipcar, Veniam, NUMo Ty Gourley, Vice President of the Hillman Family Foundations Yassmin Gramian, Secretary of Transportation, PennDOT Charles L. Hammel III, President and owner, PITT OHIO Express Ashley Hand, Co-founder CityFi; formerly Transportation Technology Strategist Fellow for Los Angeles Katharine Kelleman, Chief Executive Officer at Port Authority of Allegheny County Jane Lappin, former Director, Public Policy & Government Affairs, Toyota Research Institute Ken McLeod, Policy Director at The League of American Bicyclist James A. Misener, Senior Director, Product Management at Qualcomm and former Director of UC Berkley PATH David Roger, President of the Hillman Family Foundations Paul Skoutelas, President and Chief Executive Officer of The American Public Transportation Association Kirk Steudle, Senior Vice President of the Econolite Transportation Systems Group and subsidiary CAVita, and former Director of Michigan Department of Transportation Vincent Valdes, Executive Director, Southwestern PA Commission Learn more about the Advisory Council members here.

November 2, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Erick Guerra Discusses Dynamic-Priced Parking with Axios - November 2, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher and University of Pennsylvania professor Erick Guerra provided his expertise to Axios on the possibilities of dynamic-priced parking in Philadelphia.  Read the full article here.

October 29, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection featuring Keith Redmill and Ekim Yurtsever - October 29, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researchers Keith Redmill and Ekim Yurtsever.   They discussed their project, \"End-to-End Driving Automation with Deep Reinforcement Learning: Challenges and Promises.”  Watch their presentation here.

October 27, 2021 - AFL-CIO Technology Institute Director Amanda Ballantyne Joins Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council - October 27, 2021 AFL-CIO Technology Institute Director Amanda Ballantyne is the newest member of the Mobility21 University Transportation Center (UTC) Advisory Council.   The Advisory Council is comprised of national leaders that provide strategic guidance and counsel for the UTC.

October 26, 2021 - Research Recap: Smart Right-of-Way Permitting System for the City of Pittsburgh: Coordination, Pricing and Enforcement - October 26, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Sean Qian\'s project \"Smart Right-of-Way Permitting System for the City of Pittsburgh: Coordination, Pricing and Enforcement.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

October 25, 2021 - CMU College of Engineering ATLAS Awards Announced - October 25, 2021 The CMU Autonomous Technologies for Livability And Sustainability Planning Grant for Engineering Research Centers recently announced their Year 2 award winners, including projects featuring several Mobility21 UTC researchers (listed in green): Pingbo Tang, Burcu Akinci, Yorie Nakahira - Self-diagnosing and predictive control coupling human-building systems with partial and noisy human being interaction logs in building automation systems Corey Harper, Jeremy Michalek, Ding Zhao, Gregg Lowry, Destenie Nock, Costas Samaras, Daniel Armanios - A digital twin virtual testbed for sustainable and equitable autonomous food delivery Matteo Pozzi, Jeremy Michalek - Equitable ridepool using autonomous electric vehicle fleets with community driven stops Soummya Kar, Mario Berges - Energy efficient community connected buildings

October 25, 2021 - Remaking Cities Institute Hosts Karina Ricks to Discuss “Taking Care: Towards Mobility Justice” - October 25, 2021 The Remaking Cities Institute in the CMU School of Architecture hosted Karina Ricks, Acting Associate Administrator for Research, Demonstration and Innovation with the Federal Transit Administration to lead a talk  focused on the connection between transportation mobility and social mobility, underscoring the importance of connecting communities to better opportunities through better access to transit and other forms of mobility.   She presented this as part of a larger social context in which innovation\'s greatest value would come with a full reckoning of how to better measure access to mobility and its impact on people\'s lives. In a lively Q&A that followed the talk, Karina responded to questions about the future of more diverse leadership in transportation, the importance of respecting lived experience in shaping future transit and mobility options, with comments and questions from CMU students, faculty, and recent graduates, including former Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Ngani Ndimbie. 

October 21, 2021 - Local Government Commission Hosts Inaugural Symposium - October 21, 2021 Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell moderated a panel alongside Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman at the Inaugural Local Government Commission Symposium to discuss \"Solving Real-World Problems through Collaboration and Innovation with Municipal and Equity Partners\" and featured: Kimberly Lucas, Acting Director, Department of Mobility & Infrastructure, City of Pittsburgh Kelly Maurer, Director of Public Works, Cranberry Township View all of the presentations from the symposium here.

October 18, 2021 - CMU US Ignite Capstone Team Presents Mid-Term Update - October 18, 2021 Today, the CMU US Ignite student Capstone Team (Brittany Pruitt, Dillon Cox, Mika Ansley, Gisselt Gomez, Roy Wang and Sophie Abo, advised by Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer) presented their mid-term update to the client and advisors.  The class gave this presentation to provide updates and gather feedback from attendees.  The team will be completing their work by the end of the semester.

October 15, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Host Education Classes at Embedded Systems Week 2021 - October 15, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers Dr. Rahul Mangharam and Dr. Johannes Betz of the University of Pennsylvania participated in Embedded Systems Week (ESWeek) 2021.  ESWEEK is piloting a new education track, where in, top researchers in the world teach 2-hour topical class on emerging/newer, but well established embedded systems concepts, tools and methods that are not readily available in textbooks in an exciting, engaging and hands-on way to students across the globe.  View their presentation here.

October 12, 2021 - Research Recap: Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES) II - October 12, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Venkat Viswanathan\'s project \"Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES) II.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

October 12, 2021 - Mobility21 Supports Student Capstone with Daimler Trucks - October 12, 2021 CMU Heinz College Masters of Information Systems Management students Shiyi Liu, Jioaying Mu, Kihan Li, Yanwen Peng, Yilin Hua, Zhenyuan He, along with their advisor Stan Caldwell from Mobility21, presented midterm capstone project results.  Attending the presentation were clients from Daimler Trucks North America and Torc Robotics who provided feedback on student plans for an automated truck departure approval application.

October 8, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Destenie Nock - October 8, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Dr. Destenie Nock.   She discussed her project, \"Transportation Implications from COVID-19: Food Delivery and Public Transport.” Watch her presentation here.

October 7, 2021 - Ray Gastil Presents “Green Cities: Pittsburgh” - October 7, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher and Carnegie Mellon University Remaking Cities Institute Director Ray Gastil presented \"Green Cities: Pittsburgh\" in the Green Cities 2021 Series with the Consortium for Sustainable Urbanism.

October 4, 2021 - Chris Hendrickson Re-Appointed to the TRB Executive Committee - October 1, 2021 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson has been re-appointed to the Transportation Research Board\'s Executive Committee for 2022-2025.  The Executive Committee is the senior policy body of TRB.

October 1, 2021 - Traffic21 Releases Policy Brief on Driver Warning Technologies and Partial Vehicle Automation - October 1, 2021 Traffic21 researchers released their latest policy brief, \"Driver Warning Technologies and Partial Vehicle Automation: Save Lives and Money,\" authored by Stan Caldwell, Chris Hendrickson, Corey Harper and Costa Samaras.   The brief reviews empirical data on changes in crash frequency and severity with driver warning technologies and partial automation; provides estimates of benefits, costs and lives saved; and concludes with policy recommendations.

October 1, 2021 - CCAC Hosts Odyssey Day - October 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC academic partner Community College of Allegheny County hosted over 75 people at their 12th annual “Odyssey Day,” working with Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities (PRCC) to promote alternative fuel options for transportation.  35 automotive students had an opportunity to listen to speakers, visit with vendors and ask questions about alternative fuels.

October 1, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Dr. Justin Starr Named Engineering Unleashed Fellow - October 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher and assistant professor of Mechatronics at CCAC Dr. Justin Starr has been named Engineering Unleashed Fellow.  The designation recognizes leadership in undergraduate engineering education. Each fellowship is accompanied by recognition, advanced project work, funding and community with other Fellows. Read the full story here.

October 1, 2021 - What Can We Learn From Autonomous Racing? - October 1, 2021 Faculty and students from the Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania\'s F1Tenth team presented their work at the Fall 2021 GRASP Seminar.  Their talk explores how to get involved in very exciting research on safe autonomous systems.  Watch the full presentation here.

October 1, 2021 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Hajra Shahab Attends Virtual Grace Hopper Celebration - October 1, 2021 Women in Transportation Fellow Hajra Shahab participated in the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC).  The GHC is the world’s largest gathering of women technologists.  Hajra says that from a stellar speaker line-up to a packed career fair, \"GHC is THE place for women interested in exploring a career in tech.\" The conference focused on several tech tracks including Artificial Intelligence,  Computer Systems Engineering, Product Management, Data Science and many more. Below is Hajra\'s experience at GHC, and her suggestions for others who plan to attend this conference in future years. Prepare Resume Hajra shared that \"As there are multiple tracks, one can easily get lost in their job/internship hunt search at GHC and so did I.\" She was advised to start well in advance by going over the list of companies participating in the conference and identifying tracks that she would want to focus on.  She shaped her resume accordingly and created different versions, for example, product management and software engineering.  She suggests that for others who attend... DON\'T forget to submit your resume on the portal once you seek feedback from your peers and mentors.  She also says to keep an eye on all GHC related emails and conference-specifically the newsletters. Participate in Career Fair Apart from preparing her resume, Hajra started early by going through the list of companies participating in the career fair, filtering out teams that she wanted to interact with at the fair.  For others attending, Hajra cautions that the overall process of attending a conference can get overwhelming easily especially when you have to juggle with school, classes and assignments simultaneously and that preparing a schedule in advance can help you optimize time and energy. Gear up for Intense Networking! Networking at GHC started even before the conference begins. Talking to past attendees and learning from their experiences helped Hajra clear her thoughts and questions about the conference, saving a lot of time as she was sure of things to make the most of this opportunity.  Talking to her peers who attended this conference previously helped her feel much more confident as she participated in different sessions throughout the conference. Design your own schedule Hajra says the conference picks up pace very quickly and it becomes really hard to keep up with conference sessions, speaker corner, tech talks and career fair. If attending, she recommends reviewing the agenda carefully, and creating your own schedule.  While one gets lost with career fair and other networking sessions, she recommends to not forget to attend the keynote speaker session --- as it is absolutely worth your time! Managing notes from each session is the key to success at GHC. Hajra would recommend creating a spreadsheet tracker to track all meetings  (1:1 or group meetings). Harja enjoyed her experience at GHC, and said she was \"...very impressed how they support women who aspire to grow in the field.\" Learn more about the conference here.

September 27, 2021 - Research Recap: Taxi-for-all: Incentivized Taxi Actuation System for Balanced Area-Wide Service - September 27, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Carlee Joe-Wong\'s project \"Taxi-for-all: Incentivized Taxi Actuation System for Balanced Area-wide Service.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

September 27, 2021 - Mobility21 Innovation Fellow Joe Bartels Shares His Experience - September 27, 2021 Mobility21 Innovation Fellow and Robotics Institute alum Joe Bartels is the CEO of a CMU spinout called Phlux Technologies. Phlux is enabling advanced capabilities in robotics and automation with a new class of programmable 3D sensors that were developed in CMU\'s Imaging and Illumination Lab. As a Mobility21 Innovation Fellow, Joe focused on early commercialization activities including prototype development and customer discovery research in robotics, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and industrial automation. During this process, Joe worked with Tepper MBA students supported by Mobility21 to tune Phlux\'s early business model, value proposition, and customer profile. Joe is currently leading Phlux through an evaluation program of their sensors with a global automotive company and is lining up other pilots in robotics and industrial automation.

September 25, 2021 - Shaler Area Homecoming Events Create Vibrant Community Atmosphere - September 25, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher & Director of the Remaking Cities Institute, Ray Gastil participated in the 2021 Shaler Area Homecoming Festivities, which brought together the community for a parade, picnic, and football game and turned Mount Royal Boulevard into a vibrant, walkable main street.  Ray is working with Walk Bike Shaler, in partnership with the Township of Shaler, to inform and contribute to the Better Boulevard Initiative.

September 24, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Erick Guerra - September 24, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Erick Guerra.   He discussed his project, \"What the Heck is a Choice Rider? A Theoretical Framework and Empirical Model.” Watch his presentation here.

September 23, 2021 - SAE International Podcast Features Stan Caldwell to Discuss Smart Mobility in Pittsburgh - September 23, 2021 Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was featured on the recent SAE International podcast with host Grayson Brulte, Innovation Strategist and Co-Founder of Brulte & Company, to discuss how Traffic21 has helped place Pittsburgh at the forefront of the intelligent transportation field, improving the economy and attracting new businesses along the way.  Listen to the full podcast here.

September 23, 2021 - Smart Belt Coalition Quarterly Meeting Held - September 23, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the quarterly meeting of the Smart Belt Coalition, which included academic and state transportation agencies from Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  The group discussed efforts on vehicle electrification and associated infrastructure, as well as strategic planning.

September 22, 2021 - Mobility21 Presents at ITSA Board Meeting - September 22, 2021 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director and Chair of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) Emerging Technologies Standing Committee, presented at the quarterly board meeting on the committee efforts on working groups for personal delivery devices, electric vertical takeoff and landing systems, and digital twinning.

September 22, 2021 - Metro21 Kicks Off Justice and Technology Seminar Series - September 22, 2021 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman moderated the first of three Justice & Technology Seminars which featured Lilian Coral of Knight Foundation, Kim Davis of City of Pittsburgh DOMI, Rayid Ghani of Carnegie Mellon University, and Marimba Milliones of Hill District CDC. This seminar series will provide an opportunity for researchers and community stakeholders to openly discuss issues with technology and justice and find opportunities to collaborate on advancing justice. The series is sponsored by the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute in cooperation with Traffic21 Institute.  Watch the inaugural seminar here.

September 16, 2021 - Traffic21 Enterprise Creation Internship - September 16, 2021 During the Summer 2021, Chenxin Xu served as an intern for Traffic21/Mobility21 and the Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation (CTTEC).  She is a dual degree student at CMU seeking masters degrees in Engineering & Technology Innovation Management  and in Mechanical Engineering.  Chenxin collaborated with two other interns at CTTEC supported by the CMU Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, bringing a range of skills, training and experiences to their projects for CMU startup efforts. The two Traffic21/Mobility21 supported startup projects that Chenxin worked on were: Phlux Technologies: Phlux Technologies is a spinout company from CMU’s Robotics Institute from the lab of Professor Srinivasa Narasimhan, led by PhD graduate Joe Bartels.  They are developing technology to enable mobile and stationary robots to scan their environment to detect risks to humans and to the robots.  In one application, their systems could be applicable as a replacement for LIDAR on autonomous vehicles.  The intern conducted customer discovery interviews to help to segment market opportunities and to identify market entry and partnering strategies. Oxide Enterprises: Oxide Enterprises is a pre-company project from CMU’s Materials Science and Engineering Department, from the lab of Professor Lisa Porter, led by PhD graduate Luke Lyle.  They are developing materials and methods of manufacture to make power electronics devices in electric vehicles more energy efficient and lighter weight.  The intern conducted secondary market research and customer discovery interviews to help to identify how the startup could best enter the EV value chain in their go-to-market strategy.  Further, the intern built a production cost estimation model, using techniques taught in the E&TIM program, to give insight into the expected unit costs based on various assumptions of scale of manufacturing and production techniques. Joe & Luke have been working for the past year as Swartz Innovation Fellows  in collaboration with Mobility21 to commercialize their technology.

September 15, 2021 - Representative Davis Tours Mobility21 Research Lab - September 15, 2021 Pennsylvania State Representative and Transportation Committee Member, Austin Davis met with Mobility21 researcher Christoph Mertz to tour the Nav Lab at the Robotics Institute and learn about Dr. Mertz’s UTC road surface monitoring research and subsequent spin-off company Roadbotics, which is based in Pittsburgh and commercializing the UTC research.

September 14, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Bus on the Edge” by Christoph Mertz Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - September 14, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Christoph Mertz\'s UTC project, \"Bus on the Edge: Continuous Monitoring of Traffic and Infrastructure\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

September 14, 2021 - September 2021 UTC Faculty Meeting Held - September 14, 2021 Mobility21 hosted the first UTC faculty meeting of the fall semester. The discussion included a review of the updated Mobility21 Data Management Plan.  It also included Katie Behrman from the Carnegie Mellon University Library as the featured speaker.

September 10, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Allante Whitmore - September 10, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Allante Whitmore.   She discussed her project, \"Opportunities for Shared Autonomous Mobility Technology in Public Transit Systems To Improve Equitable Transit Coverage.” Watch her presentation here.

September 10, 2021 - Freight 2030 Initiative Comes to Carnegie Mellon University - September 10, 2021 United States Senator Bob Casey and Congressman Conor Lamb visited Carnegie Mellon University to speak at the launch of Freight 2030 (which is an initiative to create a freight rail innovation institute with partners Wabtec, Genesee & Wyoming Railroad and CMU).  Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar has been involved with the planning of Freight 2030 with the goal of decarbonizing the rail freight industry.  At this event, Wabtec displayed the industry’s first operating battery electric locomotive.

September 9, 2021 - Traffic21/Mobility21 Discusses AI in Transportation Executive Education Session with Southwestern PA Commission - September 9, 2021 Traffic21/Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, presented an overview of the recently completed inaugural session of the CMU Heinz College executive education session “Managing Artificial Intelligence in Transportation” at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s Transportation Safety and Operations Committee.  The executive education session was sponsored and developed by the Traffic21 Institute in partnership with the Heinz College Executive Education program.

September 4, 2021 - Update on Mobility21’s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar, Rayna Hata - September 4, 2021 Mobility21\'s RISS Rayna Hata has completed her project centered around the localiation of vision or mobility impaired pedestrians as they cross urban intersections using the PedPal app and has this to say about her experience: \"This summer, I had the pleasure of working in the Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Lab under the mentorship of  Dr. Stephen Smith and Dr. Isaac Isukapati.  While crossing an intersection feels like an easy task, vision-impaired pedestrians face difficulties such as spending multiple cycles of signal changes to understand the intersection or straying off from the borders of the crosswalk. My end goal for this project is to have the app and the device accurately track and guide the pedestrian as they approach and cross the intersection. This research experience was my formal introduction to the field of robotics research. This experience solidified my interest in pursuing a graduate degree and a career in Robotics upon graduation. I cannot thank Mobility 21 enough for this sponsorship and support, and I am excited to keep working with the lab throughout my school year to complete this project.\"  The Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute Summer Scholars program connects students from across the country and world to contribute to robotics research alongside top CMU researchers. With 43 scholars from 11 countries and 33 home universities, the 2020 RISS cohort is the largest cohort since the inception of the program in 2006. Forty percent of the 2020 participating scholars are from communities underrepresented in STEM.

September 2, 2021 - Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Completes Summer Internship with Aurora - September 2, 2021 During summer 2021, Carnegie Mellon University student and Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Hajra Shahab worked with the Government Relations team at Aurora. Hajra details her experience by saying, \"It was an exhilarating experience as I got to work very closely with engineering, safety, and product teams. I was able to deep dive into the understanding of how autonomous vehicles can be made more accessible for people with disabilities. My internship spanned over 12 weeks and I got a chance to learn about different functions of Government Relations. Aurora\'s GR team is uniquely placed in the company which gave me a chance to collaborate closely with other teams to define a roadmap for accessible autonomous vehicles for rides product. Working at a company that is redefining the future of transportation made each day challenging yet exciting.\"  

September 1, 2021 - ITSPA Hosts Annual Meeting - September 1, 2021 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the Intelligent Transportation Society of Pennsylvania’s 2021 Annual Meeting which included session on connected, automated and electric vehicles and incident management.

September 1, 2021 - Research Recap: Spectrum for Connected Vehicles - September 3, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Jon Peha\'s project \"Spectrum for Connected Vehicles.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

September 1, 2021 - CMU Spinoff RobotWits Helps Pave Waymo’s Way in Pittsburgh - September 1, 2021 Mobility21 deployment partner RobotWits LLC will be brought on board by Waymo as they open their engineering office in Pittsburgh.  In addition to its work on self-driving vehicles, RobotWits teamed with the Pennsylvania Rural Robotics Initiative and WQED/PBS in 2020 to create \"The Robot Doctor,\" an eight-episode regional Emmy-nominated TV series aimed at increasing interest in STEM careers among high-school students by showing how mathematics is used in robotics. The 14-minute episodes aired multiple times on PBS stations across Pennsylvania.  Read the full article here.

August 30, 2021 - Mobility21 Fall Semester Smart Mobility Connection Series Kicks Off with Presentation by Dr. Constantine Samaras and Allante’ Whitmore - August 30, 2021 We are excited for the start of a new fall semester.  Please join us for the return of the Smart Mobility Connection (SMC) seminar series! Friday, September 10, 2021 from Noon-1:00pm (eastern), hear Allanté Whitmore and Constantine Samaras speak on their project, “Opportunities for Shared Autonomous Mobility Technology in Public Transit Systems to Improve Equitable Transit Coverage.” As automated transportation technology advances, public transit agencies are considering how automated vehicles can compete or complement existing transit systems as well as the subsequent impacts to transit equity. Capital and operating costs for automated vehicles managed by public transit agencies are uncertain since few deployments have occurred to date. Their work identifies unmet transit service needs based on transit dependence and sociodemographic information, then performs a cost analysis on the operation of shared autonomous vehicles  and autonomous shuttles as a part of a public transit system. They explore  autonomous vehicle transit service across three transit systems in U.S. cities: New York City, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. By comparing transit systems in different cities they reveal transit demand conditions most suitable for a cost-efficient and complementary service for shared automated mobility to improve equity and access. To register for the September 10 SMC, click here. Smart Mobility Connection seminar series:  As the nature of transportation continues to evolve, Carnegie Mellon University has students and faculty conducting transportation related research in data analytics, robotics, public policy, engineering, architecture and design, and more.  Since not all of these efforts are co-located in the same building, or even the same department, there was a need to help building a “community space” to bring together people interested in transportation on CMU’s campus.  This was the impetus for Mobility21’s launching of the SMC  One of the University Transportation Center  faculty is featured at each hour long session; half of the time is reserved for questions and answers as well as networking.

August 27, 2021 - Traffic21/Mobility21 Advising Heinz College Capstone Projects - August 27, 2021 Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer will serve as advisors for Heinz College student capstone projects throughout the fall 2021 semester.  The students engage in semester long capstone projects to apply coursework to real world scenarios.  Stan will work with students engaged with Daimler Trucks North America on the Departure of the Autonomous Truck and Lisa Kay will work with students engaged with Smart Cities, US Ignite, Fort Carson and the City of Colorado Springs.

August 23, 2021 - Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Executive Director Vincent Valdes Joins Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council - August 23, 2021 Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Executive Director Vincent Valdes is the newest member of the Mobility21 University Transportation Center (UTC) Advisory Council.  The Advisory Council is comprised of national leaders that provide strategic guidance and counsel for the UTC.

August 19, 2021 - Research Recap: Driving Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success: The Impact of Ridehailing on Income and Employment - August 12, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Driving Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success: The Impact of Ridehailing on Income and Employment.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

August 12, 2021 - CMU Now Listed as U.S. DOT Conformant Repository - August 11, 2021 KiltHub, a platform provided by the University Libraries that collects, preserves and provides global access to CMU’s research, has been approved as a United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) Conformant Repository. “It sets CMU apart as one of only a handful of universities whose repositories are part of this elite group,” said Lisa Kay Schweyer, program manager of the Traffic21 Institute, Mobility21 and CMU National University Transportation Centers. “It also gives our faculty access to the KiltHub staff, who can support them in their archiving and preservation tasks.” Read the full story here.

August 12, 2021 - Mobility21 Updates CMU Transportation-Related Coursework Listing - August 12, 2021 Mobility21 provides a comprehensive list of transportation-related courses offered by Carnegie Mellon University ... check out the updated listing for the fall 2021 semester.  Find the list of courses offered for the current and past semesters here.

August 11, 2021 - Rail-Based Mass Transit a Possibility in the Future - August 11, 2021 Pop-Up Metro, a battery-powered, modular train that can be inserted onto existing infrastructure is a rail-based mass transit system in the United States was developed by Henry Posner III, adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University.  Henry is also the chairman of Railroad Development Corporation, a Mobility21 deployment partner.  Read the full article here.

August 11, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Joint Optimization of School Bus Routes and Last-Mile” by Peter Zhang Highlighted in TRB Newsletter - August 11, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Peter Zhang\'s research project, \"Joint Optimization of School Bus Routes and Last-Mile Services\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.   Read the newsletter here.

August 5, 2021 - Research Recap: Real World Data-Driven Characterization of Urban Human Mobility Patterns - August 5, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Real World Data-Driven Characterization of Urban Human Mobility Patterns.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.  

August 3, 2021 - New National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes Named - August 3, 2021 \"Carnegie Mellon University researchers will contribute to four of the 11 new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes announced today by the National Science Foundation.\"  Mobility21 UTC researchers Jodi Forlizzi and Aaron Steinfeld are involved in one of these institutes, AI-CARING (focused on assisting in the care of the elderly by seeking to understand and manage the interaction between humans and AI agents).  Learn more here.

August 3, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Accessibility with GetGoing” Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - August 3, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers Maxine Eskenazi, Alan Black and Yulan Feng\'s research project, \"Accessibility with GetGoing\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

August 1, 2021 - TRB TDM Committee Held Mid-Year Meeting - August 1, 2021 The TRB TDM Committee held its mid-year meeting today.  The group reviewed the committee’s mission and its draft strategic plan.  Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager, was added to the committee membership earlier this year and this was her first meeting as a member.

July 30, 2021 - Welcoming New Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Maggie Harger - July 30, 2021 Mobility21 UTC welcomes Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow for 2021-2023, Maggie Harger. Maggie is pursuing her Master of Science in Public Policy and Management with an interest in transportation policy. Prior to her time at Carnegie Mellon, she completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, and worked as a mobility coordinator for the North King County region near Seattle. This role involved working with city planners, local human service providers, elected officials, and regional transit agencies to identify transportation challenges for populations with unique mobility needs, including older adults, people with disabilities, and low income individuals. Maggie hopes to continue learning about the intersection of efficient transportation, environmental sustainability, and economic advancement during her time as the Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow. In her spare time, Maggie can be found exploring the many bike paths of Pittsburgh. Learn more about the Mobility21 student leaders here: https://mobility21.cmu.edu/about/leadership/student-leadership/. -------------- The Traffic21 Women in Transportation fellowship provides financial support to an incoming student who is entering either the Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College MSPPM (Public Policy and Management) or MISM (Information Systems Management) degree programs.  Students who have demonstrated an interest and commitment to Intelligent Transportation Systems are eligible to apply for the fellowship.  The fellow’s work supports the Mobility21 University Transportation Center’s activities.

July 30, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai Turns Network Data Into Music - July 30, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Yang Cai and his group have developed a data visualization tool to allow them to see network traffic patterns, as well as a way to hear them.  Learn more here.

July 30, 2021 - Summer Engineering Experience at Carnegie Mellon University - July 30, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers Pingbo Tang and Rick Grahn, along with other faculty,  presented virtually at the 2021 Summer Engineering Experience at CMU.  The camp offered two sessions (July 19-23 and July 26-30) and provided students ages 13-16 with a chance explore engineering & transportation in a variety of disciplines, in addition to creating and showcasing their own projects in a presentation at the end of the week.

July 29, 2021 - FHWA Workshop on CAVs and Active Transportation - July 29, 2021 A two-day Federal Highway Administration workshop on Planning for Multimodal Networks for a Connected and Automated Future was held with a diverse group of stakeholders to help FHWA define and refine the critical questions around planning for active transportation and CAV.  As an expert panel member for this study, Stan Caldwell participated and applied his UTC research in disruptive transportation technology policy.

July 26, 2021 - Mobility21 Researcher Appointed to ITS AV Safety Task Force - July 26, 2021 Stan Caldwell joined the Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s inaugural meeting of the AV Safety Task Force which consists of representatives from the public, private and academic sectors to discuss the public perception of automated vehicle safety.

July 22, 2021 - Automated Transit Highlighted at Quarterly CAT Meeting - July 22, 2021 The quarterly meeting of the Cooperative Automated Transportation (CAT) Coalition Strategic Initiatives Working Group, attended by member Stan Caldwell, included presentations on the Connecticut Automated Bus Deployment, the Automated Bus Consortium and the AV Shuttle Testing of V2I Data Exchange.

July 21, 2021 - Research Recap: Assessment of Prospective Mileage-Based Fee System to Replace Fuel Taxes for Passenger Vehicles in Pennsylvania - July 21, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Assessment of Prospective Mileage-Based Fee System to Replace Fuel Taxes for Passenger Vehicles in Pennsylvania.\" The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

July 21, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson Attends TRB Meetings in Woods Hole, MA - July 20, 2021 Chris Hendrickson, Director of the Traffic21 Institute and a Mobility21 researcher, attended the TRB Technical Activities Group meeting on July 16 and the TRB Executive Committee meeting on July 19-20.  The Executive Committee meeting was held in Woods Hole, MA.

July 21, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Recognized for Significant Research in AI - July 21, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Fei Fang was recognized by  by the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence for significant research in AI.  Fang received the \"...2021 Computers and Thought Award for her contributions to integrating machine learning with game theory to tackle societal challenges.\" The award is presented to outstanding young scientists working in AI. Read more here.

July 21, 2021 - PennDOT/FHWA Holds STIC Meeting - July 21, 2021 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the quarterly meeting of the PennDOT/FHWA State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) where PennDOT’s efforts on Unmanned Arial Systems were highlighted.

July 21, 2021 - Robotics Institute Ph.D. Students Selected for Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship - July 21, 2021 Ph.D. students N Dinesh Reddy and Gengshan Yang have been selected into Qualcomm\'s current class of Innovation Fellows. Mobility21 UTC researcher Srinivas Narasimhan serves as the advisor to N Dinesh Reddy. Read more here.

July 20, 2021 - Pittsburgh Transit Agency Finalizes Long Range Plan - July 20, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the final meeting of the NEXTransit Stakeholder Advisory Meeting where the Port Authority of Allegheny County presented the completed long range plan and discussed implementation and public outreach efforts.

July 16, 2021 - CMU Joins with Arizona State University to Make Autonomous Vehicles Safer - July 16, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Bob Iannucci worked with students as faculty advisor for the 2021 CPS-IoT Week virtual conference, where researchers from the cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things fields for a series of five conferences.  The student team won second place at the competition with their presentation “One Program to Rule the Intersection.” Learn more here.

July 13, 2021 - UTC Research Informing Policy Makers - July 13, 2021 Stan Caldwell met with Pennsylvania State Senator Ryan Aument to discuss  policy research in emerging transportation technologies and impacts in the commonwealth.

July 9, 2021 - Pittsburgh Mobility Collective Launches Move PGH - July 9, 2021 Traffic21 and members of the Pittsburgh Mobility Collective, unveiled Move PGH, an initiative combining multiple mobility options for easy and equitable travel.  The Pittsburgh Mobility Collective is a new initiative but it is rooted in a longstanding commitment by city leaders to make Pittsburgh a great place to live, work, and visit.  Read more here.

July 9, 2021 - ULI Hosts University Masterplan Discussion - July 9, 2021 Today, Urban Land Institute Pittsburgh hosted the University Masterplan Discussion with the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, and Chatham University.  Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, participated in the session to learn more about the institution’s plans and potential impacts on transportation.

July 8, 2021 - TRB Holds Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee Meeting - July 8, 2021 Chris Hendrickson, Director of the Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 researcher, attended the TRB Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee meeting July 8.  The committee is helping to implement TRB\'s strategic goal of increasing the diversity, equity and inclusiveness of TRB participants.

July 7, 2021 - Research Recap: Proactive Management of Mobility Impact of Interdependent Subsurface Utility and Roadway Construction Through Incentives - July 7, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Proactive Management of Mobility Impact of Interdependent Subsurface Utility and Roadway Construction Through Incentives.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

July 6, 2021 - Mobility21 Guest Speaker at Center for Shared Prosperity Meeting - July 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer provided an overview of the Traffic21 & Mobility21 programs to the Center for Shared Prosperity’s Center Community Committee.  “The Center for Shared Prosperity aims to create a sustainable and replicable model for community-university collaboration, with a focus on deploying solutions for socio-economic inequities and making measurable progress toward greater economic prosperity and overall well-being of residents.”  This presentation concluded with  discussion on how the Traffic21/Mobility21 can help support the new center.

June 30, 2021 - Pittsburgh International Airport to Open ‘Green’ Terminal by 2025 - June 30, 2021 With the assistance of Carnegie Mellon University researchers, Pittsburgh International Airport announces Terminal Modernization Program, a state-of-the-art terminal powered by its own solar panel microgrid and natural gas sourced at the site.

June 29, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Costa Samaras Highlights the Need for Planning for the Future in Infrastructure - June 29, 2021 In a recent article published by The Atlantic, Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras discusses the recent heat wave in Portland, OR and the need to plan our infrastructure better for the extremes. “The public might look at engineering and say, ‘Of course they’re designing for a future climate; it would be silly if they weren’t,’” Samaras said. “But we’re basically not doing it.” Read the full article here.

June 29, 2021 - Metro21 Podcast Features Sean Qian to Discuss “Integrating and Learning from Mobility Data” - June 29, 2021 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman recently sat down with Mobility21 researcher Sean Qian to discuss how leveraging technology can provide resources to disadvantaged communities through transportation and mobility data.  Hear the full podcast here.

June 28, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Lend Expertise on President’s Climate Plan - June 28, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock and Akshaya Jha were recently asked for their expert opinions regarding President Biden\'s climate plan on a panel by StateImpact Pennsylvania and The Allegheny Front.  Read more about what they had to say here.

June 25, 2021 - Policy Summit 2021: Pathways to Economic Resilience in Our Communities - June 25, 2021 Mobility21 sister organization Metro21 attended \"Policy Summit 2021: Pathways to Economic Resilience in Our Communities,\" hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, which focused on economic resilience and equity and how they play out in communities of all sizes and compositions. View recordings from the summit here.

June 25, 2021 - NSF Concludes Stage 1 of the Civic Innovation Challenge Event with Project Showcase - June 25, 2021 As Stage 1 winners of the National Science Foundation\'s Civic Innovation Challenge, two Mobility21 UTC researchers were featured in the closing event film festival: Megan Ryerson of the University of Pennsylvania\'s \"Data-Driven and Community Engaged Planning Tools for Addressing Spatial Mismatch\" and Lee Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon University\'s \"City of Bridges: Using New Transportation Options to Drive Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success in Pittsburgh.\"

June 23, 2021 - Traffic21 Executive Education Course Highlighted at MASITE – Pittsburgh Chapter Meeting - June 23, 2021 Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, presented an overview of the recently completed inaugural session of the CMU Heinz College executive education session “Managing Artificial Intelligence in Transportation” at the MASITE Pittsburgh Chapter Meeting.  The executive education session was sponsored and developed by the Traffic21 Institute in partnership with the Heinz College Executive Education program.

June 23, 2021 - Research Recap: Integration of Autonomous Vehicles with Adaptive Signal Control to Enhance Mobility - June 23, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for Stephen Smith\'s project \"Integration of Autonomous Vehicles with Adaptive Signal Control to Enhance Mobility.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

June 22, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES) II” by Venkat Viswanathan Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - June 22, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan\'s research project, \"Platooning for Improved Safety and Efficiency of Semi-Trucks (PISES) II\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

June 22, 2021 - RISS Program Hosts Exploring Robotics & Technology Lunch and Learn - June 22, 2021 The Robotics Institute Summer Scholars program of Carnegie Mellon University hosted \"Materials & Career Paths in Robotics & Tech\" in conjunction with the Technology & Engineering Education Association (TEEAP) to prepare students for 21st century careers in technology.

June 21, 2021 - 2021 International Symposium on Transportation Data & Modeling Features Sean Qian - June 21, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian, along with Xiaohui Liu, Lei Xu and Wei Ma, presented their work \"A Data-Driven Approach to Manage the Curbside Ride-Hailing Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs\" at the 2021 International Symposium on Transportation Data & Modeling.  ISTDM 2021 aims to gather transportation researchers and practitioners across the globe for exploring the frontiers of big data, modeling and simulation to advance transportation research to support the connected, cooperative and automated mobility.

June 21, 2021 - PennDOT Holds Inaugural UAS Task Force Meeting - June 21, 2021 The Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Task Force was organized by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation at the direction of the Governor’s office with the with the vision of “The Safe and Strategic Integration of UAS Technologies Into Pennsylvania’s Transportation System.”  PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian kick off the inaugural meeting and Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell joined as a founding member of the task force.

June 19, 2021 - Jeremy Michalek Discusses Future Challenges of EVs and Trends - June 19, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jeremy Michalek recently offered his thoughts on how quickly electric vehicles will become mainstream in the U.S., citing past trends and future challenges. \"We should remain skeptical about predictions of EV adoption if they are just based on past trends.\" Read the full article here.

June 18, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Provide Insight for Scientific Data Article - June 18, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers Arnav Choudhry, Scott Matthews and Costa Samaras, along with others recently provided their data and research for the Nature.com article: \"In-flight positional and energy use data set of a DJI Matrice 100 quadcopter for small package delivery.\"

June 17, 2021 - Metro21 Represents CMU at the World Economic Forum Council on the Connected World Inaugural Convening for 2021 - June 17, 2021 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman represented President Farnam Jahanian on behalf of Carnegie Mellon University as a member of the World Economic Forum\'s Council on the Connected World\'s inaugural convening for 2021. The Future of the Connected World is a collaboration of the World Economic Forum and their Executive Council. The Council on the Connected World formed in 2019 to strengthen global governance and innovation of IoT and related technologies to maximize the positive benefits, and minimize harm, for all of society.

June 17, 2021 - NPR Podcast Features Prof. Jeremy Michalek Discussing Electric Vehicles - June 17, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jeremy Michalek discussed an all-electric vehicle future on the recent NPR On Point \"America\'s Electric Vehicle Future\" with Meghna Chakrabati.

June 16, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Real-World Data Driven Characterization of Urban Human Mobility Patterns” by John Paul Shen Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - June 16, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher John Paul Shen\'s research project, \"Real-World Data Driven Characterization of Urban Human Mobility Patterns\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

June 16, 2021 - Council of University Transportation Center’s (CUTC) Annual Meeting - June 15-16, 2021 The Annual Council of University Transportation Center\'s summer meeting brings together the nation’s leading transportation professionals from academia and industry, along with U.S. DOT and other transportation agency officials.  Raj Rajkumar, Director, Stan Caldwell, Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of Mobility21 participated in the meeting.

June 16, 2021 - Tracking the Equity Outcome of Decarbonization with Dr. Destenie Nock - June 16, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Destenie Nock was recently featured on The Energy Gang podcast to discuss her research on the equity outcome of decarbonization and the models she is creating for energy-systems planning that factor in positive social objectives.  Listen to the full podcast here.

June 15, 2021 - Mobility21 welcomes Rayna Hata to 2021 Robotics Institute Summer Scholars Program - June 15, 2021 Mobility21 is pleased to welcome and support Rayna Hata, a participant in the 2021 Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) Program. At Mobility21, we view research and education as two sides of the same coin. We cannot educate for future generations without exposing them to research, development and deployment. On the other hand, we cannot do successful research, development and deployment without the input of future generations. “The Carnegie Mellon University RISS Program is an intensive summer research program for talented undergraduate students. Summer Scholars have the opportunity to participate in state-of-the-art research projects, interact with a diverse research team, and to be mentored by leading faculty and technical staff. The program introduces aspiring students to dynamic research resources and methods, RI graduate education programs and research projects. The Summer Scholars program lasts 11 weeks.” “RISS connects students from across the country and world to contribute to robotics research alongside top CMU researchers. There were over 700 applicati ons to the RISS 2021 program from more than 40 countries and over 300 institutions worldwide. With 58 scholars from 13 countries and 43 home universities, the 2021 RISS cohort is the largest cohort since the inception of the program in 2006. Fifty percent of the participating scholars are from communities underrepresented in STEM…The RI scholars’ research experience is guided by outstanding research mentors that represent the incredibly diverse robotics research from across the Institute.” More from Mobility21 RISS Summer Scholar, Rayna Hata “Hi, my name is Rayna Hata, and I am a rising junior at Colby College in Maine studying computer science. I am interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in robotics at an institution where innovation through collaborations is fostered and encouraged. This summer, I am thrilled to be working under the supervision of Dr. Stephen Smith and Dr. Issac Isukapati in their Intelligent Coordination and Logistics Laboratory where I will be working on their PedPal app, an app designed to assist pedestrians with disabilities and/or mobility challenges to safely cross signalized intersections. Specifically, I will be working on getting better localization of the pedestrian’s location in relation the crosswalk that they are approaching or on. In my previous experience with robotics, I focused on how to make robots that can make carrying large loads easier for those with injuries and disabilities. I am excited to gain research experience in robotics and make connections with the other cohort members! I would like to thank Dr. Stephen Smith, Dr. Issac Isukapati, Mobility21, and the RISS sponsors and partners for making this opportunity possible.” Rayna continues “After selecting my research project, I looked at different types of distance sensors and beacons that may work for the PedPal app and the pedestrian traffic signals. I am very excited to keep going and further my knowledge about accurate localization. I am thrilled to be a part of this program, make connections with the other members of the cohort, and grow my skills at becoming a researcher in robotics.”

June 10, 2021 - Lessons from Internet Use and Performance During Covid-19 - June 10, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha, along with several other Carnegie Mellon University researchers, despite repeated statements from internet service providers that they have handled the increased demand for service \"just fine\" during the COVID-19 pandemic, believe that is not the case.  Read their paper \"Lessons from Internet Use and Performance During COVID-19\" to see where the researchers see ISPs fell short and what improvements can be made for the future.

June 9, 2021 - Mobility21 Researcher Presents PSPE Continuing Education Course - June 9, 2021 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented the continuing education course \"Technology and Trends in Vehicle Automation\" to the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers.  The course explained AV technology and trends and highlighted infrastructure applications and AV policy in Pennsylvania, and ended with a robust discussion on AV technology and policy.  View the full recording here.

June 9, 2021 - Mobility21 Executive Director Presents at ITSA Board Meeting - June 9, 2021 As chair of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) Standing Committee on Emerging Technologies, Stan Caldwell presented updates at the ITSA Board of Directors Meeting on activities of three working groups for: Personal Delivery Devices, Urban Air Mobility and Digital Twinning.  Stan’s current University Transportation Center research on disruptive transportation technology supports the efforts of this committee.

June 8, 2021 - Research Recap: Using Municipal Vehicles as Sensor Platforms to Monitor the Health and Performance of the Traffic Control System - June 8, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Using Municipal Vehicles as Sensor Platforms to Monitor the Health and Performance of the Traffic Control System.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

June 8, 2021 - ASCE Conference on Transportation & Development Features Traffic21 Director - June 8, 2021 Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21 and researcher with Mobility21, gave a plenary talk for the American Society of Civil Engineers\' International Conference on Transportation and Development entitled \"Accelerating Deep Decarbonization for US Transportation Modes.\"

June 8, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Contributes to Publication, Later Cited in NY Times Op-Ed - June 8, 2021 Traffic21 Director and Mobility21 researcher, Chris Hendrickson, serves on The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine\'s Committee on Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States:  Technology, Policy, and Societal Dimensions.  In February 2021, the committee contributed to the Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States Technology Policy and Societal Dimensions | National Academies. On June 8, this publication was cited in the NY Times op-ed, Opinion | To Fight Climate Change, Replace Fossil Fuels at Home and Work - The New York Times (nytimes.com).

June 6, 2021 - Carnegie Mellon Visited by Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee - June 3 & 4, 2021 Raj Rajkumar, Director of the Mobility21 University Transportation Center participated in the 2-day visit from the Pennsylvania Senate Transportation Committee to Pittsburgh.  Senators Wayne Langerholc, Jr. (Chairman), Tim Kearney, John Gordner and Pat Stefano joined local elected official and corporate and civic leaders for a meeting and showcase of transportation technology being developed, tested and deployed in the Pittsburgh. The group met at Carnegie Mellon University’s facility at Mill 19 in Hazelwood Green (a transformed steel mill which is now home to AV companies) for a demonstration of electric and autonomous vehicles including buses, trucks, cars and scooters.  Other companies participating in the technology showcase were Spin, Tesla and Locomation.  Here Professor Rajkumar provided rides to the senators in his latest level 4 automated vehicle. [caption id=\"attachment_21608\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"840\"] From left to right, Senators Kearney, Langerholc (Chairman) and Stefano.[/caption] Read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about the committee’s visit to Mill 19:  https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2021/06/03/Hazelwood-Green-autonomous-vehicle-technology-Senate-Transportation-Committee-Pittsburgh/stories/202106030198 The following day, June 4 – The Senate Transportation Committee held the public hearing at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission on reforms and investments to advance transportation innovations in Pennsylvania.  Professor Rajkumar provided testimony on the future of autonomous vehicles, and testing within the commonwealth: “This hearing comes at an inflection point requiring prompt and decisive action. Continued advances in connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) technology will be vital to the future of Pennsylvania and the nation. CAV technologies are essential to end the scourge of vehicle crashes and to realize the full potential of smart transportation applications, accelerate the transition to electric vehicles and build the 21st century logistics system that will contribute to the competitiveness of our manufacturing base. CAVs will also provide a means of transportation and independence to differently-abled people, seniors and residents of rural and suburban areas without access to public transit. In fact, providing equitable transportation access to all is a primary goal of our Mobility21 National University Transportation Center at Carnegie Mellon University.” Read Rajkumar’s testimony here.

June 5, 2021 - The University of Pennsylvania Organizes Virtual Autonomous Racing Competition - June 5, 2021 Mobility21 academic partners at the University of Pennsylvania\'s F1Tenth Team organized a Virtual Autonomous Racing Competition at Trinity College, Dublin. This was a student run event where participants submitted their racecar software agents to race against autonomous driving algorithms developed by others.

June 3, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Presents Keynote at 2021 NSF Cyber-Physical Systems Principal Investigators’ Meeting - June 3, 2021 Traffic21 Director Raj Rajkumar presented the keynote, \"Are Autonomous Vehicles A Grand Challenge for CPS or AI?\" at today\'s 2021 NSF Cyber-Physical Systems Principal Investigators\' Meeting. \"Autonomous vehicles (AVs) have garnered immense interest and investments over the past 14 years, but practical deployments still do not seem viable in the near future. Did anything go wrong? From its very origins in the late 2000\'s, the cyber-physical systems community has deemed AVs as a grand challenge. Meanwhile, thanks to remarkable advances in machine learning since the early 2010\'s, the AI community has also been targeting AVs as a poster child to measure its progress and considers AV as an AI problem to be solved. This talk will provide a synopsis of the speaker\'s work on AVs and the current state of the art. In order to stimulate a larger debate, the talk will then delve into where AI can and does contribute, and where the CPS community must continue to play a significant role. Research questions that can and must be addressed by the CPS community will be posed.\"

June 2, 2021 - Metro21 Discusses Autonomous Vehicles in IHS Markit Podcast - June 2, 2021 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman recently spoke as part of panel with industry leaders, including Jim Misener of Qualcomm and a member of the Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council, to discuss how and when autonomous vehicles will penetrate markets, understanding things such as technical, regional and consumer acceptance challenges.  Listen to the full podcast here.

June 1, 2021 - University of Pennsylvania Teams Up to Organize International Virtual Autonomous Racing Competitions - June 1, 2021 Members of The University of Pennsylvania\'s F1Tenth autonomous racing team have teamed up with Riders.AI to conduct a series of virtual autonomous racing events.  Riders.AI has developed a professional virtual racing cloud-based platform to organize international competitions.

June 1, 2021 - The Ohio State University to Compete in SAE Auto Drive Challenge - June 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC academic partner, The Ohio State University, is forming their inaugural team to compete in the SAE AutoDrive Challenge II this fall, joining nine other universities who are taking on the challenge to develop and demonstrate an autonomous vehicle that can navigate urban driving courses.  Click here to learn more about the competition.

May 31, 2021 - Mobility21 Penn Team Organizes ICRA’21 Opportunities and Challenges with Autonomous Racing Workshop - May 31, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Rahul Mangraham from the University of Pennsylvania organized the \"Opportunities and Challenges with Autonomous Racing\" workshop which had over 175 participants and invited speakers from MIT, Stanford, ETHz, GTech, Caltech and others who are balancing safety and performance at the limits of perception, planning and control of autonomous racing machines.  Learn more details about the event here.

May 28, 2021 - CMU Graduates First Cohort from New Executive Education Program “Managing AI in Transportation” - The week of May 3, 2021, the first cohort of students attended the Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy’s new executive education program focusing on the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the transportation industry. The inaugural cohort included representatives of government, non-profit, industry and association leaders. The new program, “Managing AI in Transportation,” was developed by the experts at Heinz College’s Traffic21 Institute to explore critical areas that are required for breaking down public and private organizational barriers and understanding how managing AI can benefit key stakeholders throughout the transportation industry. “We were excited to offer this new program to our already strong roster of executive education,” said David Ulicne, Senior Director of Heinz College Executive Education. “As the transportation industry continues to rapidly evolve, and the influence of AI in the field continues to grow, this new program will provide managers the opportunity to expand their knowledge and keep pace with the latest technological advancements.” Participants explored the impact of disruptive technology on transportation; AI in traffic control devices; AI in connected and autonomous vehicles; the role of AI in predictive analytics; AI in transportation asset management; the equitable application of AI for safe and efficient transportation; and how to develop and implement an enterprise AI strategy. One participant reflected, “As a company, we\'re always looking for ways to use new technologies to make our business better.  Better understanding what AI can and can\'t do, what it needs to succeed, and ways of thinking about problems using an AI \"lens\" will all be long term beneficial.” “Since Traffic21’s founding more than 10 years ago, we have seen firsthand the various ways AI is impacting and improving transportation,” said Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Traffic21.  “From asset management  to automated vehicles, the use of AI is transforming transportation sector, and we are pleased to have the opportunity to share what we have learned with both public and private sector managers to leverage the power of this technology and mitigate its risk.” Plans are already underway for the 2022 class.  Contact Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer to learn more. ****************************************************** The bootcamp’s detailed agenda included: Session 1: Overview of Technology and AI Impacts in Transportation Today Application examples Risks and benefits Policy implications   Session 2: AI in Traffic Control Devices History, current status, future trends in devices The role of AI in improving traffic control devices Traffic control device optimization with increased IOT connections   Session 3: AI in Connected/Autonomous Vehicles History, current status, future trends of AV Societal impact of AV (safety, environment) Technology/policy risks of CAVs   Session 4: AI and Predictive Analytics: How to Make Better Decisions with Transportation Data AI enablement for improved decisions Analytics use cases Data sharing to modify behavior patterns   Session 5: AI in Transportation Asset Management Use cases for AI in asset management Optimization best practices How to achieve desired cost efficiencies   Session 6: Equitably Applying AI for Safe and Efficient Transportation AI approaches to improve mobility and access Misuse and/or negative impact of AI to mobility Ethical issues of AI   Session 7: Developing and Implementing an Enterprise AI Strategy Enterprise AI strategy components Key stakeholders needed How to build AI capability and find talent ******************************************************   ABOUT CMU HEINZ COLLEGE The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy is home to two internationally recognized gradu­ate-level institutions at CMU: The School of Information Systems and Management and the School of Public Pol­icy and Management. This unique colocation combined with its expertise in analytics set Heinz College apart in the areas of cybersecurity, healthcare, the future of work, smart cities, and arts & entertainment.   ABOUT TRAFFIC21 Traffic21 is a multi-disciplinary research institute of Carnegie Mellon University. Its goal is to design, test, deploy, and evaluate information and communications technology-based solutions to address the problems facing the transportation system of the Pittsburgh region and the nation. Housed within the institute is the US DOT funded, Mobility21 National University Transportation Center. The Pittsburgh region serves as a “learning lab,” deploying solutions that can be applied around the nation and the globe. Traffic21 leverages Carnegie Mellon’s leadership in relevant areas such as intelligent transportation systems, smart infrastructure, cyber security, human factors, artificial intelligence, data analytics, and connected and automated vehicles.

May 27, 2021 - Fei Fang Receives the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program Award - May 27, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Fei Fang of the CMU School of Computer Science was recently awarded the NSF CAREER award, which is the foundation\'s most prestigious award for young faculty members.  Fang will use her award to build on research that integrates game theory with machine learning to optimize communication and coordination to tackle real-world problems.  Learn more about Fang\'s research here.

May 24, 2021 - National Academy of Construction Elects Burcu Akinci as New Member - May 24, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Burcu Akinci has been selected to become a member of the National Academy of Construction for her significant contributions to the effectiveness of the engineering and construction industry over a period of multiple years.

May 21, 2021 - TRB Highlights Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System - May 21, 2021 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson provided his knowledge and expertise for the latest TRB Newsletter Consensus Report \"Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System.\"

May 20, 2021 - Caldwell Appointed to Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce Smart Transportation Working Group - May 20, 2021 Because of Mobility21 Director Stan Caldwell’s research on transportation technology and policy, he was appointed to the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce Smart Transportation Working Group to study regional transportation technology needs.  Caldwell, along with other members of the working group, presented findings and policy recommendations today at the Chamber Board of Director’s meeting.

May 20, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Invent Software for EV Battery Charging - May 20, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan, along with his colleagues at CMU, have invented the first software, INCEPTS, that can predict the charge of electric vehicles in different geographic and climate conditions to improve location of charging stations.  Learn more here.  

May 19, 2021 - Roadsigns Recent Podcast Features Mobility21 UTC Researcher Christoph Mertz - May 19, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Christoph Mertz was recently invited to discuss how university research is advancing transportation technology.  Mertz explained his work using a smartphone app to provide the data about potholes and cracks in the road to local governments so they can make data driven decisions about their infrastructure on the recent Roadsigns podcast. Listen to the full podcast here.

May 19, 2021 - Research Recap: Labeling Roads with Different Types of Automated Driving Functional Requirements Using Machine Learning - May 19, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Labeling Roads with Different Types of Automated Driving Functional Requirements using Machine Learning.\"  The recaps are one-page overviews of the UTC funded research that describe the research project\'s purpose, approach, key findings, conclusions, contact information for the research team and a link to the final research report.

May 18, 2021 - Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar Testifies at US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce Hearing - May 18, 2021 Professor Raj Rajkumar, Director of the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center provided testimony at the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce hearing on “Promises and Perils: The Potential of Automobile Technologies,” alongside fellow panelists Jason Levine, Executive Director for the Center on Auto Safety and Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. Congressman Mike Doyle, member the House Energy and Commerce Committee, representing CMU’s hometown of Pittsburgh, introduced Professor Rajkumar.   The Subcommittee Hearing was chaired by Congresswoman Janice D. Schakowsky (Illinois-09) along with Ranking Member Congressman Gus M. Bilirakis (Florida-12). Professor Rajkumar’s testimony included the history of autonomous vehicles (AVs), a current assessment of AV technology and the steps necessary to maintain domestic competiveness and achieve the social and economic benefits of the AV industry.  Professor Rajkumar also addressed challenges and opportunities to navigate the perils and ensure the ability to realize the promise: “It is imperative that we commit soon to an all-of-nation initiative to ensure AV technology does not join the list of innovations which are invented in the US but end up generating jobs and wealth only far beyond our shores.” Read Professor Rajkumar’s full testimony here. Watch the hearing here.

May 18, 2021 - Costa Samaras Discusses Net-Zero Emissions - May 18, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras recently discussed the possibility of net-zero emissions by 2050 and the steps that need to be taken to achieve global warming goals. “The report makes it clear that the window to get to net-zero emissions by 2050 is narrow, but—and this important—still achievable,” said Costa Samaras, a professor who studies energy systems at Carnegie Mellon University.  Read the full article here.

May 13, 2021 - Traffic21 Executive Education Course Highlighted at PA Automated Vehicle Policy Task Force - May 12, 2021 Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented an overview of the recently completed inaugural session of the CMU Heinz College executive education  session “Managing Artificial Intelligence in Transportation” at the quarterly meeting of the Pennsylvania Automated Vehicle Policy Task Force.  The executive education session was sponsored and developed by the Traffic21 Institute in partnership with the Heinz College Executive Education program.

May 13, 2021 - Why Battery Swapping in Electric Vehicles is a Thing of the Past - May 13, 2021 As director of Carnegie Mellon\'s vehicle electrification group, Mobility21 UTC researcher Jeremy Michalek provides the pros and cons to battery swapping and how we can make the process more streamlined for consumers while reducing our carbon footprint. “When you’re looking at 300 miles of range from a fast charge, it changes the game for how convenient EVs are,” Michalek said. Read the full article here.

May 13, 2021 - CMU Professors Use Expertise to Explain Infrastructure Plan - May 13, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher and CMU Professor Destenie Nock, alongside Professor Akshaya Jha have been asked to provide their knowledge and expertise in the fields of environmental studies and climate change as panelists on The Allegheny Front as part of a segment called \"What\'s Your Question About Biden\'s Climate Plan?\" 

May 12, 2021 - Pennsylvania UTC Representatives Present “Get to Know the PA UTCs” - May 12, 2021 Today, 5 Pennsylvania University Transportation Center (UTC) representatives joined together to present the “Get to Know the PA UTCs” workshop during the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania Spring Conference. The workshop began with a general overview of the UTCs.  This included history on the establishment of the UTC program, what UTCs do (research, education and workforce development, technology transfer, collaboration), how to find UTCs, and how to get involved in UTC activities. Then, each UTC provided an overview of their specific research areas and programs: Automated Vehicle Services for People with Disabilities--Involved Responsive Engineering (ASPIRE) Center, University of Pittsburgh – Rory Cooper, Human Engineering Research Laboratory As a new center, Dr. Cooper explained the initial aims are: Aim 1: Systematic Review Aim 2: Understand the needs of Users and Providers Aim 3: Data synthesis, extrapolation, analysis and modeling Aim 4: Impact on Transportation System and Its Users Center for Integrated Asset Management for Multi-Modal Transportation Infrastructure Systems, Penn State University – Dr. Eric Donnell, Professor of Civil Engineering, Director of Larson Transportation Institute Reviewed their program vision “Improve integrated asset management through research, education, and outreach activities that will enable transportation agencies to invest infrastructure funds when and where most critically needed” and focus areas: Application of Innovative Materials and Technologies Condition Assessment and Health Monitoring Infrastructure Management and Innovative Financing Center for Underground Transportation Infrastructure, Lehigh University – Spencer Quiel, Ph.D., PE, Associate Professor Described that “This is the first and only UTC focused on underground construction. Operating with a mission to be a leader in the development of sustainable, less costly and more durable technologies for underground transportation infrastructures that can be efficiently constructed, operated and maintained, providing solutions for future underground transportation projects.” Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions, University of Pennsylvania – Erick Guerra, Associate Professor Explained “Our center supports research that establishes a legal framework for cooperative megaregion transportation planning; develops analytical framework targeting passenger and freight mobility improvement in megaregions; capitalizes access-enabling spatial strategies; promotes equity for elderly and rural populations in and around the megaregion; creates environmental justice metrics in the megaregion context; improves public participation at the megaregional scale; optimizes multi-modality and inter-modality; and develops a GIS-based planning support system for cooperative mobility in megaregions.” Mobility21, Carnegie Mellon University – Lisa Kay Schweyer, TDM-CP, MPM, Program Manager Discussed their partnerships with the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University and Community College of Allegheny, education and workforce efforts/student involvement and the launch of the new executive education session Managing AI in Transportation. The group encouraged the attendees to learn more about the UTCs and to get involved: Sign-up for Newsletters Propose Research Ideas Attend Webinars/Seminars Share Internship & Job Opportunities Invite UTC researchers to speak at events/conferences To learn more about the Department of Transportation’s UTC program and locate a UTC near you, click here.