May 12, 2021 - The UX Academy Podcast Features Dr. Patrick Carrington - May 12, 2021 The UX Academy podcast, hosted by Dr. Abdullah X. Ali, sat down with Mobility21 UTC researcher Prof. Patrick Carrington to discuss chairable computing and his experience on both the academic and industry sides of the accessibility field.  Listen to the full podcast here.

May 12, 2021 - “Real-World Data Driven Characterization of Urban Human Mobility Patterns” Thesis Defense Presentation by CMU ECE Ph.D. Candidate - May 12, 2021 Abhinav Jauhri, CMU ECE Ph.D. Candidate presented his thesis defense on Real-World Data Driven Characterization of Urban Human Mobility Patterns. Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer attended his defense. Abhinav’s work was conducted as part of the Mobility21 UTC project, \"Real Time Traffic Congestion Prediction and Mitigation at the City Scale.\"  UTC Researcher John Paul Shen, was Abhinav’s advisor and his committee included Anupam Datta, Jason Hong, and another UTC researcher Sean Qian.

May 12, 2021 - Mobility21 Researcher at The Ohio State University Receives Lumley Research Award - May 12, 2021 Mobility21 academic partner and research professor Keith Redmill at The Ohio State University\'s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) was recently awarded the College of Engineering’s Lumley Research Award for his work focusing on intelligent transportation systems, autonomous vehicles and mobile robots, advanced safety and driver assistance systems, and the control, sensing, and communication technologies that make those systems possible.  Read the full article here.

May 11, 2021 - Ding Zhao Receives National Science Foundation CAREER Award for AI - May 11, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Ding Zhao, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, was awarded a CAREER grant by the National Science Foundation for his work on safety-critical applications of AI, which includes autonomous vehicles and healthcare.

May 10, 2021 - Mobility21 Faculty Meeting with US Postal Service OIG - May 10, 2021 Working through the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at CMU, Mobility21 UTC faculty are meeting with the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General to discuss potential research on analysis of electric vehicles, the  current state of electric vehicles, and USPS challenges as they transition to electric vehicle use.

May 6, 2021 - CMU Students Share Capstone Projects - May 6, 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/Colorado Springs: Reducing Traffic Congestion at Fort Carson Army Base Team Port Authority of Allegheny County: Parking Management Scenario Planning for the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAAC) Department of Labor & Industry: Online Platforms in the PA Trucking and Construction Sectors: Measurement Challenges and Policy Implications  Beneficial State Foundation: Projecting the Future Growth of the Used Clean Vehicle Market in California Allies for Children: School Bus Optimization for Meal Delivery in the Age of COVID-19

May 6, 2021 - NASEM Releases Final Report for Phase 2 Reducing Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles - May 6, 2021 The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine have released the final report for Reducing Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Phase Two. This study is a follow-on to the National Research Council\'s 2010 report, Technologies and Approaches to Reducing the Fuel Consumption of Medium-and Heavy-Duty Vehicles. That report provided a series of findings and recommendations on the development of regulations for reducing fuel consumption of MHDVs.  Read the full report here.

May 5, 2021 - Heinz College Student Capstone Project Evaluates Transit Park and Ride Lots - May 5, 2021 Heinz College MPPM students Aly Caito, Ali Iftikhar, Erika Montana, Sanjay Renduchintala, and Shirish Verma, presented their Systems Synthesis class project \"Parking Management Scenario Planning for the Port Authority of Allegheny County.\"  The course was advised by Professor Stan Caldwell and the client was Heinz College Alum Amy Silbermann, Director of Planning and Service Development at the Port Authority of Allegheny County.  View the report here.

May 5, 2021 - University Transportation Research Discussion and Future Research with WVU - May 5, 2021 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director and Chris Hendrickson, Traffic21 Director met with Dave Martinelli from West Virginia University to discuss current University Transportation Center research and future research opportunities.

May 5, 2021 - CMU Student Transportation Club Hosts Career Panel - April 30, 2021 The CMU Student Transportation Club hosted their annual career panel to provide students with real-world insight from individuals who work in the transportation field.  Panelists were volunteers from the Pittsburgh Chapter of WTS : Melany Alliston-Brick of Toole Design Cathleen Zeisler of SAI Consulting Engineers, Inc. Angela Saunders of PennDOT Erin Potts of Pittsburgh Bike Share Matthew Parrish of Pennoni Lori Musto of PennDOT

May 4, 2021 - CMU Student Capstone Course Focuses on Electric Vehicle Adoption - May 4, 2021 Stan Caldwell served on the advisory panel and attended the final presentation of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy\'s undergraduate capstone project course on the local and national implications of vehicle electrification.  The semester long project course was taught by Professor Erica Fuchs and the question posed to the students was: What are the implications of vehicle electrification for national security, geopolitical and other supply chain risks, economic prosperity (including jobs), and social welfare (including the environment and equity)?

April 27, 2021 - 2021 Future of Commuting Summit Held by ACT - April 27, 2021 The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) held the 2021 Future of Commuting Summit – Today, Tomorrow and BEYOND. The event brought together 350+ employers, thought leaders, government agencies, and private sector TDM leaders to address the ever-evolving challenges that face commuters from home to work or campus. Mobility21 UTC Program Manager & ACT Board Member, Lisa Kay Schweyer led 2 small group discussion breakout sessions during the event.

April 27, 2021 - UTC Researcher Destenie Nock Awarded Wimmer Faculty Fellowship - April 27, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock has been awarded the 2021-22 Wimmer Faculty Fellow Award to evaluate how social justice based active learning activities can impact student learning.

April 26, 2021 - Student Debate on EV Policy with Professor Jeremy Michalek - April 26, 2021 Professor Jeremy Michalek, a Mobility21 UTC researcher, hosted a student debate on electric vehicle policy for his course \"Electric Vehicles: Technology, Economics, Environment and Policy,\" which also featured an expert panel that included: Alan Jenn is a CMU EPP alumnus who is now an Assistant Professional Researcher at the Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicle group of the Institution of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis. David Rapson is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Davis Energy Economics Program at the University of California, Davis. Costa Samaras is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. Lisa Snapp is the Director of the Climate Analysis and Strategies Center in the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Transportation and Climate Division.

April 25, 2021 - Roadbotics Inc. President Featured by Pittsburgh Business Times - April 25, 2021 Carnegie Mellon spin-off company Roadbotics, Inc. president was featured in the latest Pittsburgh Business Times \"Personalities of Pittsburgh.\"  The article highlights Roadbotics, Inc. President Ben Schmidt and his interests and thoughts for the future.  Read the full article here.

April 23, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Ümit Özgüner - April 23, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Ümit Özgüner.   He discussed his project, \"Research on pedestrian vehicle interaction.” Watch his presentation here.

April 22, 2021 - Mobility21 Participates in CARMA Webinar - April 22, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in a webinar hosted by the National Operations Center of Excellence on the CARMA’s latest simulation research and how this research advances cooperative driving automation for public benefit. CARMA is a program of the Federal Highway Administration.  Watch the full webinar here.

April 22, 2021 - Cooperative Automated Transportation Coalition Quarterly Meeting - April 22, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the quarterly meeting of the CAT Coalition Strategic Working Group where initiatives such as the Virginia C-V2X Deployment for Work Zone Safety were discussed. The Cooperative Automated Transportation Coalition (CAT) serves as a collaborative focal point for federal, state and local government officials, academia, industry and their related associations to address critical program and technical issues associated with the nationwide deployment of connected and automated vehicles on streets and highways.  CAT is supported by AASHTO, ITSA, ITE and US DOT.

April 22, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson Featured as Kent Seminar Distinguished Speaker for 2021 - April 22, 2021 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson was featured as the Kent Seminar Distinguished Speaker for 2021 by the Illinois Center for Transportation  and presented his project, \"Accelerating Decarbonization in the U.S. Transportation System.\"

April 22, 2021 - Maxine Eskenazi Selected as a Fellow of the International Speech Communication Association - April 22, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Maxine Eskenazi, a principal systems scientist in the Language Technologies Institute, has been selected as a fellow of the International Speech Communication Association for her contributions to the field and decades of service to the community.  Read the full story here.

April 22, 2021 - Solving the Problems of Traffic with Twitter Information - April 22, 2021 Working with Ph.D. student Weiran Yao, Mobility21 UTC research Sean Qian has extracted information from tweets to provide accuracy in predicting morning traffic patterns.  Read the full story here.  

April 22, 2021 - ASCE Publishes Special Collection on the COVID-19 Pandemic and Transportation Engineering - April 22, 2021 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson and Executive Director Stan Caldwell, alongside Laurence Rilett of the University of Nebraska recently published an article for the ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems titled \"It is Time to Recognize Communications as a Mode of Transportation.\"

April 21, 2021 - USDOT ITS Joint Program Office Holds All-Levels Academic Virtual Forum - April 21, 2021 Mobility21 UTC academic partners Bob Koch & Justin Starr of Community College of Allegheny County and Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, participated and provided workgroup updates during today\'s USDOT ITS Joint Program Office\'s All-Levels Academic Virtual Forum, where educators at universities, two-year colleges, and high schools, as well as practitioners and industry leaders came together to learn, share, and strategize about ITS education and workforce development.

April 20, 2021 - Launch of the ITSA Urban Air Mobility Task Force - April 20, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the inaugural meeting of the Urban Air Mobility Task Force which is exploring education and policy initiatives around the electric vertical take-off and landing systems (eVTOLs).  The task force chair is Kristin White from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and is supported by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America Standing Committee on Emerging Technologies, chaired by Stan Caldwell along with Andrew Liu from AECOM.

April 20, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Highlighted at Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance Meeting - April 20, 2021 Stan Caldwell provided an update to the Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance on research of Mobility21 faculty Sarah Fox, Patrick Carrington and Nik Martelaro supported by the US DOT Inclusive Design Challenge.  The Challenge focuses on innovative design solutions to enable people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities to use automated vehicles to access jobs, healthcare, and other critical destinations.  Alliance members, including Chairman John Tague, are community partners in this research.

April 20, 2021 - University of Texas at Austin Smart Cities Consortium Features Mobility21 UTC Researcher - April 20, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian participated in the University of Texas at Austin\'s Smart Cities consortium to discuss his project, \"Strategic and Operational Strategies to Inform First- and Last- Mile Services: Case Studies for Robinson and Moon Townships, PA.\"

April 19, 2021 - Third Annual National Mobility Summit Held - April 19, 2019 The Third Annual National Mobility Summit was held on April 15, 2021. The National Mobility Summit is an opportunity for US DOT University Transportation Centers to come together to discuss the real-world problems, opportunities and innovations in today’s transportation landscape.   Over 200 people registered for this event.   Find more information about the National Mobility Summit here:  https://mobility21.cmu.edu/events/the-national-mobility-summit/the-national-mobility-summit-2021/.

April 16, 2021 - CCAC Students Meet to Discuss Transportation Development - April 16, 2021 Students from Community College of Allegheny County,  Mobility21 UTC academic partner, met at the Steel Center for Career and Technical Education facility and engaged in a discussion about the changes in the automotive field, such as ADAS systems and the need to understand sensing technology, and the various other employment opportunities within ITS.

April 15, 2021 - LG Silicon Valley Lab Partners with University of Pennsylvania’s F1Tenth Team - April 15, 2021 Members of the Mobility21 academic partners at the University of Pennsylvania\'s F1Tenth team have partnered with the LG Silicon Valley Lab  to develop a F1Tenth vehicle and race track for autonomous racing in the LG SVL Simulator, which is the leading AV simulator.  Watch the simulation here.

April 14, 2021 - CSTI Hosts Annual Transportation Forum - April 14, 2021 Stan Caldwell and Lisa Kay Schweyer of Mobility21 participated in the 2021 Annual Transportation Forum, hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure.  The Transportation Forum is open to students, consultants, government agencies and other professionals that are involved in the planning, design, research, construction and operation of transportation systems.

April 14, 2021 - Roadbotics Data Helps Inform Local Area Paving Plan - April 14, 2021 Roadbotics, a Mobility21 UTC funded spinoff company, demonstrates impact of technology on local transportation in Bethel Park.  “It takes all the guess work out of it,” said Consolmagno, public works chairman. “Instead of people calling up and saying, ‘Hey. How about paving my road?’ This independent audit gives us a firsthand view.” Read the full article here.

April 9, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Featuring Justin Starr - April 9, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Justin Starr.   He discussed his project, \"Using a Virtual Racing League to Learn Artificial Intelligence Autonomy as a Skilled Trade.”  Watch his presentation here.

April 8, 2021 - Ohio State University Receives Funding from U.S. Department of Energy - April 8, 2021 The Ohio State University,  Mobility21 UTC academic partner, has received $5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to optimize fuel economy in connected and automated vehicles. This is Ohio State’s second project to be funded through ARPA-E’s Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles (NEXTCAR) program. Research will be led by Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research (CAR). Learn more…

April 8, 2021 - Ohio State University Receives Funding From US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E - April 8, 2021 Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Ohio State University, has received $5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to optimize fuel economy in connected and automated vehicles. This is Ohio State’s second project to be funded through ARPA-E’s Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles (NEXTCAR) program. Research will be led by Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research. Learn more…

April 7, 2021 - Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell Reappointed to Pennsylvania STIC - April 7, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the quarterly meeting of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Division of the Federal Highway Administration State Transportation Innovation Council where he was recognized with eight other members (including Penn State UTC Director Eric Donnell)  and has been re-appointed to the board for another two-year term.

April 6, 2021 - Mobility21 Engages with MetroLab Network - April 6, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the MetroLab Network Federal Policy Briefing which featured Marcia L. Hale, Chair of  Building America’s Future Educational Fund and Dan Correa, Acting President of the Federation of American Scientists and Director of the Day One Project.  The group discussed opportunities to advance smart community technology research and deployment.

April 5, 2021 - Hillman Foundation and Regional Leadership Working to Expanding Broadband Access - April 5, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in a meeting with southwestern Pennsylvania leaders and hosted by the Hillman Foundation on strategies for expanding broadband access.  There was a presentation by Kathryn de Wit, Manager of the Broadband Research Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts and update from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission on their broadband plan, which is supported by Stan’s UTC research project.

April 1, 2021 - Stan Caldwell Instructs Continuing Education Course for PSPE - April 1, 2021 Stan Caldwell instructed a course for 20 members of the Philadelphia Chapter of Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers.  The course was based on his Mobility21 research and titled \"Technology Trends in Vehicle Automation.\"

April 1, 2021 - National Institute for AI in Construction - April 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researchers Burcu Akinci and Pingbo Tang of the CMU College of Engineering are part of a team that is working to design the future National Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Construction, which will investigate and develop ways to integrate rapidly evolving machine learning and AI technology into modern construction work. Read the full story here.

April 1, 2021 - Green Building Alliance Hosts Inspire Speaker Series - April 1, 2021 Lisa Kay Schweyer, UTC Program Manager, participated in the Green Building Alliance’s Inspire Speakers Series session on Mobility, Health, and Justice in the Clean Transportation Revolution.  Speakers discussed the local context of Pittsburgh’s mobility evolution and its future, and  projects happening in our region and in other parts of the country to address the multi-faceted issue of clean transportation.

March 26, 2021 - Managing AI in Transportation Webinar Provided Preview of Executive Education Course - March 26, 2021 Transportation industry leaders presented a preview of the upcoming executive education program from Heinz College and Traffic21, \"Managing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Transportation.\" Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Traffic21/Mobility21 UTC, Mark Kopko, Director of the Office of Transformational Technology for PA Department of Transportation, Summer Fowler, Chief Information Officer at Argo AI and Allanté Whitmore, a Ph.D. candidate earning a joint Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University discussed how AI is impacting all facets of transportation as well as the challenges and opportunities that private and public sector professionals face in managing this new technology.  View the presentation here.

March 25, 2021 - CMU Student Project Update: Traffic Dashboard for Colorado Springs, a CMU/US-Ignite Solution - March 25, 2021 Today, five CMU MSPPM-DM students - Thomas Hurley, Akshay Oza, Karunya Manoharan, Yue Wu, and Yuran Zhu - presented an overview of their capstone project.   The project, led by UTC researcher Beibei Li, is developing a real-time dashboard for base personnel to reduce traffic congestion at the Fort Carson army base.  The team will continue the work on this project, refining the dashboard, and adding predictive analytics features.  Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer attended and provided feedback to the team.

March 25, 2021 - Research Recap: Bus on the Edge, Continuous Monitoring of Traffic and Infrastructure - March 25, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Bus on the Edge: Continuous Monitoring of Traffic and Infrastructure.\"  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.

March 25, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Feasibility of Mileage-Based User Fees Replacing the Gas Tax” by Scott Matthews Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - March 25, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Scott Matthews\' research project, \"Feasibility of Mileage-Based User Fees Replacing the Gas Tax\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

March 25, 2021 - Stan Caldwell Appointed to the ARTBA Workforce Development Council - March 25, 2021 Stan Caldwell represented UTC interests and the Research Division in the first meeting of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Workforce Development Council.  The 17 ARTBA members in attendance, representing multiple divisions, shared their recent experiences in workforce activities. Jorge Quezada of Granite Construction and Nick DiBartolo of the Rogers Group are co-chairs. Karen Bobo and Clark Martin of the Federal Highway Administration\'s Highway Construction Workforce Partnership, and Julie Davis of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, developer of her association’s new Workforce Solutions Toolkit, briefed the group.

March 24, 2021 - Eastern Transportation Coalition’s 2019 Passenger Vehicle Pilot Includes Mobility21 Participants - March 24, 2021 Volunteers for the Eastern Transportation Coalition\'s 2019 Passenger Vehicle Pilot included Mobility21 Stan Caldwell, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Scott Matthews and Prithvi Acharya.  They helped bring perspective to the exploration of mileage-based user fees.  View the full report of the findings here.

March 23, 2021 - Finding Alternatives to the State Gas Tax with a Mileage-Based User Fee - March 23, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Scott Matthews provided his knowledge and research expertise during a KDKA-TV segment discussing the mileage-based user fee that is a proposed alternative to the state gas tax by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.  Watch the full segment here.

March 23, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Driving Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success: The Impact of Ridehailing on Income and Employment” by Lee Branstetter Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - March 23, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Lee Branstetters\'s research project, \"Driving Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success: The Impact of Ridehailing on Income and Employment\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

March 22, 2021 - CEDM Visiting Speaker Seminar Features Traffic21 Director - March 22, 2021 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson was invited to present at a recent Center for Climate and Energy Decision Making (CEDM) seminar, where he presented his work with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, \"Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States: Technology, Policy and Societal Dimensions.\"  

March 19, 2021 - Summer Transportation Internship Program for Diverse Groups Awards Internship to CMU Student - March 19, 2021 As part of the Summer Transportation Internship Program for Diverse Groups, MS research assistant Devin White has been awarded an internship at the US Department of Transportation in the Federal Highway Administration Center for Accelerating Innovation.  Devin is advised by Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson and UTC researcher Dr. Corey Harper.  

March 18, 2021 - Traffic21 and Metro21 Join Pittsburgh Region Broadband Study - March 18, 2021 Karen Lightman, Metro21 Executive Director and Stan Caldwell, Traffic21 Executive Director participated in a kick off meeting for a regional broadband study led by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission in partnership with Carnegie Mellon and Allies for Children.  The Hillman Foundation provided funding for this project and Michael Baker Corporation has been contracted for support.

March 18, 2021 - Stan Caldwell Presents at ITS America Board Meeting - March 18, 2021 As chair of the ITS America Standing Committee on Emerging Technologies, Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was joined by Vice-Chair Andrew Liu from AECOM in participating in the ITS America Board of Directors Meeting to present the first report of their committee activity on programing and policy.  Stan’s current Mobility21 research on transportation technology and policy supports this committee activity.  Also presenting at the board meeting was US DOT Senior Advisor Carlos Monje.

March 17, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Informs NCHRP Study - March 17, 2021 Resulting from his UTC research in automated vehicle technology and policy, UTC Director Stan Caldwell was invited to participate as an expert panelist in a listening session on Current Research and Gaps in Automated and Connected Vehicles to support the research being performed under NCHRP Project 20-126(01) Programmatic Strategies for State Transportation Agencies Dealing with Issues of Future System Performance.

March 16, 2021 - Engineering and Public Policy Course on Vehicle Electrification - March 16, 2021 Mobility21 UTC supported CMU’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy\'s undergraduate capstone project course on Local and National Implications of Vehicle Electrification.  Stan Caldwell serves on the project team\'s advisory board and provided feedback and UTC research insights for the students’ mid-term research project presentation.

March 15, 2021 - Mobility21 Engages with Pennsylvania Clean Transportation Table - March 15, 2021 As a member of the Pennsylvania Clean Transportation Table, Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the March 2021 meeting, where participants discussed clean transportation technology and policy initiatives including electric those for electric vehicles.

March 15, 2021 - University of Pennsylvania Professor Contributes Project Report to Urban Studies - March 15, 2021 Mobility21 UTC  Academic Partner and University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning Erick Guerra contributed the project report on “How do low-income commuters get to work in US and Mexican cities? A comparative empirical assessment” to Urban Studies. The study was co-authored with doctoral fellow Shengxiao Li.

March 15, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Activity Highlighted in Congressional Briefings - March 15, 2021 Stan Caldwell joined fellow University Transportation Center members of the Research, Education and Training Reauthorization Coalition (RETRC) in virtual congressional staff briefings on UTC accomplishments and impacts.  Caldwell made presentations on Mobility21 National UTC research, education and technology transfer activity to staff from the following offices in a separate meeting: Senator James Inhofe Senator Joni Ernst Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney Congressman John Katko

March 15, 2021 - Power Sector Carbon Index Created by CMU Professor - March 12, 2021 Carnegie Mellon University Professor and Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras has worked alongside the Scott Institute at CMU and Mitsubishi Power to create the Power Sector Carbon Index, which tracks the progress of the United States\' transition to cleaner electricity generation.  They recently released their 3rd quarter numbers.  Read the full article here.

March 12, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Jeremy Michalek - March 12, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Jeremy Michalek.   He discussed his project, \"Uber/Lyft Implications: Vehicle Ownership, Transit, Electrification, Air Emissions, Traffic Externalities, and Equity.”  Watch his presentation here.

March 10, 2021 - Mobility21 AV Research to be Part of AV TEST Initiative - March 10, 2021 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar recently joined the US DOT National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) AV TEST Initiative which provides a publicly accessible tool where automated driving systems developers and states can voluntarily submit information about automated vehicles and testing.  CMU is considered a birthplace of AV technology going back the 1980s and Professor Rajkumar has been conducting AV on-road testing since 2013.  

March 9, 2021 - SAE Panel on Urban Mobility Features Metro21 Executive Director - March 9, 2021 Executive Director Karen Lightman of Metro21 joined the SAE Detroit panel to discuss their \"Urban Mobility Series: Profitability vs. Societal Benefits.\"  Karen was joined by Karina Ricks of the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility & Infrastructure, along with other professionals in the field of urban mobility.  The panel discussed the revenue issues that transit agencies have wrestled with  for decades.

March 9, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Research “Improving Short-Term Travel Speed Prediction with High-Resolution Spatial and Temporal Rainfall Data” Featured in The Journal of Transportation Engineering: Part A - March 9, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Corey Harper, along with Sean Qian and Costa Samaras, recently authored \"Improving Short-Term Travel Speed Prediction with High-Resolution Spatial and Temporal Rainfall Data,\" which was recently selected as an editor\'s choice paper in the Journal of Transportation Engineering: Part A.  The paper explores using high-resolution rainfall data and machine learning techniques to better understand how rainfall affects traffic operations.

March 9, 2021 - MBUFA Radio Features Scott Matthews to Discuss Transportation Funding Needs - March 9, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Scott Matthews was featured on MBUFA Radio to discuss the existing ways that transportation revenues are collected and disbursed, and ideas on what is needed to move more states from plans to pilots to programs. The Mileage-Based User Fee Alliance (MBUFA) is a national non-profit organization that brings together government, business, academic, and transportation policy leaders to conduct education and outreach on the potential for mileage-based user fees as an alternative for future funding and improved performance of the U.S. transportation system.

March 5, 2021 - Costa Samaras Debates the Role of the Government in Promoting Vehicle Electrification - March 5, 2021 Mobility Impact Partners hosted a debate on the government’s role in promoting vehicle electrification, the first in a series on the future of mobility.  Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras provided his expertise in favor of the government promoting vehicle electrification.  Watch the full episode here.

March 5, 2021 - ITSA Broadband Deployment Task Force Holds Inaugural Meeting - March 5, 2021 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was appointed to serve on the ITSA Broadband Deployment Task Force, which held their inaugural meeting. The ITS American Broadband Deployment Task Force is developing broadband policy for FAST Act reauthorization to support the 21st century connected, automated, shared, on-demand, and electrified transportation system.  The task force’s programmatic activities focus on ITS and edge device data to aid in the increase of safety and mobility and be the infrastructure pillar to bridge the rural and urban digital divide and advance public safety efforts.

March 4, 2021 - Stan Caldwell Moderates Pennsylvania AV Summit Session - March 4, 2021 As a member of the 2021 PA AV Planning Committee, Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell moderated a webinar on automated vehicle safety and validation with the following panelists: Nat Beuse, Aurora Maureen Brown, Munich Re Amy Chu, Automated Vehicle Safety Consortium Jackie Erickson, Edge Case Research

March 3, 2021 - WTS Pittsburgh Honors Award Winners at 2021 Recognition Awards Event - March 3, 2021 Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer was honored at the WTS Pittsburgh 2021 Recognition Awards Event today as the recipient of the WTS Rosa Parks Diversity Award.  The award recognizes an individual who contributes significantly to promoting diversity, inclusion and multi-cultural awareness within their organization, the transportation industry, or in a project or activity that supports the goals and mission of WTS.

March 3, 2021 - U.S. City Roads Report Released by Roadbotics - March 3, 2021 Mobility21 UTC spin-off company RoadBotics released their U.S. City Roads Report, which shows the results of the assessment of 75 miles of road in 20 major metropolitan cities around the United States.  Access the report here.

March 3, 2021 - Mobility21 Joins Great Lakes Chamber on Congressional Briefing - March 3, 2021 Through Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell’s UTC work on emerging transportation technology with the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, he participated in a meeting with Wisconsin Congressman Mike Gallagher and a small group hosted by the Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition for a discussion on \"Designing Infrastructure Policies for the 21st Century.\"

March 3, 2021 - Research Recap: Latest Generation Data Portal for the Intelligent Mobility Meter - March 3, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for project \"Latest Generation Data Portal for the Intelligent Mobility Meter.\"  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.

March 2, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Bus on the Edge: Continuous Monitoring of Traffic & Infrastructure” by Christoph Mertz Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - March 2, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Christoph Mertz\'s research 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.

March 1, 2021 - ITSA FAST Act Reauthorization Task Force Launched - March 1, 2021 Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell was appointed to serve on the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA) FAST Act Reauthorization Task Force, where earlier today, he participated in the first meeting to discuss policy recommendations.

February 28, 2021 - CMU’s Traffic21 Announces Winners of Third Smart Mobility Challenge - February 28, 2021 Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 announced the Township of Shaler, the City of Monessen and Heritage Community Transportation as the winners of its third Smart Mobility Challenge. Traffic21, a research institute operated out of CMU’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and Mobility21, its affiliated USDOT National University Transportation Center in the College of Engineering, sponsored this year’s challenge as a continuation of its mission of transforming southwestern Pennsylvania into a testbed for mobility innovation. With generous funding from the Hillman Foundation and the USDOT, the Smart Mobility Challenge invited representatives of municipalities and public transit operators in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland Counties to identify real-world mobility challenges affecting their communities and apply to receive support from CMU faculty and students. “The problems submitted for consideration illustrate the mobility challenges we face in southwestern Pennsylvania and the awareness and dedication of our local leaders and transit operators to find solutions,” said Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of Traffic21. Walk Bike Shaler, in partnership with the Township of Shaler, will partner with CMU researchers from the Remaking Cities Institute to inform and contribute to the Better Boulevard Initiative. CMU, providing urban design and computer vision expertise, will deploy cameras for visual data, develop computer vision algorithms to analyze data, develop mobility/urban design recommendations from the data and respond to community priorities. The City of Monessen, led by Mayor Matt Shorraw, will partner with CMU researchers from the Remaking Cities Institute to inform and contribute to the ongoing work of the city’s comprehensive plan and initiatives related to mobility, equity, and safety with a focus on Mid-Downtown Monessen. Shaler’s pattern of a long Main Street in a suburban context and Monessen’s pattern of a riverfront downtown are mobility/urban design case studies relevant to numerous municipalities throughout southwestern Pa. and nationally. Heritage Community Transportation, a program of Heritage Community Initiatives, will partner with CMU researchers to review the impact of COVID-19 on its services with the objective to recommend rider-focused service enhancements including service routing. This project will collect data on demand patterns, develop new theory, and provide practical policy recommendations. It also provides faculty and students the opportunity to conduct research with a transportation provider whose mission is to serve the region’s most vulnerable populations. “The Traffic21 Institute has helped establish the City of Pittsburgh as a world-renowned test bed for transportation intelligent technologies,” said Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21. “Through the Smart Mobility Challenge projects, we are thrilled to extend this reach further into the southwestern Pennsylvania region.” There was one other application from Beaver County, and Traffic21 staff connected the municipality’s representatives with CMU faculty to explore additional solutions through class projects versus a traditional award. All projects will begin July 1, 2021 with the goal to be completed by June 30, 2022. ### About the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy: The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy is home to two internationally recognized graduate-level institutions at Carnegie Mellon University: 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, health care, the future of work, smart cities, and arts & entertainment. In 2016, INFORMS named Heinz College the #1 academic program for Analytics Education. For more information, please visit www.heinz.cmu.edu. About the College of Engineering: The College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is a top-ranked engineering college that is known for our intentional focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration in research. The College is well-known for working on problems of both scientific and practical importance. Our “maker” culture is ingrained in all that we do, leading to novel approaches and transformative results. Our acclaimed faculty have a focus on innovation management and engineering to yield transformative results that will drive the intellectual and economic vitality of our community, nation and world.

February 26, 2021 - Celebration of Black Engineers Panel Features Mobility21 UTC Researcher - February 26, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock participated in a Scott Institute Engineering program highlighting black engineers, which featured alumni, faculty and a student who shared their origin stories about why they chose to go into the field of engineering.

February 25, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Rick Grahn Presents Forbes Avenue Reconfiguration Project - February 25, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Rick Grahn presented the project, \"Travel Impacts of a Complete Street Project in a Mixed Urban Corridor\" at the Southwestern PA Commission\'s Operations & Safety Meeting.

February 25, 2021 - Mobility21 Discusses Transportation Policy Research with Senator Langerholc - February 25, 2021 Stan Caldwell provided a private briefing on emerging transportation technologies and the Mobility21 National UTC to Pennsylvania State Senator Wayne Langerholc, Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and discussed transportation policy research.

February 25, 2021 - IPMI Summit Features Stan Caldwell - February 25, 2021 Stan Caldwell presented his Mobility21 research on emerging transportation technology trends on a panel in the closing session of the International Parking and Mobility Institute (IPMI) Mobility and Innovation Summit which was attended by two hundred transportation professionals.

February 25, 2021 - STEM-Based Careers Featured in New Webinar Series - February 25, 2021 Mobility21 academic partner Community College of Allegheny County participated in a new webinar series with the University of Pittsburgh African American Alumni Council entitled \"Bridging the Digital Divide,\" which strives to educate the community and CCAC students on careers in STEM education.

February 24, 2021 - Last Meters Talks Podcast Features Ray Gastil on Cities and Planning - February 24, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Ray Gastil recently discussed cities and planning with Last Meter Talks on Spotify. Last Meter Talks’ host, John Manoochehri, led off the conversation by asking “are cities fit for purpose in the modern digital world?” Gastil and Christer Larssonl address the impact of the on-demand economy, changes in mobility and travel, the role of the public and private sector,  and current and future approaches to the 15-minute city. Listen to the full podcast episode here.

February 24, 2021 - Research Recap: Modeling and Enhancing Freight Mobility in the Philadelphia Region - February 24, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for the project \"Modeling and Enhancing Freight Mobility in the Philadelphia Region.\"  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.

February 24, 2021 - Port of Pittsburgh Commission Discusses Regional Transportation Opportunities - February 24, 2021 Stan Caldwell participated in the Port of Pittsburgh Commission’s Port Infrastructure Development and Commerce Roundtable to discuss collaborative transportation opportunities for the region.  Speakers included officials from the US DOT Maritime Administration and US Congressman Conor Lamb.

February 23, 2021 - 5th Annual Smart Cities Virtual Symposium Features Metro21’s Karen Lightman as Panelist - February 23, 2021 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman was a featured panelist, along with other experts in the field of smart technologies, at the 5th Annual Smart Cities Virtual Symposium, where she discussed the topic, \"Smart City Solutions for a Riskier World.\"  

February 19, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Maxine Eskenazi, Alan Black and Yulan Feng - February 19, 2021 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researchers Maxine Eskenazi, Alan Black and Yulan Feng.   They discussed their project, \"GetGoing and Better Mobility for All.”  Watch their presentation here.

February 19, 2021 - Research Recap: Travel Impacts of a Complete Street Project in a Mixed Urban Corridor - February 19, 2021 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for the project \"Travel Impacts of a Complete Street Project in a Mixed Urban Corridor.\"  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.

February 18, 2021 - NSF Civic Innovation Challenge Stage 1 Awardees Announced - February 18, 2021 \"The National Science Foundation (NSF), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has awarded 52 teams of civic and academic partners $50,000 to support refinement of their civic concepts for ready-to-implement, research-based pilot projects addressing ‘Communities and Mobility’ or ‘Resilience to Natural Disaster’.\" Two Mobility21 UTC researchers were included in these awards; Megan Ryerson of the University of Pennsylvania will be leading the project, “Data-driven and Community Engaged Planning Tools For Addressing Spatial Mismatch” and  Lee Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon University will be leading “City of Bridges: Using New Transportation Options to Drive Low-Income Mothers to Greater Success in Pittsburgh.”

February 17, 2021 - SPC Transit Operators Committee Meets to Discuss Updates and the Future of Transit - February 17, 2021 Today the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s Transit Operators Committee meeting was held.  Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 UTC participated in the meeting, which included updates from the Federal Transit Administration/PennDOT, regional transit operators, amendments & administrative actions to the FFY2019-2022 TIP, presentations on the SmartMoves Connections, Port Authority NEXtransit, and CommuteInfo Reimagined.

February 16, 2021 - February 2021 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting Held - February 16, 2021 Mobility21 hosted the first UTC faculty meeting of the year today. The meeting spotlighted the research of Steve Smith, a recap of the 2020 Advisory Council Meeting & Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium, future UTC competitions, and updates from our academic partners, the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University and the Community College of Allegheny County.

February 16, 2021 - How Do We Get to “Net Zero” Transportation Emissions by 2050? Podcast featuring Chris Hendrickson - February 16, 2021 TRB Transportation Explorers Podcast featured Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson as he helped answer the question, \"How do we get to \'net zero\' transportation emissions by 2050?\"  Listen to the full podcast here.

February 16, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson Provides Insights for GAO Report - February 16, 2021 The US Government Accountability Office recently released their report \"Ensuring a Skilled Workforce in the USDOT\", which includes insights from Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson.  The report highlights steps that should be taken to ensure the workforce has the skills necessary to oversee safety.

February 16, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Integration of Automated Vehicle Sensing with Adaptive Signal Control for Enhanced Mobility” by Stephen Smith Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - February 16, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Stephen Smith\'s research project, \"Integration of Autonomous Vehicles with Adaptive Signal Control to Enhance Mobility\" was highlighted in this week\'s Transportation Research Board\'s newsletter in the University Research News section.  Read the newsletter here.

February 9, 2021 - ITS America Emerging Technologies Standing Committee Welcomes Mobility21 Executive Director as Chair - February 9, 2021 Stan Caldwell has been appointed chair of the Emerging Technologies Standing Committee of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America and was joined by Vice Chair Andrew Liu from AECOM in hosting the inaugural committee meeting.  Committee members will participate in task forces for program and policy development of emerging ITS technologies.

February 8, 2021 - Mobility21 Program Manager Named Co-Champion for US DOT Working Group - February 8, 2021 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, was asked to co-Champion (along with Chris Bischak of Noblis) the U.S. DOT Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office Professional Capacity Building Academic Program’s Working Group on Outreach and Engagement.  Today, the group met to brainstorm outreach outlets and discuss upcoming educational opportunities.

February 8, 2021 - CMU Transportation Club Holds First Meeting for Spring 2021 Semester - February 8, 2021 The CMU Transportation Club kicked off the year with their first meeting.  During the meeting, attendees learned more about Traffic21, Mobility21, upcoming events for the Spring 2021 semester and internship opportunities. If you\'re interested in transportation or want to learn more about transit in PGH, then check out the transportation club!

February 5, 2021 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Rahul Mangharam - November 13, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Rahul Mangharam.   Rahul discussed his project, \"F1Tenth Autonomous Racing.”  Watch his presentation here.

February 4, 2021 - New PennDOT Law Allows Use of Bioptic Telescope Lenses to Obtain License - February 4, 2021 New Pennsylvania law, ACT 131, will allow people to use bioptic telescope lenses when testing for a driver\'s license starting later in 2021.  Mobility21 UTC project, Smart Glasses for Improving Mobility of Low Vision People, led by researcher Yang Cai, helped inform this new policy.        

February 3, 2021 - Third Annual Automous Vehicles and Public Transport Summit - February 3, 2021 Three Mobility21 UTC faculty (Nik Martelaro, Ray Gastil, Helen Loeb), a CMU student (Gisselt Gomez) and UTC Program Manager (Lisa Kay Schweyer) participated in the Third Annual Autonomous Vehicles and Public Transport Summit.  Event sessions included:  Vision for Transit-AV Alignment; AV Use Cases in Transit; AV Adoption in Transit; Impact on the Workforce; Future of Mobility - Autonomous, Electric, Connected, Shared.

February 2, 2021 - Southwestern PA Commission Hosts Freight Forum - February 2, 2021 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 UTC participated in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission’s Freight Forum.  The meeting included updates from the Federal Highway Administration, the Port of Pittsburgh Commission,  Staff on Initiatives Underway at SPC, and Current Funding Opportunities for Freight Handling/Movement.  The PennDOT consulting team also led a discussion on the Pennsylvania Freight Plan Update.

February 2, 2021 - Traffic21 Director Writes Report Featured by NASEM Study Committee on Decarbonization - February 2, 2021 Chris Hendrickson, director of Traffic21, has been working with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) study committee and has written a report on decarbonization, \"Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System,\" in hopes to provide policy ideas to the new Biden administration regarding transportation.  View other Traffic21 policy papers here.

February 1, 2021 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Receives 2020 Green Purchasing Award - February 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher, Megan Ryerson of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, along with Cheryl Hickey of the School of Engineering and Applied Science are the 2020 Green Purchasing Award recipients. Ryerson collaborated with Purchasing Services on the spring 2020 Advanced Transportation Seminar in which students explored best practices to minimize travel-related emissions. Read the full story here...

February 1, 2021 - University of Pennsylvania Researchers Focus on Social Dynamics & Environmental Justice - February 1, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Meg Ryerson of the University of Pennsylvania, along with Mobility21 UTC US DOT Student of the Year Camille Boggan, are working to continue to make transportation more equitable to all in the future. “There\'s so much you\'re going to miss if you’re not collecting the right data. And sometimes to do that, you have to actually ask or observe travelers themselves,” says Boggan. Read the full article here.

January 29, 2021 - CMU Student Attends TRB Annual Meeting - January 21-29, 2021 CMU student Kartik Narula participated in the 2021 Transportation Research Board\'s Annual Meeting.  He was able to network with professionals, participate in the career fair, and get an overview of similar research happening in the transportation world.  Kartik said:  \"I am currently working as a research assistant … creating microsimulation models for traffic in Athens using the Pineuma dataset. There were several poster sessions where people had used the same dataset for their research. It was insightful to learn how the dataset can be used for different analyses.\" 

January 29, 2021 - Allegheny Conference on Community Development Annual Meeting - January 29, 2021 Stan Caldwell from Mobility21, and Karen Lightman from Metro21, both participated in the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (ACCD)  where regional transportation issues and initiatives were discussed.  The ACCD is the ten-county Pittsburgh regional community and economic development organization and houses the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.

January 27, 2021 - PA Automated Vehicle Policy Task Force Quarterly Meeting - January 27, 2021 Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar and Executive Director, Stan Caldwell participated in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Automated Vehicle Policy Task Force Meeting where public and private stakeholders discussed automated vehicle initiatives in Pennsylvania and issues related to the safe adoption of automated vehicle technology.  Rajkumar and Caldwell are founding members of the task force.

January 27, 2021 - University of Pennsylvania Students Pen Op-Ed on Racial Equity in Transportation - January 27, 2021 Students Emily Kennedy and Seunglee David Park of the University of Pennsylvania, a Mobility21 UTC academic partner, published an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer which discusses a new way for Philadelphia transportation leaders to measure the impact of system changes on racial equity.  Both are students in the Master of City Planning  in Transportation course led by Dr. Megan Ryerson.  Read their article here.

January 25, 2021 - Mobility21 Spring Semester Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Series Kicks Off with Presentation by Dr. Rahul Mangharam - January 25, 2021 The Mobility21 UTC is resuming the Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Series (SMC) with the start of spring semester. Please join us on Friday, February 5, 2021 from Noon-1:00pm, as we kick off the semester with Rahul Mangharam from the University of Pennsylvania, speaking on his project, “F1Tenth Autonomous Racing.” To register for the February 5th 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.

January 22, 2021 - 2019 UTC Annual Report to Congress Released - January 22, 2021 The 2019 UTC Annual Report to Congress has been released to various members of Congress and posted on the UTC website.  The Mobility21 project, \"Improving Rush Hour Traffic Flow by Computer Vision-Based Parking Detection and Regulation\" can be found on page 12. This report discusses the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act, 49 U.S.C. §5505 as amended by P.L. 114-94, Sec. 6016) requirements which includes summary reporting for: Ongoing or recently completed UTC research project examples by each of the 37 Centers; Regional Centers to address transportation safety, congestion, connected vehicles, connected infrastructure, and autonomous vehicles; New technology transfer plans and reporting requirements to guide and strengthen the UTCs technology transfer activities; Summary of UTC program-wide performance indicators measuring productivity at individual Centers for four years; Discussion of research repositories used to disseminate results of UTC research.

January 22, 2021 - Arpa-E SCALEUP Award for Lithium Metal Batteries - January 22, 2021 Working to build on a new approach to suppressing dendrites in lithium metal batteries, Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan and his team are collaborating with 24M Technologies to scale-up their lithium metal batteries for electric aircraft.

January 21, 2021 - The 8th IEEE Workshop on Spoken Language Technology - January 21, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Maxine Eskenazi\'s student, Yulan Feng, presented the paper \"Towards Automatic Route Description Unification in Spoken Dialog Systems,\" which describes the construction of a pipeline to automate the route description unification process in spoken dialog systems during the Spoken Language Workshop today.  Her 15-minute presentation introduced the technical details of the pipeline, the overall GetGoing system, and the collaboration her team had with UPMC. The SLT Workshop is a biennial flagship event of IEEE Speech and Language Processing Technical Committee. The main theme for SLT 2021 was \"Spoken language technologies: deep learning and beyond\" (as deep learning has witnessed great success in spoken language technologies over the last decade).

January 19, 2021 - ARTBA Research & Education Division Annual Meeting - January 19, 2021 The annual ARTBA meeting was held today.  Stan Caldwell, Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of Mobility21 participated in the event where the winners of the annual transportation video contest were featured, and the annual winner of the S.S. Steinberg Award was announced.  This year\'s winner is fellow UTC Director, Dr. Lily Elefteriadou of the University of Florida and Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center.

January 14, 2021 - Consumer Electronics Show 2021 Sets the Tone for the Industry - January 11-14, 2021 Mobility21 partner Karen Lightman, Executive Director of Metro21, participated in CES 2021 and shares her personal key takeaways from the show (she loves to hate) on future-shaping insights and business growth trends for Smart Cities.

January 12, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Latest Generation Data Portal for the Intelligent Mobility Meter” by Bernardo Pires Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - January 12, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Bernardo Pires\' research project, \"Latest Generation Data Portal for the Intelligent Mobility Meter\" was highlighted  in the Transportation Research Board\'s recent newsletter, which outlines financial resources for deploying electric vehicle infrastructure in the university research news section.

January 12, 2021 - Mobility21 Research Project “Estimating Changes in Parking Capacity and Urban Form From Vehicle Automation” by Costa Samaras Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - January 12, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras was highlighted for his research project, \"Estimating Changes in Parking Capacity and Urban Form From Vehicle Automation\" in the Transportation Research Board\'s recent newsletter, which outlines financial resources for deploying electric vehicle infrastructure in the university research news section.

January 8, 2021 - Journal of Transportation Engineering Honors Sean Qian - January 8, 2021 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian\'s paper, \"Lane Management with Variable Lane Width and Model Calibration for Commercial Automated Vehicles\" has been awarded Best Paper for Journal of Transportation Engineering: Part A 2020.  Sean\'s paper was selected by reviewers, readers, and the editorial board of JTE.

January 6, 2021 - Carnegie Mellon University’s Mobility21 UTC Honors “Student of the Year” at 30th Annual Awards Ceremony - January 6, 2021 Camille Boggan was honored tonight as Mobility21 University Transportation Center\'s “Student of the Year” at the Council of University Transportation Center\'s annual awards banquet. 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.  Read about all the Students of the Year in the annual booklet. 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: Mobility21, the National University Transportation Center for Improving Mobility Student of the Year. Camille Boggan is a current city planning graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Miami University (Ohio) in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. Camille has worked as a graduate research assistant in Dr. Megan Ryerson’s Smart Mobility Lab, supporting research efforts on transportation safety and wayfinding. In 2020 she interned with the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation and has served on the transit steering committee of 5th Square, Philadelphia’s urban activist PAC, since 2019. In 2019 Camille was part of the winning team of ITS America’s Emerging Leaders Program Global Challenge. Her team developed a transportation pricing model for Philadelphia to reduce congestion and direct funds to public transportation services. She was also recently awarded a graduate scholarship from the WTS Philadelphia chapter. Educating, recruiting and training new workers is critical to managing our country’s infrastructure safely and efficiently. We strive to help develop a transportation workforce capable of designing and maintaining the complex transportation systems of tomorrow. Help us congratulate our 2021 UTC Student of the Year! To learn more about the University Transportation Centers’ Student of the Year awards please click here.

January 6, 2021 - Mobility21 Researchers Win US Department of Transportation Inclusive Design Challenge Award - January 6, 2021 Carnegie Mellon University has been named one of the ten US Department of Transportation Inclusive Design Challenge $300,000 semi-finalist award winners. The Inclusive Design Challenge focuses on innovative design solutions to enable people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities to use automated vehicles to access jobs, healthcare, and other critical destinations. This theme was well aligned with the Traffic21/Mobility21 theme of “Innovating Mobility for All”. The CMU winning project, Promoting personal control of AVs through inclusive smartphone communication interfaces, will be led by Nikolas Martelaro, Patrick Carrington, Sarah Fox, Jodi Forlizzi, and Lisa Kay Schweyer with students Aziz Ghadiali, Daisy Gollis, Franklin Mingzhe Li, Wei Tung Lin, Xuanyuan (Ember) Liu, Estelle (Yicheng) Jiang, and Yunzhou (Kathy) Song (all from Carnegie Mellon University) and Pramod Mallapragada and Tapan Mukerji (from Propel). The project will be focused on using the accessible features of smartphones to facilitate inclusive communication between the car and rider, allowing people with differing abilities to control different aspects of the vehicle and adjust their ride experience. Utilizing the Mobility21 UTC Deployment Partner Consortium, Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer helped recruit community and organizational members which became part of an overall community engagement group. Since August 2020, the project team has facilitated an ongoing series of virtual meetings bringing together the community engagement group which includes people with disabilities, disability rights advocates, transportation officials, Tier 1 suppliers, and automotive user experience designers. The project will kick-off this Spring, the community engagement group will continue to meet throughout the project, and progress updates will be posted to the project’s website. For more information, please contact the project team, idc-team@andrew.cmu.edu.

January 6, 2021 - Council of University Transportation Centers Holds Annual Winter Meeting - January 5-6, 2021 The Council of University Transportation Centers held their winter meeting, followed by the Annual Awards Banquet.  The Council of University Transportation Center\'s  winter 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.  View the awards program here.

December 22, 2020 - Mobility21 Research Project “Travel Impacts of a Complete Street Project in a Mixed Urban Corridor” by Rick Grahn, Chris Hendrickson, H. Scott Matthews, Corey Harper, and Sean Qian Highlighted in TRB E-Newsletter - December 22, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researchers Rick Grahn, Chris Hendrickson, H. Scott Matthews, Corey Harper, and Sean Qian\'s  final research report \"Travel Impacts of a Complete Street Project in a Mixed Urban Corridor,\" was featured in this week\'s TRB newsletter.  Read the full report here.

December 21, 2020 - University of Pennsylvania’s Autonomous Racing Team Works To Develop Full Scale Autonomous Vehicles from 1/10th Scale Autonomous Racecars - December 21, 2020 The University of Pennsylvania\'s F1Tenth Team is now a Premier Member of The Autoware Foundation  to translate development from 1/10th scale autonomous racecars to full scale autonomous vehicles. Autoware is a leading open-source autonomous driving meta-operating system that makes it easy and efficient to convert drive-by-wire vehicles into autonomous cars. Through this partnership, Autoware is focusing on racing scenarios to further its goal of autonomous vehicles for everyone.

December 20, 2020 - Metro21 Executive Director Joins Congressman Mike Doyle to Discuss Infrastructure in Our Region - December 20, 2020 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman was invited to present as a co-panelist with Congressman Mike Doyle at the program Our Region’s Business  with Bill Flanagan to discuss smart transportation and autonomous and electric vehicles.  Watch the full discussion here.

December 18, 2020 - US Government Accountability Office (GAO) Releases Report on Automated Technologies - December 18, 2020 The UTC program has been referenced in the recently released US General Accountability Office (GAO) report on “AUTOMATED TECHNOLOGIES: DOT Should Take Steps to Ensure Its Workforce Has Skills Needed to Oversee Safety.”  Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar was part of the Carnegie Mellon University team interviewed and acknowledged as Selected Transportation Stakeholder Interviewed.  Read the full report here.

December 18, 2020 - Survey of Brick Roads Led by CMU - December 18, 2020 Mobility21 UTC research assistant Erick Shiring participated in a graduate Capstone course and recent study of Mt. Lebanon\'s brick roads. They presented their results to the Mt. Lebanon Board of Commissioners.  This study was led by Anna Siefken of the Scott Institute, along with graduate students Yunxi \"Luna\" Hu, Rachel Bukowitz, and Shunyu \"Charlotte\" Rao, who participate in the Heinz College Systems Synthesis program .  Read the article here.

December 17, 2020 - 2021 TMS Functional Materials Division JEM Best Paper Award Recipients - December 17, 2020 Luke Lyle, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is the recipient of the 2021 TMS Functional Materials Division JEM Best Paper Award for his paper, \"Characterization of Epitaxial ?-(Al,Ga,In)O-Based Films and Applications as UV Photodetector.\"  This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the Journal of Electronic Materials (JEM).   As a Swartz Innovation Fellow Luke is working with Mobility21 and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship to commercialize his technology.

December 15, 2020 - Disability Rights PA Hosts Transportation Alliance Meeting - December 15, 2020 Stan Caldwell presented at the Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance meeting hosted by Disability Rights PA.  He provided an overview of Mobility21 UTC research related to improving mobility for people with disabilities.

December 11, 2020 - UITP Research in Mobility Committee Meeting Discusses ‘Technology’ - December 11, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell provided his insight while  speaking at the recent UITP Research in Mobility Committee meeting, led by Ms. Jill Hough of North Dakota State University.  The topic of the session revolved around \"Role of Technology to Support Innovation and Shape the Future of Urban Mobility Post-COVID.\"

December 11, 2020 - Transportation Engineering & Safety Conference Highlights the Future of Shared Mobility - December 10-11, 2020 Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager, Traffic21 Institute, and Mobility21 National University Transportation Center moderated 2 conference sessions during the Transportation Engineering and Safety conference on changes in transportation/mobility operation due to COVID-19 and the future of shared mobility. The first session topic areas and featured speakers were: Transit, Mark Cassel, director of Service Planning, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) City Mobility, Lolly Walsh, Move 412, Pittsburgh Mobility Collective Micromobility, Ngani Ndimbie, executive policy specialist, PennDOT and former Traffic21/Mobility21 UTC Woman in Transportation Fellow Consultant Perspective, David C. DiGioia, P.E., McMahon Associates, Inc. View recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLCgraPoFaA&feature=youtu.be The second session topic areas and featured speakers were: Regional Planning, Vincent Valdes, executive director, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Commuter Transportation, Connie McGee, president, Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) Transportation Management Association, Lynn Manion, executive director, Airport Corridor Transportation Association University Transportation, Jason Thomas, Special Projects Coordinator Transportation Services, Penn State View recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEPzQMquyAY&feature=youtu.be “The Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference (TESC) — an annual gathering of professionals from throughout Pennsylvania, the mid-Atlantic region, and the country — continues to deliver authoritative information on pressing issues from some of the foremost experts in transportation today. Vigorous interaction and discussion among presenters and attendees is built into the program format, and optional certification training allow for more in-depth probing of selected topics.”

December 10, 2020 - CMU Students Share Capstone Projects – Day 3 - December 10, 2020 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 project: Team Sensez9: Integrating Technology with 2-1-1 Services – Last-Mile Public Services Delivery During a Pandemic

December 10, 2020 - FHWA Every Day Counts Round Six (EDC-6) Summit - December 8-10, 2020 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, participated in the FHWA Every Day Counts Round Six (EDC-6) Summit.  The seven innovations being featured during the summit include strategies to increase engagement with people, new applications of products to preserve and repair infrastructure, and improved processes to save time on project delivery and incident management.

December 10, 2020 - University of Pennsylvania Weitzman Students Sweep Transportation Awards - December 10, 2020 Students Camille Brogan, Gabriela Marie Newell, and Emily May Kennedy from the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, a Mobility21 UTC academic partner, have all received awards from the Philadelphia Chapter of Women in Transportation.

December 9, 2020 - Jon Peha Presents on Spectrum Policy to United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union - December 9, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha presented his work on \"Spectrum Policy for Intelligent Transportation Systems\" at an international meeting organized by the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union, and the Communications and Information Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia.  Learn about the event here.

December 8, 2020 - CMU Students Share Capstone Projects – Day 1 - December 8, 2020 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 fair continues tomorrow).  The projects featured today included the following transportation related project: Team Port Authority: Changes in Transportation During COVID-19 in Allegheny County

December 8, 2020 - Students of Smart Cities: Growth and Intelligent Transportation Systems Course Give Final Presentations - December 8, 2020 Students made final project presentations at the Traffic21 supported CMU graduate course Smart Cities: Growth and Intelligent Transportation Systems taught by Mobility21 Professor Sean Qian.  This course exposes an interdisciplinary group of students to new transportation technology and policy issues and career opportunities in the ITS industry.  Multiple UTC faculty members provided guest lectures on their related research throughout the course.

December 7, 2020 - Luke Lyle Presents at Innovation Fellows Meeting - December 7, 2020 Luke Lyle, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University  presented to the Innovation Fellows program today.  He shared updates on his gallium oxide research, and his efforts to commercialize this technology.  As a Swartz Innovation Fellow Luke is working with Mobility21 and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship to commercialize this technology.

December 7, 2020 - Broadband Technology at the Forefront of Conversations - December 7, 2020 Traffic21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman participated in a broadband roundtable discussion with southwestern Pennsylvania community and economic development leaders.  Issues included equity and the relationship between transportation and broadband technology.

December 7, 2020 - Traffic21/Mobility21 Launches Managing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Transportation Certificate Program - December 7, 2020 Traffic21/Mobility21 Launches Managing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Transportation Certificate Program:  To meet the needs of busy professionals, the Managing AI in Transportation Certificate Program will be delivered as a virtual bootcamp offering to provide transportation managers with a practical guide to getting started with AI and understanding how to manage the impact of this disruptive technology to the organization. The curriculum in this 5-day intensive bootcamp (May 3-7, 2021) will explore critical areas that are required for breaking down organizational barriers and understanding how managing AI can benefit key stakeholders. Learn more: https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/programs/executive-education/managing-ai-in-transportation

December 4, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Carlee Joe-Wong - December 4, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Carlee Joe-Wong.  Carlee discussed her project, \"Incentivizing Taxi Movement for Balanced City-Wide Services.”  Watch her presentation here.

December 3, 2020 - UTC Researcher Erick Guerra Weighs In On How Cities Can Become Healthier for the Future - December 3, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher and University of Pennsylvania professor Erick Guerra provided his expertise to Penn Today on how cities are handling a public health crisis, systemic racism, severe partisanship, and climate change all at once.  Read the full article here.

December 1, 2020 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson’s Article on “Technology Revolutions” Featured in TR News - December 1, 2020 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson\'s paper, \"Technology Revolutions: Bringing Tomorrow Here Today,\" co-authored by Johanna Zmud, was published by TR News.*  Read the article here. *  TR News is copyright, National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; posted with permission of the Transportation Research Board.

November 30, 2020 - The Ohio State University Hosts Pedestrians on the Roadway: A Workshop on Autonomous Vehicles Encountering Pedestrians - November 30, 2020 Mobility21 academic partner, the Ohio State University, hosted a workshop today on Pedestrians on the Roadway: Autonomous Vehicles Encountering Pedestrians.  Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Umit Ozguner kicked off  the event.  He was followed by presenters sharing their research projects to understand how vehicles and pedestrians interact with each other.  Dr. Ozguner\'s UTC research project, \"Modeling and Simulating Collective Pedestrian Motion Influenced by Vehicle\" was also presented by Dongfang Yang as part of the event.  Watch the presentations here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyqTShehRG5OmKAoRIXEpAQdjsDq9YOHg.

November 30, 2020 - CMU Inclusive Design Challenge Team Holds Community Meeting - November 30, 2020 The CMU Inclusive Design Challenge Team led by Nik Martelaro, Sarah Fox, Patrick Carrington and Jodi Forlizzi and a team of their students hosted a community meeting to get feedback from members of the community about desired autonomous vehicle accessible design features.  CMU Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer also participated in this meeting.

November 24, 2020 - Southwestern PA Commission Transportation Op/Safety Forum - November 24, 2020 Stan Caldwell participated in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Transportation Operations and Safety Forum hosted by the regional metropolitan planning organization.  This forum provides an opportunity to apply UTC research to regional transportation projects.

November 20, 2020 - Traffic21/Mobility21 UTC Annual Symposium Concludes with Research Showcase - November 20, 2020 The second day of the Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium featured 19 research and academic project presentations, comprising the UTC Academic and Research Showcase.  The projects, grouped into 4 sessions ended with opportunities for small group discussion allowing the attendees to talk directly with the researchers/project sponsors.  Over 250 people from academia, government, community and industry registered to attend this symposium. View the full list of presenters and videos of the sessions here.

November 19, 2020 - Recap: Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium Panel Two - November 19, 2020 The Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium\'s second panel focused on COVID-19: How has mobility changed and impacted deployment. The panelists were: Yassmin Gramian, Secretary of Transportation, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Chuck Hammel, CEO, Pitt OHIO Larry Rilett, Distinguished Professor, Keith W. Klaasmeyer Chair in Engineering and Technology, Director of the Nebraska Transportation Center and the Mid-America Transportation Center Vincent Valdes, CEO, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Connie McGee, Board President, Association for Commuter Transportation Over 250 people from academia, government, community and industry registered to attend this symposium. Read the full recap or watch the presentations here.

November 19, 2020 - Recap: Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium Panel One - November 19, 2020 The Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium\'s first panel focused on Transportation and Equity. The panelists were: Sofia Gallo, Special Assistant for Policy, Office of the Secretary of Transportation Carol Wright, Director of Easter Seals Transportation Group and co-director of the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center Jill Hough, Program Director, Small Urban and Rural Center on Mobility, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University Mariah S. Stanley, National Program Manager, Conference of Minority Transportation Officials Over 250 people from academia, government, community and industry registered to attend this symposium. Read the full recap or watch the presentations here.

November 19, 2020 - Recap: Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium Welcome - November 19, 2020 The Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium kicked off earlier today with the Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar welcoming the group and providing an overview of update of activities and plans at the centers. Over 250 people from academia, government, community and industry registered to attend the symposium.  Read the recap here.

November 19, 2020 - Roadbotics President Honored at Pittsburgh Smart 50 Awards - November 19, 2020 Benjamin Schmidt, Co-Founder and President of Roadbotics, Inc., a CMU spinout company was named honoree at the Pittsburgh Smart 50 Awards. The Pittsburgh Smart 50 Awards recognize the top executives of the 50 smartest companies in the Greater Pittsburgh region for their ability to effectively build and lead successful organizations.

November 18, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council Holds Annual Meeting - November 18, 2020 A talented group of national leaders, comprising the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 National University Transportation Center Advisory Council, attended their annual Advisory Council meeting today. Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar welcomed the group and provided an overview of update of activities and plans at the centers. The remaining time was spent by the Advisory Council members leading \"dinner table\" conversations for the entire group on (leader/topic): Jim Misener: Communications is a Mode of Transportation Rebecca Brewster: Where\'s My Stuff? Paul Skoutelas: Transit – Where is My Ride? Robin Chase: I can’t drive and don’t have access to a car right now Ashley Hand: City Streets: Social Cost-Benefit + Vision Zero The next annual meeting of the Advisory Council will be in November 2021. # # # 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: 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 Leslie Richards, SEPTA and former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 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 Learn more about the Advisory Council members here.  

November 18, 2020 - PennDOT Quarterly State Transportation Innovation Council Meeting - November 18, 2020 On November 18, 2020 Stan Caldwell participated in the quarterly meeting of the Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) which was led by PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian and FHWA PA Division Administrator Alicia Nolan.  The group discussed innovative applications in the state including the new Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program.

November 17, 2020 - TRB National Transit Safety & Security Conference Includes Presentation by Jon Peha - November 17, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha, along with Alexandra Ligo, presented their work on \"Comparison of Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Technologies for Road Safety\" at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Transit Safety and Security Conference.  Learn more about the conference here.

November 13, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Peter Zhang - November 13, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Peter Zhang.   Peter discussed his project, \"Gaps and Opportunities in School Bus Transportation.”  Watch his presentation here.

November 12, 2020 - Roadbotics Nominated for Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Tech 50 Awards 2020 - November 12, 2020 Pittsburgh Technology Council held their annual Tech 50 Awards to honor technology innovation in the region.  Roadbotics was named as a finalist in the Data Science category.  See all of the Tech 50 awards winners here.

November 12, 2020 - TRB Special Projects and Policy Committee Meeting - November 12, 2020 Chris Hendrickson, Faculty Director of Traffic21 and researcher in Mobility21, attended the Transportation Research Board\'s Special Projects and Policy Committee.  A wide range of issues were discussed, including strategic plans, the critical issues documents and future policy studies.

November 12, 2020 - Scott Institute Energy Fellows Partner with Google for Energy Equity Research - November 12, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researchers and Scott Institute Energy Fellows Costa Samaras and Destenie Nock are partnering with Google researchers to characterize energy equity in the U.S. as part of their Award for Inclusion Research (AIR) program. With the help of Google\'s Project Sunroof, Destenie and Costa will \"explore policy options for increasing energy equity in electricity, heating, and transportation during the transition to a decarbonized energy system under climate change.\"

November 11, 2020 - NRC Governing Board Meeting Discusses Strategic Plan Development - November 11, 2020 Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21, attended the National Research Council\'s Governing Board meeting November 10-11 in his role as Chair of the NRC Transportation Research Board Division Committee.  Topics of discussion included approval of the NRC budget and further work on developing a strategic plan for the NRC.

November 10, 2020 - CCAC Students Get Sneak Peek of All Electric Pickup Truck - November 10, 2020 Mobility21 UTC academic partner Community College of Allegheny County West Hills automotive students had the opportunity to see first-hand an exciting new, all electric pickup truck from Lordstown Motors. Students listened to a presentation from Lordstown director on sales and strategy, Jeff Kenny, who is a local North Hills High school graduate.  Students also asked questions regarding cost, maintenance, and reparability.

November 9, 2020 - Pittsburgh Bus Rapid Transit Holds Review for Final Design - November 9, 2020 Stan Caldwell participated in the Stakeholder Panel review of the Pittsburgh Bus Rapid Transit Final Design.  Port Authority of Allegheny County’s Downtown-Uptown-Oakland-East End BRT service plan calls for a \"core\" route that runs east-west between downtown and Oakland with three branches that go to Greenfield, Highland Park and through several Mon Valley communities.

November 9, 2020 - Association for Commuter Transportation Adopts Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement and Establishes Committee - November 9, 2020 At today’s Association of Commuter Transportation Board of Directors meeting, 2 motions were unanimously approved to adopt an organizational Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement and establish a formal standing committee to continue D, E, & I efforts.  The D, E, & I work will focus on how the organization fosters an environment of inclusion and how the work members do in their communities can provide better journeys for everyone.  These motions were a culmination of the work completed by a 63 member Task Force, led by ACT Board Member and Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer.

November 9, 2020 - Mobility21 Researcher Destenie Nock Leads First Study Towards Equality in Electricity Planning - November 9, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Destenie Nock has led the first study to ensure equality in developing areas to expand electricity access. “Traditional models are focused on developing low cost systems, which is very important, but there are many more objectives—like equity, climate mitigation, and justice—that should be incorporated into energy systems planning.” Read the full article here.

November 9, 2020 - Research Recap: Cost-Effective Designs of Smart City Technologies for Vehicular Communications - November 9, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for the project \"Cost-Effective Designs of Smart City Technologies for Vehicular Communications.\"  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 7, 2020 - Traffic21 Director Receives Torrens Best Editor Award for 2020 - November 7, 2020 Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21, attended the virtual American Society of Civil Engineers Editors Workshop.  During the workshop, he received the Torrens Best Editor Award for 2020.  The workshop was an opportunity to discuss new technology and both administrative and ethical issues in organizing peer reviews for thousands of ASCE submission.

November 4, 2020 - November 2020 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting Held - November 4, 2020 Mobility21 hosted the UTC faculty meeting today. The meeting spotlighted the research of Carlee Joe-Wong, discussions about the semi-annual research project activity and performance, preview of the 2020 Advisory Council Meeting and Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium, and updates from our academic partners, the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University and the Community College of Allegheny County.

November 3, 2020 - Review of Federal Railroad Administration Research & Development Program Published - November 3, 2020 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson recently helped review the Federal Railroad Administration Research & Development Program.  The Transportation Research Board (TRB) formed the Committee for a Review of the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA’s) R&D Program at the request of FRA’s Office of Research, Development, and Technology (RD&T) for strategic feedback on the program.  Access the full report here.  

November 3, 2020 - UTC Research Project Public Policy for Designing Connected Vehicles Featured in TRB Newsletter - November 3, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Jon Peha\'s project, \"Cost-Effective Designs for Smart City Technologies for Vehicular Communications\" was featured in the Transportation Research Board\'s (TRB) most recent newsletter.  Read more here.

November 3, 2020 - Intern Helping to Create Access to STEM for Rural Western Pennsylvania - November 3, 2020 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Carlee Benhart Kukula started as a communications and policy intern for Robowitz in June of 2020, but found the work so exciting that she stayed on through the fall semester. “Equity in western Pennsylvania is extremely important to me,” said Carlee. “I grew up in a rural county and knew that issues of rural access and equity were close to my heart. Before this summer, I never saw myself necessarily working to help support education, but I was so excited to see how Robowitz  stepped up to create ‘The Robot Doctor’ program to address gaps in STEM education during the pandemic that I immediately knew I was working with the right people.”  Carlee is helping to partner with schools and other organizations which serve students who are underrepresented in STEM.  Carlee presented at the Pennsylvania TRIO conference and is scheduled to present at TEEAP, and to Intermediate Units.   Contact Carlee on LinkedIn for more information.

October 30, 2020 - CMU Student Interns with the American Public Transportation Association - October 30, 2020 Dominick Fiorentino, Carnegie Mellon University Master of Science in Public Policy and Management Candidate is interning this academic year (2020 – 2021) with the American Public Transportation Association.  His internship in the Policy Department involves work on various transit issues including mobility innovation, public-private partnerships, and mobility recovery and restoration in context of the COVID-19 pandemic (looking at each of these areas from a sustainability and equity lens).  Dominick was an active member of the CMU Transportation Club during 2019 - 2020 and through his involvement with Mobility21, was introduced to APTA (a Mobility21 UTC Deployment Partner) and secured this internship.

October 30, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Mark McCord - October 30, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher and the Ohio State University Professor Mark McCord.  Professor McCord discussed his project, \"Time-of-Day Traffic Volumes Using Video Imagery Obtained from Transit Buses in Regular Operations,” which is co-authored by Rabi Mishalani, and Benjamin Coifman.  Watch his presentation here.  

October 29, 2020 - Future Workforce Panel Features UTC Researcher Ray Gastil - October 29, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Ray Gastil was a featured speaker for the #SMARTer Together Webinar Series.  The first in the series discussed the future workforce and how it may be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  You can watch the full webinar here.

October 29, 2020 - Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership Holds Final Downtown Advisory Group Meeting - October 29, 2020 Today, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for the Mobility21 UTC, participated in the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s final Downtown Advisory Group meeting.  The advisory group has been helping provide feedback and guidance for the development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Mobility Plan, which is expected to be adopted by early 2021: https://downtownpittsburgh.com/mobilityplan/.

October 28, 2020 - Broadcast on TV to 5,000,000 Households PA-Wide: RobotWits & WQED’s Robot Doctor Series Reaches Students & Families - October 28, 2020 Educational organizations, libraries, and community centers across Pennsylvania are beginning to leverage The Robot Doctor resources created by Mobility21 deployment partner RobotWits LLC & public television station WQED.  The Robot Doctor materials comprise student and educator videos, challenge questions and discussion prompts that aim to motivate high school students to engage more deeply in math. Downloadable, streamable, and available for offline learning, student videos can be accessed at www.robotwits.com/education.  Find the TV schedule and listing for the Robot Doctor on your local PBS here.  Learn more or join the community of users and partners by contacting  Maxim Likhachev or Rachel Burcin.

October 27, 2020 - C-V2X Deployment on US Roads Showcase - October 27, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the 5G Automotive Association showcase of C-V2X Deployment on US Roads, which provided information on existing C-V2X projects, as well as a panel discussion focused on the state of play and the future of ITS in the US.

October 26, 2020 - NCHRP ADS Framework Summit - October 26, 2020 Stan Caldwell was one of a select group of industry stakeholders recruited to provide feedback on the NCHRP Report 17-91 Assessing the Impacts of Automated Driving Systems (ADS) on the Future of Transportation Safety through a series of three virtual summit sessions. 

October 22, 2020 - PA Department of Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian Joins Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council - October 22, 2020 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian is the newest member of the Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council.  The Advisory Council is comprised of national leaders that provide  strategic guidance and counsel for the UTC.

October 21, 2020 - “Are We There Yet?” – UIC Urban Forum Panel Discussion - October 21, 2020 Stan Caldwell presented findings form his automated vehicle policy white paper “Are We There Yet? Deployment of Connected and Automated Vehicles in the U.S.” co-authored by Chris Hendrickson at an UIC Urban Forum Panel Discussion.  Caldwell was joined by Austin Lannes Brown Executive Director of the Policy Center for Energy, Environment and the Economy at UC Davis and moderated by P.S. Sriraj Director, Urban Transportation Center, University of Illinois at Chicago.   A recording of the webinar can be found at this link.  https://urbanforum.uic.edu/forum-white-papers/white-paper-presentation-webinar/

October 21, 2020 - Prof. Rahul Mangharam and His Team Win Best in Session Award at the Digital Avionics Systems Conference - October 21, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Rahul Mangharam and his team, which includes Kuk Jang, Yash Pant and Alena Rodionova, wrote a paper on Learning-to-Fly RL, which won the Best in Session Award at the Digital Avionics Conference.  Their work on Designing Safe Autonomous Systems includes autonomous air traffic control for future drone urban air mobility networks of 1000-5000 drones over urban areas. One key issue is that unlike commercial airlines, these drones do not fly along pre-set routes but follow what is called \"free flight\" and can choose their travel route. This introduces a critical problem of collisions between drones and needs to be handled via collision avoidance systems between the drones. Watch the full video here.

October 20, 2020 - Getting Around Using Transportation Apps - October 20, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Maxine Eskenazi taught a course on \"Getting Around: Using Transportation Apps\" to a group of OSHER Lifelong Learning students.  The two-session course included: using UBER and LYFT; presentations of the Tiramisu app, the Transit app, the Port Authority website, the pathVu app and the GetGoing phone intelligent agent.

October 20, 2020 - The Black and Yellow Brick Road: Transportation Research and New Mobility in Pittsburgh - October 20, 2020 Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer presented on the role of research in transportation at the T.I.R.E.S (Transportation, Information, Resources, Education and Services) of Western PA virtual event where over 60 transportation specialists from Southwestern PA were in attendance.

October 14, 2020 - Research Recap: Utilizing School Bus Meals to Deliver Meals to Families in Need - October 14, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for the project \"Utilizing School Bus Meals to Deliver Meals to Families in Need.\"  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 13, 2020 - The Ohio State University Doctoral Student Weighs in on Real-Time Update Apps - October 13, 2020 Luyu Liu, doctoral student at Mobility21 UTC academic partner the Ohio State University, recently conducted a study with Professor Harvey Miller to determine the value of real-time apps for public transportation.  “The app may tell you the bus will be five minutes late, but drivers can make up time after you start walking, and you end up missing the bus,” says Liu.  Read the full article here.

October 9, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Features Jon Peha - October 9, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Jon Peha, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, in the Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy and the Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering.  Professor Peha discussed “Spectrum Policies for Connected Vehicles.”   Watch his presentation here.

October 8, 2020 - From Exclusion to Autonomy: The History and Future of Accessible Transportation in Western Pennsylvania - October 8, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Aaron Steinfeld participated as a panelist to discuss the early roots of innovative, accessible transportation, as well as current and future challenges and opportunities in accessible self-driving car development and the larger quest for autonomy in transportation.  More information and a video of the event can be found here: Accessible Transportation Symposium an Engaging Evening | Western Pennsylvania Disability History and Action Consortium (wpdhac.org).

October 8, 2020 - UTCs present at National Council of Workforce Educators National Conference - October 8, 2020 Yesterday, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for the Mobility21 UTC, Bob Koch, Professor of the Community College of Allegheny County Automotive Technology Program, Missy Blair, Program Manager/Certified MSF RiderCoach and Traffic Survival School Instructor of the Pima County Community College Center for Transportation Training and member of the Pacific Southwest Region UTC and Robert Brown, Head of Public Affairs and Government Relations for TuSimple presented \"Cultivating Readiness for the Transportation Workforce of Tomorrow\" at the National Council of Workforce Educators National Conference.  They discussed partnerships that demonstrate how industry, workforce developers, and academic partners are working together to prepare workers for this evolving future.  

October 7, 2020 - PennDOT and Consultants Briefed on Smart Multi-modal Transportation Solution for North Huntingdon Township in Response to Roadway Construction Projects on Route-30 - October 7, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian along with Mike Turley and Ryan Fonzi of North Huntingdon Township presented findings of the Mobility21 UTC Smart Mobility Challenge Project Smart Multi-modal Transportation Solution for North Huntingdon Township in Response to Roadway Construction Projects on Route-30 to PennDOT officials and project consultants.  Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for the Mobility21 UTC also participated by sharing information about the Smart Mobility Challenge.  For more information about this project, check out the Research Recap.

October 7, 2020 - Meet Innovation Fellow Luke Lyle - October 7, 2020 Meet Luke Lyle, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and a Swartz Center 2020 - 2021 Innovation Fellow.  He completed his MS and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at CMU and also holds a BS and BA in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Buffalo. The focus of his doctoral research was gallium oxide, a wide bandgap semiconducting material for high power electronic applications. In these applications, gallium oxide is poised to have vastly higher efficiencies than competing materials. 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. He is working on commercializing this technology with the development of an industrially scalable, novel technique to grow gallium oxide aiming to leverage this material for use in renewable energy systems. As a Swartz Innovation Fellow Luke is working with Mobility21 and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship to commercialize this technology.

October 6, 2020 - Equitable Future of Transportation Panel featured Mobility21 Diversity Fellow - October 6, 2020 Mobility21 Diversity Fellow Allanté Whitmore was a panelist on The Equitable Future of Transportation seminar held by the CMU and University of Pittsburgh Local Government Club. She discussed the role of equity in transportation, next-generation transportation technologies, and local municipalities\' decision-making.

October 1, 2020 - ARTBA RED Divisional Meeting Features Diana Furchtgott-Roth - October 1, 2020 As a member of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Research & Education Division (RED), Stan Caldwell joined the joint Planning & Design and RED Divisional Meeting which featured Guest Speaker Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation.

October 1, 2020 - Megaregion Hosts Inaugural Transportation Policy Symposium - October 1, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the inaugural Megaregions Transportation Policy Symposium which brought together industry practitioners, academic professionals, and policy experts to lead the conversation on technologies, policies, and trends in the field of transportation that will promote Megaregion development.

September 30, 2020 - Financial Support Overview Session Provided for CMU Business Managers - September 30, 2020 Business Managers representing faculty across the Carnegie Mellon University attended a session to learn more about the Traffic21 and Mobility21 UTC funding.  During the event, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21, Heather Depasquale of the Research Accelerator, and Olivia Wells of the Heinz College reviewed the funding sources and shared some tips with the business managers.

September 30, 2020 - US DOT ITS Joint Program Office Releases Report on Artifical Intelligence in Transportation - September 30, 2020 The US DOT ITS Joint Program Office recently released their report, \"Identifying Real-World Transportation Applications Using Artificial Intelligence (AI); Real-World AI Scenarios in Transportation for Possible Deployment.\" Carnegie Mellon researchers Aaron Steinfeld, Steve Smith and Stan Caldwell were acknowledged in the report as \"Volunteer Expert Stakeholders.\"

September 29, 2020 - F1Tenth Autonomous Racing & How It Can Help with Machine Learning Research - September 29, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher and University of Pennsylvania Professor Rahul Mangharam released a new video today on \"F1Tenth Autonomous Racing and How It Can Help with Machine Learning Research for Perception, Planning and Control.\"  Watch his talk here.

September 29, 2020 - C-V2X Virtual Summit Hosted by Qualcomm - September 29, 2020 Stan Caldwell, the Mobility21 UTC Executive Director was an active participant in the Qualcomm C-V2X Virtual Summit 2020 today where he was part of the conversation and learning about cellular connected vehicle activity and trends including those of the 5G Automotive Association.

September 28, 2020 - Smart Mobility Challenge Highlighted at SPC Meetings - September 28, 2020 Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 Institute and its affiliated US DOT National University Transportation Center, Mobility21, are inviting representatives of municipalities and public transit operators in southwestern PA to request research assistance by submitting their real-world mobility problem to be considered for the Third Smart Mobility Challenge. Challenge Partner, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission has been helping promote the challenge to their regional communities and public transit operators.  Today, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer was invited to give a presentation during the SPC Commission meeting.  Last week, she also gave presentations to their Transit Operators Committee and their Transportation Technical Committee.

September 25, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Features Corey Harper - September 25, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Dr. Corey Harper, Mobility21 UTC researcher and Incoming Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.  Dr. Harper discussed “Advancing Towards a Smarter and More Sustainable Transportation System.”   Watch his presentation here.

September 23, 2020 - Researchers and Community Partner Share Results from Smart Mobility Challenge Project - September 23, 2020 Earlier today, Mobility21 UTC researchers Sean Qian and Rick Grahn joined Lynn Manion and Amy Mathieson, community partners from RideACTA and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for the Mobility21 UTC to share the results of the Smart Mobility Challenge project, Data-driven mobility service design: a case study for Moon Township.  Over 60 people representing departments of transportation, transportation associations, and community organizations from across the country signed up to join the session to hear the presentation.  Learn more about the project by reviewing the research recap here.  You can also watch the recording of today’s presentation here .

September 23, 2020 - COVID-19 and the Future of Our Cities: The Future of Work - September 23, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Ray Gastil moderated a panel discussion on \"COVID-19 and the Future of Our Cities: The Future of Work.\"  The discussion highlighted how \"The current pandemic accelerates profound societal shifts that will have lasting effects on how we work going forward. With many employers successfully transitioning to remote work, we can expect more companies to shift an increasing part of their workforce to remote working models...\"

September 22, 2020 - September 2020 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting Held - September 22, 2020 Mobility21 hosted the UTC faculty meeting today. The meeting spotlighted the research of the Ohio State University, discussions about the CMU Big Idea and an annual call for projects, review of the 2020 Advisory Council Meeting and Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium, and updates from our academic partners, the University of Pennsylvania and the Community College of Allegheny County.

September 22, 2020 - Inaugural Bus Technology Summit Includes Presentation by Mobility21 Executive Director - September 22, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell discussed his UTC research on disruptive transportation technology trends at the inaugural Bus Technology Summit in a session titled, \"Embracing Technology Disruptions with Cautious Optimism in the COVID Era.\"  This summit was presented by School Transportation News.

September 21, 2020 - Research Recap: Data-driven mobility service design: a case study for Moon Township - September 21, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap\" for the project \"Data-driven mobility service design: a case study for Moon Township.\"  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 18, 2020 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson Honored as Recipient of the 2020 Richard R. Torrens Award - September 18, 2020 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson has been selected by the ASCE Subcommittee on Technical Advancement as the recipient of the 2020 Richard R. Torrens Award \"...In recognition of excellent editorial leadership and for contributions to the enhancement of the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems.\" Dr. Hendrickson responded when learning of the award, \"\'I am greatly honored to be recognized by my peers with the Torrens Award.  I have enjoyed and learned a great deal working with ASCE publications, especially my continuing service as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Engineering Part A Systems.  I am fortunate to work with a great group of over twenty Associate Editors and hundreds of reviewers.\"

September 18, 2020 - CMU Team Helmet Advances to the Final Phase of the CHARIoT Challenge - September 18, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Yang Cai and his team have been chosen to advance to the final phase of the CHARIoT Challenge in the category \"Build Augmented Reality for First Responders.\"

September 17, 2020 - Automated Vehicle Industry Trends Discussed at TMACC Meeting - September 17, 2020 This morning, Stan Caldwell presented his Mobility21 research on automated vehicle industry trends along with PennDOT Director of Transformational Technology to industry and community transportation professionals at a webinar hosted by the Transportation Management Association of Chester County.

September 15, 2020 - Meet Innovation Fellow Joe Bartels - September 15, 2020 Meet Joe Bartels, a postdoctoral researcher in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and a 2020 - 2021 Innovation Fellow.  He completed his MS and PhD in Robotics at CMU and also holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.  During his graduate studies at CMU and in collaboration with others in the Illumination and Imaging Lab, Joe developed a new class of 3D imaging systems for use in automation and robotics.  These imaging systems include a long-range outdoor depth camera and a fully programmable 3D light curtain sensor. These next-generation 3D sensors will equip automated systems with enhanced perception capabilities, such as high-resolution obstacle detection and adaptive mid-range sensing.  As a Swartz Innovation Fellow Joe is working with Mobility21 and the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship to commercialize this technology for smart cities, self-driving cars, and robotics.

September 15, 2020 - Research Recap: Smart Multi-modal Transportation Solutions for North Huntingdon Township in Response to Roadway Construction Project on Route 30 - September 15, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Smart Multi-modal Transportation Solutions for North Huntingdon Township in Response to Roadway Construction Project on Route 30.

September 14, 2020 - Third Smart Mobility Challenge – Mobility Problems Wanted - Carnegie Mellon University’s Traffic21 Institute and its affiliated US DOT National University Transportation Center, Mobility21, are inviting representatives of municipalities and public transit operators in southwestern PA to request research assistance by submitting their real-world mobility problems to be considered for the Third Smart Mobility Challenge.  Learn more here.

September 11, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Features Megan Ryerson - September 11, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Megan Ryerson, Mobility21 UTC researcher, UPS Chair of Transportation, an Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning and Electrical & Systems Engineering and the first Associate Dean for Research at University of Pennsylvania\'s Weitzman School of Design .  Over 200 people signed up to hear her discuss “Building Novel Traveler-Centric Metrics to Design Safe and Efficient Transportation Infrastructure Systems.”  Watch her presentation here.

September 11, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Christoph Mertz Featured at Landslide Capacity Building Seminar - September 11, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Christoph Mertz was a featured speaker at the University of Pittsburgh Landslide Capacity Building Seminar discussing applying technology to landslides, including techniques such as photogrammetry, LiDAR, interferometric synthetic radar (InSAR), laser scanning and neural networks.

September 10, 2020 - OSU EcoCAR Completes Year 2 - September 10, 2020 Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Ohio State University\'s Center for Automotive Research (CAR)\'s EcoCAR team successfully completed year 2 of the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge despite obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic.  \"Year 2 was supposed to focus on the vehicle build. When COVID-19 caused us to go completely remote and leave the garage we turned our focus on the final competition deliverables which were written reports or video presentations,” said Kristina Kuwabara, co-engineering manager and CSMS lead for the Ohio State EcoCAR team.  Read more here.

September 8, 2020 - UTC Researcher Erick Guerra Co-Authors Peer Reviewed Paper - September 8, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Erick Guerra of the University of Pennsylvania co-authored the article \"Beyond Mobility: Planning Cities for People and Places,\" which was also recently reviewed by the Journal of Planning Education and Research.  The paper explores the consequences of cities designed with a primary goal of moving people around quickly.

September 2, 2020 - OSU Undergraduate Student Shares Internship Experience with Uber - September 2, 2020 Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Ohio State University\'s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) undergraduate student Paul Crock shares his internship experience with Uber, \"My role over the summer was being a virtual test engineering intern. Falling under the Systems Engineering and Test category of the organization, our job is assessing the current status and capabilities of the vehicle and performing the testing to ensure that it is working properly and exactly as intended by the designers.\"  Read more here.

September 1, 2020 - Research Recap: Personalized Trip Planner for Seniors - September 1, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Personalized Trip Planner for Seniors.

September 1, 2020 - Project Named MetroLab Innovation of the Month - September 1, 2020 Project \"Machine Learning to Help Families in Need\" has been named as MetroLab Network\'s Innovation of the Month for September 2020.  The startup funding for this project was provided by Traffic21 Institute and its ongoing coordination is provided by Metro21 . Through a collaborative partnership spanning government, nonprofit, and local business, Mobility21 UTC researcher Prof. Stephen Smith created a machine-learning algorithm that optimizes bus stops and food delivery routes to ensure children, families, and seniors throughout the Penn Hills area can receive meals at convenient locations during this difficult and uncertain time. You can watch the full video of all of those involved in this project here.

September 1, 2020 - 2nd Annual Workshop of CMU Safe AI Lab Held - September 1, 2020 Yesterday, Mobility21 UTC researcher Ding Zhao and his team held the 2nd Annual Workshop of Safe AI Lab, where they presented findings and highlights of their work on the design, implementation, analysis, and evaluation of statistical, optimization, and machine learning models for making AI safer for real-world development.  Watch the video here.

August 31, 2020 - Dates Announced for Traffic21/Mobility21 2020 Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium - August 31, 2020 The dates for the  Traffic21/Mobility21 University Transportation Center Deployment Partner Consortium Symposium were just announced.  The 2020 symposium will be held virtually on Thursday, November 19 from 11 AM – 2:30 PM eastern, followed Friday, November 20 with a UTC Academic and Research Showcase.  Putting the 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.  Contact Lisa Kay Schweyer for more information.

August 28, 2020 - Digital Repository Submitters Tapped for Feedback - August 27, 2020 The US Department of Transportation National Transportation Library Repository & Open Science Access Portal pulled together a small group of frequent users, including Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager from the Mobility21 UTC to join today’s feedback group.  The library is looking to gather information about the development of a new data submission form for research reports and data sets.

August 26, 2020 - Research Recap: The Built Environment and Pedestrian Safety in the Philadelphia Region - August 26, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: The Built Environment and Pedestrian Safety in the Philadelphia Region.

August 26, 2020 - Team Creates New Method to Identify Over-Emitting Vehicles - August 26, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Scott Matthews, along with student Prithvi Acharya and Paul Fischbeck of Engineering and Public Policy (EPP), has worked to create a new method to identify over-emitting vehicles. \"Across the U.S., there has been some criticism of the cost and efficacy of emissions inspection and maintenance (I/M) programs administered at the state and county level. In response, Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) Ph.D. student Prithvi Acharya and his advisor, Civil and Environmental Engineering  Scott Matthews, teamed up with EPP’s Paul Fischbeck. They have created a new method for identifying over-emitting vehicles using remote data transmission and machine learning that would be both less expensive and more effective than current I/M programs. Most states in America require passenger vehicles to undergo periodic emissions inspections to preserve air quality by ensuring that a vehicle’s exhaust emissions do not exceed standards set at the time the vehicle was manufactured. What some may not know is that the metrics through which emissions are gauged nowadays are usually measured by the car itself through on-board diagnostics (OBD) systems that process all of the vehicle’s data. Effectively, these emissions tests are checking whether a vehicle’s “check engine light” is on. While over-emitting identified by this system is 87 percent likely to be true, it also has a 50 percent false pass rate of over-emitters when compared to tailpipe testing of actual emissions. With cars as smart devices increasingly becoming integrated into the Internet of Things (IoT), there’s no longer any reason for state and county administrations to force drivers to come in for regular I/M checkups when all the necessary data is stored on their vehicle’s OBD. In an attempt to eliminate these unnecessary costs and improve the effectiveness of I/M programs, Acharya, Matthews, and Fischbeck published their recent study in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation SystemsOpens in new window. Their new method entails sending data directly from the vehicle to a cloud server managed by the state or county within which the driver lives, eliminating the need for them to come in for regular inspections. Instead, the data would be run through machine learning algorithms that identify trends in the data and codes prevalent among over-emitting vehicles. This means that most drivers would never need to report to an inspection site unless their vehicle’s data indicates that it’s likely over-emitting, at which point they could be contacted to come in for further inspection and maintenance. Not only has the team’s work shown that a significant amount of time and cost could be saved through smarter emissions inspecting programs, but their study has also shown how these methods are more effective. Their model for identifying vehicles likely to be over-emitting was 24 percent more accurate than current OBD systems. This makes it cheaper, less demanding, and more efficient at reducing vehicle emissions. This study could have major implications for leaders and residents within the 31 states and countless counties across the U.S. where I/M programs are currently in place. As these initiatives face criticism from proponents of both environmental deregulation and fiscal austerity, this team has presented a novel system that promises both significant reductions to cost and demonstrably improved effectiveness in reducing vehicle emissions. Their study may well redefine the testing paradigm for how vehicle emissions are regulated and reduced in America.\"

August 25, 2020 - Update on Mobility21’s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar (RISS), Beverley-Claire Okogwu - August 25, 2020 Mobility21\'s RISS Beverley-Claire Okogwu has completed her project titled, \"Development of a Multi Agent Environment Trained with MADDPG Algorithm.\"  Beverley-Claire was mentored by UTC researcher Ding Zhao of the Carnegie Mellon University Safe AI Lab.  View Beverley-Claire\'s poster and video. 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.

August 24, 2020 - Mobility21 Fall Semester Smart Mobility Connection Series Kicks Off with Presentation by Dr. Megan Ryerson - August 24, 2020 Mobility21 is resuming the Smart Mobility Connection Series with the start of fall semester with a vast array of presentations. Please join us on Friday, September 11 at Noon for our first session in the series featuring UTC researcher Dr. Megan Ryerson of the University of Pennsylvania.  She will be speaking on “Building Novel Traveler-Centric Metrics to Design Safe and Efficient Transportation Infrastructure Systems.” Register here to join the webinar. 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 20, 2020 - Boulder Transportation Connection Discusses Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - August 20, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer moderated a discussion on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with 30+ representatives from transportation management associations as part of the Denver Regional Council of Governments’ Boulder Transportation Connection meeting.  The group generated 40 comments and identified 8 possible next steps for continuing the D, E, & I discussion.

August 20, 2020 - Update on Mobility21’s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar (RISS), Fausto Vega - August 20, 2020 Mobility21\'s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar (RISS) Fausto Vega has completed his project titled, \"Effective Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.\"  Fausto was mentored by UTC researcher, Dr. Sebastian Scherer.  View Fausto\'s poster and video. 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.

August 19, 2020 - Hendrickson Updates Transportation Research Board Executive Committee - August 19, 2020 Chris Hendrickson, Faculty Director of the Traffic21 Institute and a Mobility21 UTC researcher, attended the Transportation Research Board\'s Executive Committee Meeting August 17-19, 2020.  Hendrickson made a presentation as Chair of the TRB Division Committee, reporting on committee activities and statistics on diversity of TRB volunteers.

August 19, 2020 - Rapid Flow Technologies Named Semi-Finalist in the Toyota Mobility Foundation City Architecture for Tomorrow Challenge - August 19, 2020 Rapid Flow Technologies, a Mobility21 UTC spin-off company, has been named as a semi-finalist in the Toyota Mobility Foundation City Architecture for Tomorrow Challenge.  During the application period, over 90 global teams submitted their ideas for review, which was then narrowed to only 16 semi-finalist teams.  Each semi-finalist team receives up to a $5,000 grant each to develop Proofs of Concept of their solutions. \"The Toyota Mobility Foundation was established in August 2014 to support the development of a more mobile society. The Foundation aims to support strong and equitable mobility systems. It utilizes Toyota’s expertise in technology, safety, and the environment, working in partnership with universities, government, non-profit organizations, research institutions and other organizations to address mobility issues around the world.  Solutions till date have aimed at resolving urban transportation problems, expanding the utilization of multi-modal mobility, and developing solutions for future generations.\"  

August 18, 2020 - WTS Grants Leadership Legacy Graduate Scholarship to CMU Student Kathryn Schlesinger - August 18, 2020 The Women in Transportation Seminar, Pittsburgh Chapter awarded the Leadership Legacy Graduate Scholarship to CMU student Kathryn Schlesinger. \"Although originally hailing from sunny, south Florida, Ms. Schlesinger considers Pittsburgh to be her second home after living here for nearly ten years. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 with a dual B.A. and GIS Certificate, Ms. Schlesinger accepted an AmeriCorps Fellowship position at Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group (PCRG), a nonprofit membership based organization, where she served for close to four years as the Transit Research and Policy Fellow, and later went on to become the Policy Coordinator. Over her time at PCRG, Ms. Schlesinger earned her LEED Green Associate accreditation and began the Master of Public Management program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College in January 2018. She will be graduating in December 2020.\" The published award profile further explains that \"After transitioning to a new role at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership in fall 2018, Ms. Schlesinger now works on the Mobility Team as the Mobility Project Manager. In this role, she has had the opportunity to work on and lead a variety of mobility and public realm improvement projects to enhance the vibrancy and character of Downtown Pittsburgh. Among many other projects currently underway, her team is leading a process to develop a Mobility Plan designed to improve the Downtown experience for all users and identify ways to improve the pedestrian, transit, biking, vehicle, and delivery realms. Outside of work and school, Ms. Schlesinger enjoys living in Squirrel Hill with her longtime partner, Josh, and their two cats, Pluto and Ezio. \"

August 14, 2020 - 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers’ Innovation Contest - August 14, 2020 Chris Hendrickson, Faculty Director of Traffic21 Institute and a Mobility21 researcher, served as a volunteer judge for the 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers\' Innovation Contest.  The contest aspires to rethink what is possible in civil engineering, including transportation.  The final competition will take place during the ASCE 2020 Convention in October.

August 13, 2020 - Inter-American Development Bank Transport Features Dr. Rahul Mangharam - August 13, 2020 The Inter-American Development Bank  Transport held their 11th virtual session \"Designing Safe Autonomous Systems,\" which featured Mobility21 UTC researcher Dr. Rahul Mangharam of the University of Pennsylvania. In this talk, Dr. Mangharam discussed the main difficulties in the development of safe autonomous systems and about the new approaches that are needed to bound and minimize the risk of autonomous vehicles to the public, determine liability and insurance pricing, and ensure the long-term growth of the domain.

August 13, 2020 - Stan Caldwell Presents at Pittsburgh Chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar - August 13, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented “Autonomous Vehicles: Why Now and Why Pittsburgh” at a webinar hosted by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar.  This presentation on Caldwell’s University Transportation Center funded research highlighted industry and technology trends and public policies aimed put in place to enable innovation and mitigate risk.

August 12, 2020 - UTC Researcher Corey Harper Hosts Webinar Discussing Things To Consider Before Hitting the Job Market - August 12, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Corey Harper hosted a webinar titled, \"Choosing Between Academia and Industry,\" to discuss the pros and cons choosing a career path in either. Corey Harper will also be participating in the upcoming Mobility21 Smart Mobility Connection on September 25.

August 12, 2020 - 2020 TIDC Annual Conference Features Stan Caldwell as Keynote Speaker - August 12, 2020 The Region 1 UTC, Transportation Infrastructure Durability Center at the University of Maine, featured Stan Caldwell from Carnegie Mellon University’s Mobility21 National UTC as keynote speaker on disruptive transportation technologies and infrastructure durability. The purpose of the annual conference is to educate, engage, and work with varied stakeholders (academics, industry professionals, state DOTs, and other government agencies) to solve transportation challenges facing the New England Region and beyond. The conference is an opportunity to inform stakeholders on TIDC’s research and technology transfer activities. This includes showcasing contributions TIDC researchers have made to a wide-range of transportation fields, including: structures, concrete materials, monitoring and assessment, and future efficient manufacturing techniques in transportation (i.e. 3D printing molds).

August 11, 2020 - WTS Pittsburgh Chapter Honors CMU Student Sharika Hegde - August 11, 2020 The Women in Transportation Seminar Pittsburgh Chapter 2020 Sharon D. Banks Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship Recipient honoree is CMU student Sharika Hegde. The award winner \"Sharika J. Hegde is a senior at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) majoring in Civil & Environmental Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. Sharika is interested in intelligent transportation systems, shared mobility, and connected and automated vehicle technology. Combining her experience in transportation and computing, she is also interested in using machine learning and data analytics techniques to tackle issues within the transportation domain.\" The write-up in the WTS program also stated that \"Sharika has completed numerous internships, most recently at FHWA’s Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory, where she supported their Connected Vehicle Pilot Deployment program and CARMA platform. During this internship, Sharika authored a paper on connected vehicle data privacy, which she then presented at the 2020 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting. On-campus, Sharika served as the 2019 President of CMU’s student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She is also involved with transportation research at CMU, as a researcher at Prof. Sean Qian’s Mobility Data Analytics Center. Sharika will continue her education and research by pursuing a Ph.D. in transportation systems in the fall of 2020.\"

August 8, 2020 - National Research Council Governing Board Meets - August 6 - 7, 2020 The National Research Council\'s Governing Board had its first ever virtual meeting August 6-7 with Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson attending.  Strategic planning and rapid responses to COVID-19 were major topics of discussion. The National Research Council (NRC) is the working arm of the United States National Academies, which produces reports that shape policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine.

August 7, 2020 - Leading the Way: A National Task Force on Connected Vehicles - August 7, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Jon Peha was recently invited to provide his expertise in determining policies to move connected vehicles forward.  His paper, \"Leading the Way: A National Task Force on Connected Vehicles\" was chosen by Day One, an initiative of the nonpartisan Federation of American Scientists,  as one of the 100 best policy ideas related to science and technology to be enacted.  Read his paper here.

August 6, 2020 - Reimagining Transportation Energy in 2020 for Equity and Efficiency - August 6, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researchers Costa Samaras and Corey Harper participated in today\'s \"Reimagining Transportation Energy in 2020 for Equity and Efficiency\" panel to provide their take on what shifts we can expect on our transportation energy future post-COVID19. This session, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, is the eight installment in the series, \"Energy, Resilience, and COVID-19 – Pivoting in 2020\", which highlights research, industry and innovation related to how COVID-19 is impacting the way we will do business and what it means to the energy systems we rely upon.  You can watch the full webinar here.

August 6, 2020 - Port Authority Holds Second Public Meeting in NEXTransit Series - August 6, 2020 Port Authority held the second meeting in the NEXTransit series titled, \"Where Do You Want to Go NEXT?\"  The NEXTransit series are public and community meetings to gather input on the future of public transportation in the Pittsburgh area.  The next meeting in the series will be held on August 25, 2020 at 12:30pm and 4:00pm.  You can register for either meeting here.

August 6, 2020 - Nearly 600 transportation demand management professionals gather for the International Association for Commuter Transportation’s annual conference - August 3-5, 2020 Nearly 600 transportation demand management (TDM) professionals gathered earlier this week for the International Association for Commuter Transportation’s (ACT) annual conference.  Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager and ACT Board member led a discussion group on TDM research, encouraging ACT members to connect with their local UTC and provided an update on the organization\'s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force activities.

August 4, 2020 - Ohio State Research Boosts Smart Columbus - August 4, 2020 Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Ohio State University\'s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) continues to build on mobility research. Harvey Miller, director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA), pointed to the Smart Columbus Operating System, an open source data site, as an exciting legacy for the program. “The type of work we’ve been doing for Smart Columbus has included looking at the impacts of these programs and things such as mobility, accessibility and travel times,” he said. “I’m very interested in the impacts of new transportation technologies and services on really improving the conditions in our cities from a social equity and environmental point of view.”  Read more here.  

July 30, 2020 - Welcoming New Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow – Hajra Shahab - July 30, 2020 Mobility21 UTC welcomes Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow for 2020-2022, Hajra Shahab. Hajra Shahab grew up in Karachi [Pakistan], one of the largest and most populated cities in the world. Growing up, she witnessed complex deep-rooted problems in the city such as weak institutional capacity, absence of public transit system and marginalization of vulnerable groups. During her undergraduate studies as an Economics major at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), she was able to apply economics and public policy frameworks to real-world issues. However, it was not until she got selected to attend an exchange semester at Waseda University, Japan, her interest in transportation and mobility solidified. Intrigued by a robust and efficient public transit system, Tokyo became a living laboratory for her urban planning interests and helped her trace factors that make cities sustainable and resilient in the long-run. After finishing her undergraduate in 2018, Hajra worked briefly at a trading company before pursuing her research interests. She was able to take her research forward through a grant received from the Saida Waheed Gender Initiative (SWGI) at LUMS. Her team assessed women mobility patterns which got her interested in exploring multiple dimensions of an Intelligent Transport System (ITS) such as real-time information about bus delays or seat availability making women less vulnerable to harassment. In 2019, Hajra joined Technology for People Initiative (TPI), a research lab jointly funded by Google and the World Bank, as a Research Associate to work on child protection with UNICEF. As the project team lead, she helped in the design and implementation of a novel Information Management System (IMS) to be deployed in 4 provinces of Pakistan. Hajra carried out fieldwork in Balochistan, one of the most marginalized provinces in the country, and assessed existing digital infrastructure of the public offices, mapped possible system integrations and generated user requirements. Designing a bespoke system for people with low levels of digital literacy and different perspectives helped her understand the importance of context in policy design. She wants to further explore child-centric community planning such as transport connectivity especially in hotspot areas of child abuse that can mitigate the odds of school dropouts due to long commute; an issue that currently stands at 53% in Pakistan for females. Her budding interest in data-driven policymaking also stems from her work on Pakistan’s 1st open data portal at the National Center in Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC) at LUMS in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC). She supervised a group of researchers on large datasets, including crime, education, and financial inclusion. She strongly believes making data accessible to the public can also help in developing more democratic and participatory planning processes, empower people and help in meaningful civic engagement. During her time at Heinz, she would like to continue to understand how users interact with cities and transportation systems, specifically. She believes Carnegie Mellon University’s MSPPM program will provide her with an opportunity to master her data and policy skillset, engage with interdisciplinary groups, and explore technological breakthroughs to develop smarter, and well-connected mobility networks in cities. Hajra says, “It is an honor to have earned the Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellowship. I strongly believe that this fellowship has brought me a step closer to my career aspirations in transportation and mobility. Traffic21 is steering discussion around transportation in the 21st century, and I believe this futuristic approach will provide me with unparalleled exposure to cutting edge research, mentoring, and technological advancements.” Learn more about all 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 29, 2020 - Traffic21 Students Present Rural Mobility Policy Study to PennDOT Secretary - July 29, 2020 Graduate students from Carnegie Mellon University recently met with Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) Secretary Yassmin Gramian and members of her executive team, to present a comprehensive policy study titled “Mobility, Accessibility, and Connectivity: Assessments and Recommendations Concerning Rural Transportation Equity in Pennsylvania.” Included in the report was a review of key national findings, an analysis of rural equity as a systemic concern in Pennsylvania, strategies and practices from around the U.S., and the students’ recommendations to implement a rural transportation council.  As a first–of-its-kind rural transportation model, the council would identify research and information needs, as well as recommend and advocate for policy and program initiatives to enhance the mobility, connectivity, and accessibility of Pennsylvania’s rural communities and become a model for other states. Roger Cohen, PennDOT’s Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary and the client for this project shared: \"At a time when new technologies are dramatically redefining transportation and citizens are demanding greater accountability and responsiveness on the part of government, the student team from Carnegie Mellon looked at rural transportation services and found that there are disparities that can begin to be addressed by giving rural Pennsylvanians a greater voice in shaping the future of their communities.\" Under the guidance of Traffic21’s Executive Director and Heinz College Adjunct Associate Professor Stan Caldwell and Heinz College Distinguished Service Professor Rick Stafford, CMU graduate students Blair Chen, Erick Shiring, and Marcus Robinson of Heinz College and Ziyu Dai of the College of Engineering were able to apply their knowledge and experiences to inspire real world policy change for future progress. Also involved in the project  was former Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow Ngani Ndimbie, executive policy specialist for PennDOT.  Ngani was able to advise the students from a policy standpoint, as well as provide guidance from her experience as a Heinz College graduate. This project was supported by the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center. For more information and detail, you can read the full report here.

July 24, 2020 - RISS Update – Participant Continues Progress with XPlane11 Flight Simulator - July 24, 2020 Mobility21 UTC\'s Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program participant Fausto Vega continues his work, exploring more about aerospace. \"My experience with RISS has been great as I have learned about the aerospace field which is a career I hope to pursue in the future. I am grateful for the weekly workshops, speakers, and the members of the Air Lab as they have allowed me to grow as a researcher.\"  Watch a short video where Fausto explains more about his experience and project here. 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.

July 23, 2020 - Vehicle to Infrastructure Deployment Coalition Quarterly Meeting - July 23, 2020 Stan Caldwell participated in the AASHTO/ITE/ITSA Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Deployment Coalition - Strategic Initiatives Working Group Quarterly Meeting today, to discuss connected vehicle to connected infrastructure technology applications. The Vehicle to Infrastructure Deployment Coalition (V2I DC) began as a concept to create a single point of reference for stakeholders to meet and discuss V2I deployment related issues. To accomplish this concept, U.S. DOT asked the American Association of State Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) to collaborate on organizing and managing the coalition. The V2I DC Project Team (consisting of members from AASHTO, ITE and ITS America) then created a vision, mission, and set of objectives that would guide the coalition.

July 22, 2020 - The Ohio State University Hosts Camp CAR - July 22, 2020 Today, Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer participated in The Ohio State University\'s (UTC academic partner) Camp CAR.  The camp allowed attendees to tour CAR labs, hear from and converse with CAR researchers and students and take a look inside the Student Projects Motorsports facility.

July 22, 2020 - PennDOT STIC Discusses New Transportation Projects - July 22, 2020 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director, participated in today\'s Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration\'s State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC), where the group discussed and adopted new transportation innovation deployment projects. The Pennsylvania State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) facilitates the rapid implementation of proven, well-researched and documented state, regional, national and international technologies, tactics, techniques and any other innovations that are new to Pennsylvania.

July 21, 2020 - Electrolyte Development for Safer, Higher Energy and Longer Lasting Batteries - July 21, 2020 In collaboration with the Department of Energy\'s Lawrence Berkley National Lab, Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan led research on a new class of soft, solid electrolytes that can help to create safer, higher energy and longer lasting batteries.   Read the full article here.

July 21, 2020 - Offsetting Carbon Emissions, One Ton at a Time - July 20, 2020 Megan Ryerson, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and Electric and Systems Engineering and UTC researcher at the Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania, sits down with Penn Today to discuss her take on offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time.  “I’ve spent my career telling people to fly less. If you told me in the fall how few planes would be in the sky right now, I would have been shocked,” says Megan Ryerson.  Read the full article here.

July 20, 2020 - PA Rural Robotics Impact on Workforce Development - July 20, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell met with Brad Moore, District Director for Congressmen Glenn Thompson PA-15, Venango County Commissioner Chip Abramovic, and Tim Heffernan, founder of the PA Rural Robotics Initiative to discuss the STEM activity between Mobility21 and PA Rural Robotics and its impact on Pennsylvania rural workforce development.

July 20, 2020 - RISS Update – Program Surpasses Participant’s Expectations - July 20, 2020 Mobility21 UTC\'s Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program participant Beverley-Claire Okogwu continues to interact and excel as her project explores getting agents to overcome ambiguous and sub-optimal behaviors of humans in Human-Robot Interaction. \"One thing I am certainly proud of while conducting my research is my ability to thoroughly read and understand the basic ideas of research papers, and utilizing these ideas (algorithms, open source ware) into the simulator. I believe this is an important skill as I advance in my educational and career interests...So far, the RISS experience has surpassed my expectations due to its remote nature. I have interacted with a lot of people and have discovered a variety of online resources and platforms that I may not have found in an in-person setting. \" 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.

July 16, 2020 - PA Automated Vehicle Summit Planning Underway - July 16, 2020 Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Mobility21 UTC, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Automated Vehicle Summit Planning Committee and participated in the meeting today.  The Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation and Community & Economic Development have hosted the PA AV Summits annually since 2017.  See the Summit website here.

July 16, 2020 - APTA’s Mobility Recovery and Restoration Task Force Prepares To Deliver Recommendations - July 16, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer have been actively participating on the American Public Transportation Association\'s (APTA) Mobility Recovery and Restoration Task Force since May.  \"The results of the Task Force will include a set of recommendations covering a wide range of issues critical to public transportation\'s future success, including safeguarding employees and riders, public and rider confidence, and customer-focused operations, as well as resiliency, equity, and societal needs.\" The group will wrap up their work and present their recommendations later this month.

July 15, 2020 - July 2020 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting - July 15, 2020 Mobility21 hosted the UTC faculty meeting today.  The meeting included a presentation by Steve Smith on his project, \"Algorithms and Heuristics for Remote Food Delivery in the Pandemic Era\" (which is helping to combat the issue of food insecurity), and updates from our academic partners, the University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University and the Community College of Allegheny County.

July 8, 2020 - The Ohio State University Students’ Experience Impacted by NEXTCAR - July 8, 2020 The Ohio State University doctoral candidates Rajakumar Deshpande and Shobhit Gupta are working with Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Ohio State University\'s Center for Automotive Research (CAR) to expand their knowledge and experience in the field of automated vehicles.  \"...Rajakumar Deshpande and Gupta are doctoral candidates in Mechanical Engineering at The Ohio State University. Their work on the ARPA-E NEXTCAR* project at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) is shaping their studies, their future careers, and the future of connected and automated vehicles...The project aims to improve connected vehicle technologies and ultimately improve hybrid-electric vehicles’ fuel economy by 20 percent.\"   Read more here.    

July 7, 2020 - ITS PCB Community College Virtual Workshop Series Highlights New CCAC Class - July 7, 2020 During the ITS PCB Program’s Community College Virtual Workshop Series, Bob Koch of Mobility21\'s academic partner the Community College of Allegheny County, presented on the new experiential transportation innovation class that started this year.  The event also included a virtual tour of FHWA’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, specifically areas related to Connected and Automated Vehicle research.

July 7, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher and Team Advance to Phase 3 of CHARiOT Challenge - July 7, 2020 After winning Phase 2, Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai and his team at CMU have been advanced to Phase 3 of the CHARiOT Challenge, where researchers build augmented reality for first responders.  The goal is to significantly improve a first responder’s situational awareness allowing them to more effectively plan and respond during incidents.

July 6, 2020 - Preliminary Final Research Results Presented to ACTA for Mobility Challenge Project - July 6, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian, CMU student Rick Grahn, and Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met today with Lynn Manion and Amy Mathieson of the Airport Corridor Transportation Association and Phillip St. Pierre of Port Authority of Allegheny County to review the preliminary final research results from the Smart Mobility Challenge project, Data Driven Mobility Service Design: A Case Study for Moon Township.  The project’s final report will be published later this summer.

July 6, 2020 - Speaking on Possibilities for Deep Decarbonization of US Transportation Modes at International Society of Industrial Ecology Americas 2020 - July 6, 2020 Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21, gave the keynote presentation today on \"Possibilities for Deep Decarbonization of US Transportation Modes\" to the International Society for Industrial Ecology Conference ISIE Americas 2020.   Over 90 people were in attendance for this presentation.  The mission of the ISIE is to promote the use of industrial ecology in research, education, industrial practice, policy and community development, in order to transform society and achieve a more sustainable economy.  The conference was organized by the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Del Peru in Lima, Peru.  

July 3, 2020 - Exploring ‘Redesigning the World’ - July 3, 2020 Megan Ryerson, Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning and Electric and Systems Engineering at the Mobility21 academic partner University of Pennsylvania, provided her input on how to navigate post-COVID19 with Politico magazine with her suggestion, \"Replace Short Flights with Buses.\" \"You’re traveling to a neighboring city, either to visit or to catch a connecting flight. You’re cruising along using the Wi-Fi in a clean seat at least 6 feet from your fellow passengers. You’re relaxed; since departures leave your hometown airport every hour, choosing when to travel was easy. Then, over the loudspeaker you hear a voice: “This is your captain speaking. The bus will be pulling up to the airport momentarily. Terminal A, first stop.” Now that the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically disrupted air travel, it’s possible to imagine this strange new reality: The future of short-distance air travel may very well be the bus. With business travel evaporating for the time being, and Americans worried about getting on crowded planes for anything but urgently necessary travel, the aviation industry is reeling. As of April 30, demand for flights from and within the United States had plummeted 95 percent from the year before; it has since held steady at the lowest levels seen since the mid-1950s. Airlines are recording unprecedented losses. As airlines prepare for their future, they will be looking to cut unprofitable and expensive routes—specifically, those routes under 500 miles that rely on gas-guzzling regional jets. Shorter regional air routes are already so unpopular that airlines won’t serve them without expensive subsidies or direct incentives from a growing number of secondary airports. The economics of short-haul flights will get even worse if airlines choose not to fill their planes, as some are doing. But Americans still need ways to get from city to city besides driving. Frequently run, comfortable coach bus lines could fill the void. Buses offer higher scheduling flexibility and lower capital costs; a half-filled bus represents much less of a loss than a half-filled plane. Furthermore, increased regional bus use would reduce the number of flights coming into airports—and thus reduce the number of people mingling within airports’ walls, a new and likely enduring safety priority. And while conventional buses might provide a slight fuel consumption savings compared with regional aircrafts, hybrid and electric buses are at least four times more fuel-efficient than regional jets. To make this shift, airlines need to see themselves—or be required to see themselves as a condition of relief funding—as mobility companies and not only providers of air service. In the same way that cities and the federal government already provide incentives to airlines to fly, future Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding could provide incentives to airlines or startup bus companies to get regional coaches on the road. Now is the time to make a dramatic, long-lasting change in the way we travel: Airlines are being forced to be more flexible, passengers are looking for the safest alternatives, and planners and policymakers should be looking for solutions that meet our mobility, safety and environmental goals going forward.\"  Read the full article here.

July 3, 2020 - Tesla’s Autopilot and How it Compares to the Competition - July 2020 Mobility21 Director Raj Rajkumar was recently interviewed by Business Insider to discuss his thoughts on Tesla\'s groundbreaking Autopilot feature and how it compares with competing technologies.  Read the full article here.

July 2, 2020 - California’s Requirements for the Trucking Industry - June 25, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Costa Samaras was interviewed by Gizmodo to discuss the increase of electric trucks and how crucial they will be in California in the future.  \"\'California has always been a leader in advancing clean transportation technology,\' Costa Samaras, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, told Earther. \'It’s a huge deal.\'\" Read the full article here.

June 30, 2020 - The Robot Doctor: High School Math Education Through the Lens of Robotics - June 30, 2020 With COVID-19 school closures, the continuity of education for the majority of Pennsylvania\'s students is at risk.  Inequities of resources, staffing, and lack of Internet connectivity are making online learning inaccessible for some of our most at-risk communities. This decrease in classroom learning time, both in-person and virtual, is leaving some students further behind and threatens to deepen the chasm in learning outcomes and opportunities. Public-private partnerships are emerging to create just-in-time educational resources to support communities and families. RobotWits LLC, and the PA Rural Robotics Initiative, both Mobility21 deployment partners, and WQED partnered to create the accessible STEM instructional resources, the Robot Doctor, for high school students and teachers. The Robot Doctor series comprises two parts: 1) eight 14-minute video lessons for students and 2) educator instructional support and feedback channels. The series was broadcast on all seven PBS stations across Pennsylvania to provide immediate instructional support to high school students. Designed to be accessible to most of Pennsylvania\'s students in no-tech and low-tech formats, the series can be downloaded from partner websites, streamed, and could be rebroadcast this fall. The series reinforces critical mathematics concepts taught in high school. The learning objectives in each episode are linked directly to Pennsylvania State Standards in Math and Science and focus on the Pennsylvania Department of Education-recommended content. The Robot Doctor ties math concepts taught in high school to cutting-edge robotic technologies from drones to autonomous vehicles to humanoids. \"The Robot Doctor teaches core math concepts through the lens of robotics,\" Explained Maxim Likhachev, co-leader of the project is an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon\'s Robotics Institute and the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), and director of the Search-Based Planning Laboratory (SBPL) at CMU. He founded RobotWits, the Pittsburgh-based technology company focused on self-driving solutions that created the Robot Doctor content and are supporting educator engagement and professional learning opportunities. A key goal of the materials, as described by Likhachev, is to decrease perceptions that STEM careers are inaccessible. Cathy Cook, WQED Director of Education Projects, explained, \"With in-person instruction still being uncertain, the challenge for WQED will be figuring out how to educate students when accessibility is still an issue. With equity as a huge problem, how can students be held accountable if not everyone has access to the same learning opportunities? And, how can WQED help bridge that divide?\" \"COVID-19 increased the urgency of addressing the digital divide\", said Rachel Burcin, the project co-lead. \"Families do not have uniform access to technology platforms and stable Internet connections. Accessible content that is tied to standards is becoming even more critical as school districts and individual teachers scramble to make remote learning work. In this new normal, TV broadcast is becoming a central tool to reach as many families as possible.\" Tim Heffernan, the founder of the PA Rural Robotics Initiative, notes that bringing world-class resources to rural communities like those that he supports opens tremendous opportunities and contributes to economic and workforce development. \"The Robot Doctor is unique for WQED because it is rooted in public television\'s core mission of educating our audience and providing direct instruction to students over our airwaves. Additionally, due to unforeseen circumstances from Covid-19, huge gaps were identified by the Department of Education, and we were asked to respond, in real-time, to the need,\" according to WQED\'s Director Educational Partnerships Gina Masciola. This public-private partnership engages key stakeholders from government, non-profit, and private entities and enterprises, including the Pennsylvania Department of Education, RobotWits LLC, PA Rural Robotics, and leverages expertise and leadership from roboticists and educators. To learn more or to bring these free resources to your school or community, contact Rachel Burcin at rachel@robotwits.com or Maxim Likhachev at maxim@robotwits.com.

June 29, 2020 - Trade-offs Between Automation and Light Vehicle Electrification - June 29, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Venkat Viswanathan and colleague Parth Vaishnav, along with doctoral students Aniruddh Mohan and Shashank Sripad, were published in the most recent issue of Nature Energy where they explored how adding self-driving capability to electric vehicles might affect range.  Access the article here.

June 25, 2020 - Importance of Workforce Training for Intelligent Transportation Systems Workers - June 25, 2020 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director, participated in the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission Transportation and Operations Forum and discussed the importance of workforce training for intelligent transportation systems workers through community colleges and universities.

June 25, 2020 - ITS America Announces Winner of the America’s Region of the Emerging Leaders Program Global Challenge - June 25, 2020 ITS America has named University of Pennsylvania, a Mobility21 UTC academic partner, as the winner of the America\'s region of the Emerging Leaders Program Global Challenge with their inclusive mobility plan for Philadelphia. \"Move, Philadelphia! is an inclusive mobility model for the city that includes multiple strategies to limit private vehicle use within the city using the latest technologies and direct diverted funds to the city’s flailing public transit system. Read the team’s submission here. The Global Challenge, initially developed for the 2020 ITS World Congress in Los Angeles, was designed to help develop future ITS and emerging technology leaders among university and college students worldwide. Each ITS World Congress regions (Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific) is running parallel competitions to select winning teams – one team in each region. Teams were recruited to design an inclusive mobility model for an urban environment in their area. Europe and Asia-Pacific will select regional winners later this summer. The UPenn team writes that Philadelphia has long had an equity problem. It is the poorest large city in the country but has experienced recent growth, which has resulted in increased congestion. Philadelphia is the third most congested city in the United States, but transportation issues affecting communities of color and low-income people are widespread. The city’s transit agency, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), is at risk, and the team proposes solutions that will create additional revenues as well as make access to transit more equitable.  From the UPenn team’s abstract: “Introducing innovative curbside management tools can help Philadelphia regulate its limited roadway space and keep traffic flowing. Increasing fees for car usage, such as rideshare fees and parking permits, will more accurately price the cost of driving, discourage car use in our most congested areas, and create additional revenues for SEPTA. Furthermore, an overhaul in SEPTA’s fare structure and collection will increase financial accessibility of transit and make it a more attractive mode to all Philadelphians.” Members of the UPenn team, below, are all in the Master of City Planning program: Camille Boggan, from Cincinnati, OH, studied Sustainable Transportation & Infrastructure Planning; Emily Kennedy, from Tallahassee, FL, studied Sustainable Transportation & Infrastructure Planning; David Seunglee Park, from Washington, DC., studied Sustainable Transportation & Infrastructure Planning; Kate Sutton, from Lafayette, IN, studied Transportation and Spatial Data Science; and Professors & UTC researchers Erick Guerra and Megan Ryerson ITS America managed the competition in the Americas with support from a team of volunteers. Teams from 13 universities in the United States and Canada submitted papers. A team of 15 subject matter experts representing the public, private, and academic sectors reviewed the papers and recommended three to advance to the regional finals. In addition to UPenn, the others were from the University of South Florida and Virginia Tech. ITS America held the regional final, virtually, on June 8. Each team made presentations and answered questions from five judges including representatives from ITS America, U.S. Department of Transportation, HNTB Corporation, Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and University of Florida.\"

June 24, 2020 - Viswanathan Named One of MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 - June 24, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Venkat Viswanathan has been named one of MIT Technology Review\'s Innovators Under 35. \"Viswanathan is recognized for his work to develop a new type of battery that could make electric vehicles (EVs) cheaper and more energy efficient. His research specifically focuses on developing a new type of battery with an anode made out of pure lithium. While lithium metal batteries have great potential, they are prone to forming dendrites that arise when charging fast. These dendrites shorten the batteries’ lifetime and can lead to fires and explosions. To combat this, Viswanathan has developed a hybrid polymer-ceramic separator between the batteries’ electrodes that can apply enough pressure to keep the dendrites from forming. Viswanathan has collaborated with several companies on battery design and production. He and his team have received funding from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program to continue their research, which has the potential to change the nature of transportation.\" Find out more here.

June 19, 2020 - Roadbotics Named “World Economic Forum 2020 Technology Pioneer” - June 19, 2020 Roadbotics, a Mobility21 spin-off company, has been named a \"World Economic Forum 2020 Technology Pioneer.\"  The Technology Pioneers of 2020 bring together 100 early to growth-stage companies from around the world that are pioneering new technologies and innovations, ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to diagnose cancers and quantum computing systems, to carbon capture and removing technologies, cell-grown meat production and use of microbiome to track goods.

June 18, 2020 - Mobility21 Welcomes 2 Robotics Institute Summer Scholars - June 18, 2020 Mobility21 is pleased to welcome and support Beverley-Claire Okogwu and Fausto Vega as participants in the 2020 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.” More about the Mobility21 RISS Summer Scholars, Beverley-Claire Okogwu and Fausto Vega Beverley-Claire Okogwu is a rising senior at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania majoring in Computer Science, with a minor in Mathematics. This summer at the Robotics Institute Summer Scholars Program, she is working on developing and using Reinforcement Learning environments to experiment with and model autonomous vehicles and smart cities. Through the RISS program, Beverley-Claire hopes to fully comprehend the techniques and skills needed in writing and presenting research. In addition, she will also learn how to conduct fluid research (especially in the fields of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence) and have an idea of what graduate school would be like. Although she is mainly conducting remote research this year, she sees it as gaining an adaptability skill that will make her familiar with simulation environments. Aside from research, she is also enjoying the various online platforms – Discord, Slack, zoom – that are being used in communication with her fellow scholars. She is learning so much about each member despite being in different parts of the world! Beverley-Claire is truly grateful to be given this opportunity at RISS. Fausto Vega is an undergraduate student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He is part of the Honors College, majoring in mechanical engineering, and minoring in mathematics. He conducts research at the Drones and Autonomous Systems Laboratory at UNLV on several robotics concepts. He is excited to be participating in the Robotics Institute of Summer Scholars at Carnegie Mellon University. He hopes to learn efficient research methods from his mentors as well as gain more insight in drone and aerospace technologies. This experience will allow him to prepare for graduate school through the writing and professional development workshops. It will also allow him to expand his network with scholars, faculty, and professionals from around the world. More about RISS “RISS connects students from across the country and world to contribute to robotics research alongside top CMU researchers. With 42 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 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. This year 25 individuals and their teams are undertaking the challenge of navigating a remote experience. We welcome eight new mentors and thank returning mentors who have had a tremendous impact on the lives and careers of the scholars. Mentors guide, support, create new possibilities, and nurture students’ potential.” https://riss.ri.cmu.edu/

June 16, 2020 - Transportation Research Board Meets to Discuss Diversity and Inclusion - June 16, 2020 Traffic21 Institute Director and Mobility21 Researcher Chris Hendrickson met with new Transportation Research Board Cooperative Research Program staff to discuss the role of the TRB Division Committee in reviewing panel members and reports, and ensuring diversity and inclusion on panels.

June 16, 2020 - PA Transportation Alliance Discusses Autonomous Delivery Vehicles - June 16, 2020 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director, participated in a meeting of the Pennsylvania Transportation Alliance  hosted by Disability Rights PA.  Stan provided information to the group of 25 on autonomous delivery vehicles in response to discussion of pending state legislation to allow these vehicles in Pennsylvania.

June 12, 2020 - Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition Quarterly Meeting - June 9, 2020 Traffic21 Professor Rick Stafford and his Heinz College masters student, Demitra Kourtzidis, participated in the quarterly meeting of the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition (KTFC) to engage with Pennsylvania transportation policy stakeholders.  Rick and Demitra are conducting research on past and future transportation funding alternatives.

June 11, 2020 - Council of University Transportation Center’s (CUTC) Annual Meeting - June 9 & 10, 2020 Held earlier this week, 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 11, 2020 - Smart Belt Coalition Quarterly Meeting - June 10, 2020 Stan Caldwell participated in the quarterly meeting of the Smart Belt Coalition.  The coalition includes universities and state transportation agencies in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to further develop a multi-state connected and automated vehicle real-world testing environment.  Stan is a founding member of the coalition.

June 9, 2020 - The Ohio State University Student-Turned-Employee Racing to the Skies - April 6, 2020 The Ohio State University student-turned-employee Max Wright is achieving his dreams in the Center for Automotive Research (CAR).  The exploratory research program at the Mobility21 UTC academic partner is allowing him to help researchers and motorsports teams build custom parts to enhance leading research and winning vehicles.  Learn more here.

June 5, 2020 - ITS America Hosts Discussion on “Technology and the Post COVID-19 Transportation Roadmap” - June 4, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was a featured panelist for the ITS America Webinar, \"Technology and the post COVID-19 Transportation Roadmap.\"  The session explored the changes that may be seen with transportation after COVID-19, as well how to build the transportation system in the 21st century. View the full webinar here.

June 3, 2020 - N-CATT Advisory Council Meets and Discusses Impacts of COVID-19 - June 3, 2020 Today, the National Center for Applied Transit Technology – known as N-CATT, a technical assistance center funded through a cooperative agreement with the Federal Transit Administration - held its national advisory council meeting today.  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer is a member of the advisory council and participated in this meeting where the impacts of COVID-19 were discussed.

June 3, 2020 - PA Autonomous Vehicle Task Force Quarterly Meeting Discusses Current AV Activity - June 3, 2020 Stan Caldwell, founding member of the Pennsylvania Autonomous Vehicle Policy Task Force, attended the quarterly meeting of the task force where current AV activity in the state was discussed with public and private partners.

June 3, 2020 - Women’s Transportation Seminar Award Winners Include Advisory Council Member - May 21, 2020 Traffic21/Mobility21 Advisory Council member, TRB Executive Committee member and APTA President Paul P. Skoutelas was awarded the Women\'s Transportation Seminar\'s Honorable Ray LaHood Award, which recognizes efforts to attract, retain, and advance women in transportation. See all of the WTS 2020 Award Winners here.

June 1, 2020 - Updating ACTA on Smart Mobility Challenge Project - June 1, 2020 This morning Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian, CMU student Rick Grahn, and Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met with representatives of the Airport Corridor Transportation Association.  This meeting was an update for ACTA on the Smart Mobility Challenge project, Data Driven Mobility Service Design: A Case Study for Moon Township.

May 28, 2020 - COVID-19 and the Impacts on Future Travel: What’s Next for the Summer and Beyond - May 21, 2020 Featured in the CMU news article \"COVID and Transportation: What’s Next for the Summer and Beyond\" are Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell and UTC Researcher Sean Qian.  In this article, they share their thoughts on the impacts COVID-19 could have on both travel for the upcoming summer and on long-term public transportation.  Read the full story here...

May 28, 2020 - ACT Creates Resource to Support Employers, Commuters, and Communities For Getting Back to the Workplace Safely - May 27, 2020 \"The Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT) has developed a resource guide to help inform employers, commuters, and communities on how we can all get back to the workplace safely and efficiently. Prepared by a task force of transportation demand management (TDM) professionals representing service providers, employers, and government agencies, this handbook provides tips for managing many of the most common commute options during the current pandemic.\"  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer assisted with the development of this guide as an active participant on this task force.

May 27, 2020 - CMU Students Form Team to Compete in Roborace Autonomous Racing Championship - May 27, 2020 Carnegie Mellon students from the School of Computer Science have formed a team to compete in this year\'s Roborace, an international competition involving autonomous, electrically powered vehicles. Read the full story here...

May 27, 2020 - Research Recap: Understanding and Guiding Pedestrian and Crowd Motion - May 27, 2020 Today Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Understanding and Guiding Pedestrian and Crowd Motion.

May 21, 2020 - Stan Caldwell Discusses COVID-19 Impacts with Roadbotics - May 20, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was an invited by Benjamin Schmidt, President of Roadbotics (a UTC spinoff company) to present as part of Roadbotics web discussion on lessons learned through the COVID-19 pandemic about the need for more resilient transportation organizations and cities.  Watch the full web discussion here. #Mobility21 #CMU #Roadbotics

May 20, 2020 - UTC Researcher Fei Fang Presents at CMU Faculty Dialogues Webinar - May 19, 2020 UTC Researcher Fei Fang presented Saving Wildlife Through A.I. at yesterday\'s CMU Faculty Dialogues Webinar.  Professor Fang and her team at the Institute of Software Research  developed PAWS, exploring how A.I. can change the world for the better. #cmu #mobility21  

May 19, 2020 - IEEE Pittsburgh Seminar Series: Engineers Respond to COVID-19: Engineering Reopening and Renaissance - May 19, 2020 Tonight, Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai presented \"Engineers Respond To COVID-19: Engineering Reopening and Renaissance\" as part of the IEEE Pittsburgh Seminar Services.  Dr. Cai is the Director of Visual Intelligence Studio and Senior Systems Scientist at Cylab Institute and Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering by courtesy, Carnegie Mellon University.

May 19, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher and CMU Professor Costa Samaras Interviewed for Transportation Episode on PBS - 05/18/20 Mobility21 UTC Researcher and CMU Professor Costa Samaras was interviewed as part of a transportation episode of Michael E. Webber\'s Power Trip: The Story of Energy documentary.  Watch the interview here...

May 19, 2020 - Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell Participates in Port Authority’s NEXTransit Advisory Group Meeting - May 19, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell participated in the Port Authority of Allegheny County\'s NEXTransit Advisory Group Meeting.  \"The goal of the NEXTransit Advisory Group is to create a [long-term] plan for an improved transit system that will attract more riders, enhance mobility, and support community development and redevelopment initiatives throughout Allegheny County.\"

May 18, 2020 - Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman Works with City of Pittsburgh to Aid Community During Pandemic - May 18, 2020 Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman was asked to work with the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility Infrastructure (DOMI), as well as business owners, mobility leaders, technologists, and transportation officials to provide a report on the use of streets and mobility to aid the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read the results of their efforts, access full report here.  

May 18, 2020 - UTC Researcher Yang Cai Leads Research Team for Remote Fever Scanning Technologies - May 18, 2020 UTC Researcher and CMU Senior Systems Scientist Yang Cai is leading a team that is developing automatic remote fever-screening technologies that can make it possible for buildings and first responders to detect fevers from a distance.  Read the full story here...  

May 18, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Updates North Huntingdon Township on Smart Mobility Challenge Project - May 18, 2020 This morning Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian, Postdoctoral Research Associate Wei Ma, and Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met with North Huntingdon Township Assistant Township Manager Mike Turley and Director of Planning & Zoning Ryan Fonzi.  This was an update meeting for the Smart Mobility Challenge project, Smart Multi-modal Transportation Solution for North Huntingdon Township in Response to Roadway Construction Projects on Route 30.

May 18, 2020 - Research Recap: Improving Rush Hour Traffic Flow by Computer-Vision-Based Parking Detection and Regulations - May 18, 2020 Today Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Improving Rush Hour Traffic Flow by Computer-Vision-Based Parking Detection and Regulations.

May 18, 2020 - Association for Commuter Transportation Announces First Ever Cohort of “Certified” Professionals - May 18, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer was part of the first group of transportation demand management professionals to ever be \"certified\" by the Association for Commuter Transportation.  This is the TDM industry\'s first ever professional certification.  Learn more here.

May 14, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell Presents During RETRC Spotlight - May 14, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell presented the Mobility21 UTC project \"Changing Hunger: CMU Works with 412 Food Rescue and Allies for Children to Deliver School Lunches to Children due to COVID-19\" during today\'s Research, Education, and Training Reauthorization Coalition (RETRC) virtual spotlight for Congressional Offices and Transportation Stakeholders. There were 85 registrants for the webinar, including 15 from Department of Transportation, 25 from congress, and 40 transportation stakeholders.  Also presenting as part of the webinar were several other university representatives discussing how they are monitoring the impacts of COVID-19, working with health care and policymakers to address COVID-19’s effects, and helping public transportation agencies to address the challenges of the pandemic now and in the future. RETRC advocates for and advances university transportation research.  RETRC is composed of 22 universities, which work with over 100 different universities spread across 42 states making it a truly national organization. View Stan\'s presentation at 57:00 here...

May 12, 2020 - IEEE Pittsburgh Seminar Series: Engineers Respond to COVID-19 – Local Data Tracking and Modeling - May 12, 2020 Tonight, Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai presented on \"...county-level infection-response data tracker and model as it connects to local EMS directly...\" as part of the IEEE Pittsburgh Seminar Services.  Dr. Cai is the Director of Visual Intelligence Studio and Senior Systems Scientist at Cylab Institute and Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering by courtesy, Carnegie Mellon University.

May 12, 2020 - CMU Students Present Work on “Planning by Design: Campuses, Waterfronts, Districts, and Cities.” - May 12, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer participated in the final class project presentation by CMU Remaking Cities Institute students.  The students\' project was \"Planning by Design: Campuses, Waterfronts, Districts, and Cities.\"

May 12, 2020 - Research Recap: Dynamic Management of Food Redistribution for 412 Food Rescue - May 12, 2020 Today Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Dynamic Management of Food Redistribution for 412 Food Rescue.

May 11, 2020 - UTC Researcher Costa Samaras Discusses Coal and US Power with Forbes - May 11, 2020 UTC Researcher Costa Samaras was recently featured in a Forbes magazine article where he was interviewed about \"...the new low that has been reached by the carbon intensity in the U.S. power sector.\"  Read the full story here...

May 11, 2020 - APMM Panel – New Tech for Local Government - May 11, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell moderated the presentation for the Association for Pennsylvania Municipal Management (APMM) titled \"Ready or Not, Here it Comes: How Disruptive Technologies coming out of the Pittsburgh region will impact our communities and what local governments can do to prepare for and utilize these innovations to deliver more efficient and smarter services to its residents.\" Also on the panel were Greg Barlow, CTO/Founder of Rapid Flow Technologies (a Traffic21/Mobility21 spin-out company);  Tom Musgrove, Government Affairs Manager for Crown Castle; Stew Frick, Partner Success Lead for Robotics (a Traffic21/Mobility21 spin-out company); and Aaron Bibro, Manager of Hatfield Township.

May 7, 2020 - Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell Discusses the Impacts of COVID-19 on Traffic with WTAE - May 7, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell was interviewed by WTAE-TV on the impact that COVID-19 has had on the flow of traffic in Pittsburgh  and how people\'s commute may change in the future.  Watch the segment here.

May 5, 2020 - Transportation Research Board Standing Committee on Research Innovation Implementation Convenes - May 5, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, participated today in meeting of the Transportation Research Board AJE35 - Standing Committee on Research Innovation Implementation. \"The Research Innovation Implementation committee focuses on the entire research and innovation life cycles to include ideation, the conduct of research and development, and delivering solutions through technology transfer and implementation activities.\"

May 5, 2020 - Newly Published in the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems – “The Covid-19 Pandemic and Transportation Engineering” - May 5, 2020 Co-authors Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21 and Laurence Rilett, Director of the Nebraska Transportation Center and the Mid-America Transportation Center are both US DOT University Transportation Center funded faculty.  Their article “The Covid-19 Pandemic and Transportation Engineering” will appear in the July edition of the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems.  You can visit the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems in July to see the published version.  Or you can click here for a link to the original manuscript.

May 5, 2020 - Pandemic’s Lessons for Transportation - May 5, 2020 Mobility21 Director Chris Hendrickson was recently featured in ASCE SmartBrief with his editorial which discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected transportation and what can be learned from it.  Read the full article here.

May 4, 2020 - Auto Industry’s New 5.9 GHz Offer Doesn’t Impress O’Rielly - April 29, 2020 CMU Professor, UTC Researcher, and former FCC Chief Jon Peha was featured in the Communications Daily article \"Auto Industry\'s New 5.9 GHz Offer Doesn\'t Impress O\'Rielly.\"  Dr. Peha is quoted  in the article having:  \"... urged the FCC to pause. The NPRM \"proclaims that it \'believe[s] that ITS [intelligent transportation system] users can be accommodated in a significantly smaller spectrum space considering the recent and anticipated future technological developments,\'\" Peha said: \"No analysis or other form of evidence is presented to support this belief.\" \"It should be possible to simultaneously prevent crashes on our roads, provide enough spectrum for Wi-Fi, and prepare the U.S. to lead the way in autonomous vehicles, but only if government agencies do the hard work,\" Peha told us: \"That hasn\'t happened.\"  

April 29, 2020 - Mobility21 Visits with Academic Partner, CCAC - April 29, 2020 Today Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 Executive Director and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager met with Jeff Thomas, Dean of Academic Affairs and Bob Koch, Automotive Technology Instructor from the Mobility21 academic partner, the Community College of Allegheny County.  This semi-annual check-in meeting provided an opportunity to share updates and discuss a new way to connect CCAC with the UTC\'s deployment partners.

April 29, 2020 - CMU Students Share Capstone Project Results - April 29, 2020 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 including the transportation related project:  \"Price Prediction Project with QL2 Software.\"

April 28, 2020 - Association for Commuter Transportation Holds Emerging Mobility Summit - April 28, 2020 Today, the Association for Commuter Transportation held its Emerging Mobility Summit.  Presenters discussed several topics including:  Federal Research: Shifting Behavior and Increasing Vehicle Occupancy through Mobile Apps and Incentives, Advancing Towards Mobility as a Service, and Fare Free Transit.  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager and ACT Board member, Lisa Kay Schweyer participated in the event.

April 28, 2020 - UTC Researcher Venkat Visawanathan Provides Insight About Batteries in Flying Cars to Medium - April 28, 2020 UTC Researcher Venkat Visawanathan recently wrote an article for the online platform Medium about the potential for using batteries in flying cars.  Read the full article here...

April 28, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar Named to PAVE Academic Advisory Council - April 28, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar has been named to the PAVE Academic Advisory Council, which aims to provide PAVE members with advice and recommendations on matters related to AV technology and its societal effects, as well as collaborating with PAVE members on tasks such as research, evaluation and polling.  PAVE is a coalition of partners dedicated to educating policymakers and the public about automated vehicles and the increased safety, mobility and sustainability they can bring.

April 28, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC supports 2 regional high schools as they complete in the Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge - April 28, 2020 The primary goal of Mobility21, a National University Transportation Center for Improving Mobility, is to develop and deploy technologies, policies, incentives and training programs for improving the mobility of people and goods in the 21st century efficiently and safely. We accomplish this through a comprehensive program of interdisciplinary research; education and workforce development with a focus on diversity; collaboration with university, deployment, and government partners; and technology transfer and leadership efforts. 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. Therefore, when we were approached to help support 2 regional high schools (Frazier and Norwin) as they compete in the Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge, the answer was a resounding “Yes.” The Square One Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge Update provided by Barb Land, Executive Director The Square One Education Network (Square One) is a Michigan-based non-profit K-12 STEM educational organization, annually reaching nearly 12,000 students and 500 teachers with hands on, project based STEM programming. This year, Square One partnered with ITS America to offer their Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Challenge to kids across the United States. Building upon a toddler jeep platform, students are introduced to Arduino, Python, GPS and sensor technologies as they re-engineer their jeep to complete various mission challenges autonomously. \"Our goal is to engage high school students in real world STEM challenges that will lead them toward college and career pathways in leading edge technologies such as autonomous and connected vehicles. Students build their professional and technical skills that will help to narrow the skills gap and fill the needs for our future STEM workforce!\" said Barb Land, executive director Square One Education Network. \"We are thrilled to build these new partnerships in Pennsylvania with Carnegie Mellon University and to serve students at Frazier and Norwin High Schools.\" Frazier High School, Perryopolis, PA (Fayette County) Update provided by Michael Smith, Technology Education Teacher At Frazier, we were in the beginning stages of research before school cancelled for the year. My Aerospace class was working on this project. Since our last unit was autonomous design, I felt this was the class for this challenge. At Frazier, we have been trying to get involved anywhere we can. The more exposure we give our students, the better off they\'ll be for future endeavors. We have a robotics club at our school, advised by another teacher, and are starting to get more into robotics as we hope to hold VEX competitions at our school starting next year. We are excited to take on this project and hopefully others within square one. The sad part is that the students who were working on the Jeep are all seniors and will not be able to finish out the project but there will be more interested students ahead. Norwin High School, North Huntingdon, PA (Westmoreland County) Update provided by Robert Shuber, Technology Education Department Chair During the 2019-20 school year I was forwarded an email from my administration at Norwin. The email was from Mike Post of Traffic Products and it was an offer for our high school to join other schools across America in an Autonomous Innovative Vehicle Design Competition. For us, this competition would include a partnership with The Pennsylvania Chapter of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America among others. Upon further research into the program, we learned that the organization behind all this was the Square One Education Network. As a technology, robotics, and engineering teacher I have been involved in several robotics and engineering competitions. I have been involved in Bots IQ combat robotics, Sea Perch Underwater robotics, and other Engineering design challenges. All these challenges offered a unique experience for my students. When I looked into the AIVD design competition I was intrigued that once again I could offer another unique experience for my students at Norwin High School. I assembled my group of students to embark on this adventure of hacking into a Power Wheels Jeep and make it self driving. My students are all part of the Norwin Technology Club, where our mission is to provide the latest and greatest STEM opportunities to our students. I currently have nine students that take part in the AIVD program. They worked hard at assembling the JEEP from the start. Once it was assembled, we began to brainstorm for solutions on how to meet the task challenges. They were provided opportunities to 3D print custom parts and learn how to program an arduino using the ROBOTC programming language. They were able to successfully complete the Alpha task as well as the Bravo task. These completed tasks were video recorded and submitted to the Edmoto platform which allows all members to view from across the country. Another great opportunity that this program has offered is the partnerships with local businesses and universities such as Carnegie Mellon. These partnerships add another level of depth to our students and their quest to find a career that will have an impact on their future and the future of others. Next Steps We look forward to continuing to support Frazier and Norwin High School’s competitors. We are also working with each school to find ways to increase exposure to Carnegie Mellon University, Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 UTC.  We wish them the best as they continue in this year’s competition.

April 27, 2020 - Research Recap: Connecting Millvale to the River and the Region - April 2, 2020 Today Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Connecting Millvale to the River and the Region.  

April 24, 2020 - The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast: Hear from Bonnie Fan, the 2018 – 2020 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow - April 24, 2020 The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast features and shares information from thought leaders and highlights the smart transportation work happening at Carnegie Mellon University and in the community. In this episode you\'ll be hearing from Bonnie Fan, who is the 2018 - 2020 Traffic21 Women in Transportation Fellow.  Bonnie\'s interest in urban life, transit and technology began brewing during her time as an Economics major at the University of Chicago.  Bonnie saw the developmental and infrastructure challenges in Southside Chicago, and with her growing interest in entrepreneurship, she wanted to create new socially conscious solutions for the city after graduating. Bonnie joined the Chicago Transit Authority as a Data Scientist on the Performance Management team, where she worked on service optimization and manpower management projects. Now a second-year at Heinz College in the Data Analytics track, she is creating a foundation about policy and data she can apply to new mobility technology solutions and make an in impact on transportation.  Listen in as we talked about her experiences as a graduate student and on the Traffic21 student leadership team. Listen to this episode here. The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast is hosted and produced by Mobility21 UTC Diversity Fellow Allanté Whitmore.

April 24, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Smart Mobility Connection Series Features Srinivasa Narasimhan & Robert Tamburo - April 24, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Srinivasa Narasimhan and Robert Tamburo, CMU Principal Project Scientists and Mobility21 UTC researchers.  They discussed their UTC project, “Visual Understanding of Traffic at Intersections: Access to real-time information.” Watch the full video here.

April 24, 2020 - CMU Robotics Institute Professor and UTC Researcher Stephen Smith Closes out the 2020 Symposium for AI & Social Good - April 24, 2020 CMU Robotics Institute professor and UTC researcher Stephen Smith closed out the 2020 CMU Symposium for AI & Social Good with his discussion on \"Smart Infrastructure for Future Urban Mobility.\"  The 2020 CMU AI and Social Good Symposium aims to address these challenges by bringing together AI researchers and social impact leaders to present their ideas and applications for maximizing the social good.

April 24, 2020 - CMU Master of Language Technologies Student Yulan Feng Contributes to the 2020 CMU Symposium on AI & Social Good - April 24, 2020 CMU Master of Language Technologies Student Yulan Feng contributed to the 2020 CMU Symposium on AI & Social Good by presenting on \"CMU GetGoing: Dialogue System Designed for Seniors.\"  Yulan works with Mobility21 UTC Researcher Maxine Eskenazi on the project \"CMU GetGoing Dialogue System.\" The 2020 CMU AI and Social Good Symposium aims to address these challenges by bringing together AI researchers and social impact leaders to present their ideas and applications for maximizing the social good.

April 23, 2020 - CMU Professor and UTC Researcher Jon Peha is Keynote Speaker at 2020 Wireless Telecommunications Symposium - April 23, 2020 CMU Professor and UTC Researcher Jon Peha gave a keynote speech at the 2020 IEEE Wireless Telecommunications Symposium today.  His keynote, entitled \"Spectrum Policy for Intelligent Transportation Systems,\" investigates how much spectrum should be allocated to ITS, whether ITS spectrum not used for safety communications should be shared with unlicensed devices, and if so how much.

April 22, 2020 - Ben Schmidt, Co-Founder of Roadbotics – a Mobility21 Spin-Out Company – Discusses Trends in AI and Cities Due to COVID-19 - April 22, 2020 Ben Schmidt, co-founder of Roadbotics (a Mobility21 spin-out company), discusses trends in AI and cities due to COVID-19 with Jessie Feller Hahn of Meeting of the Minds.  Watch the interview here...

April 22, 2020 - Traffic21 Founder and UTC Researchers Part of Team Helping Provide Assistance to State Decision-Makers During Pandemic - April 22, 2020 \"Carnegie Mellon University is playing a key role in Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf\'s planning efforts to re-open the state\'s economy.\"  CMU Traffic21 founder Rick Stafford and UTC researchers Lee Branstetter, Peter Zhang, and Hai Wang will be part of this team providing assistance to state decision-makers during COVID-19 pandemic.  Read more here...

April 17, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Smart Mobility Connection Series Features Christoph Mertz - April 17, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Christoph Mertz, a CMU Principal Project Scientist and Mobility21 UTC researcher.  He discussed his UTC project, “Bus on the edge: Continuous monitoring of traffic and infrastructure,” and how transit buses are now routinely recording their surroundings with cameras for security and liability reasons.  Watch the full SMC video here.

April 15, 2020 - April 2020 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting - April 15, 2020 Mobility21 hosted the UTC faculty meeting today. The meeting highlighted research by the University of Pennsylvania, as well as discussion on the impact of alternative working arrangements on research.

April 15, 2020 - 20/20 CCAT Global Symposium - April 14, 2020 Today, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 UTC participated in the 20/20 CCAT Global Symposium on Connected and Automated Vehicles.  The panel discussions included Mobility Blues, Who Do We Sue?, Cybersecurity, AV Investment and Public Acceptance, Research Panel and Infrastructure.

April 13, 2020 - ASCE Announces Winner of Harland Bartholomew Award - April 13, 2020 Mobility21 UTC researcher Costa Samaras received the American Society of Civil Engineer\'s  Transportation and Development Institute Harland Bartholomew Award.  \"The award is made to the person who is judged worthy of special commendation for contributions to the enhancement of the role of the civil engineer in urban planning and development.\"  

April 9, 2020 - Traffic 21 Director Chris Hendrickson Joins Professor Joel Tarr for an In-Class Discussion - April 9, 2020 Today, Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson joined Professor Tarr and his students to present “Remaking the Everglades” for their final class dealing with water.  You can read more about Chris’ National Research Council Report, “Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades” here.

April 8, 2020 - CMU Professor & Mobility21 UTC Researcher Burku Akinci received ASCE 2020 Computing in Civil Engineering Award - April 8, 2020 CMU Professor & Mobility21 UTC researcher Burcu Akinci received the ASCE 2020 Computing in Civil Engineering Award in recognition of contributions at the interface of computing, construction, and infrastructure management. Her research is focused on developing approaches to model and reason about information-rich histories of facilities—with the goal to streamline construction and facility management processes.

April 8, 2020 - Quantifying Transportation Relationships - April 8, 2020 CMU Mobility21 UTC researcher and CEE\'s Sean Qian studied the relationship between Uber and public transportation, demonstrating variance between time of day and location. His work was described in the following article published in CMU\'s Civil & Environmental Engineering News Spring 2020 newsletter... In our modern world, it’s easy to get across town. With companies such as Uber and Lyft, known as transportation network companies (TNC), passengers have plenty of options on how they will travel. Both TNCs and public transportation leaders rely on data to influence their policies, so Associate Professor Sean Qian set out to study the relationship between TNCs and public transportation in Pittsburgh. In a recently published paper in the journal Transportation, Qian’s Mobility Data Analytics Center focused on whether consumers were substituting public transit with TNCs, making last-minute decisions to choose a TNC over public transportation based on fares. TNCs and public transportation can have a complementary relationship—that is, the TNC can help fill service gaps in public transportation. It is impossible for buses, subways, and light rail to easily connect every single street, but TNCs can cover the first and last portion of the trip. Between public transportation and short TNC rides, consumer costs can be kept to a minimum, while maximizing accessibility to the community. However, according to CMU PhD student Rick Grahn, it can be difficult to understand the relationship between TNCs and public transportation; sometimes there may be no relationship at all. “Some of the current literature says bus riders are quite different from people who would use Uber, so maybe there’s not a lot of interaction between the two,” Grahn says. “It’s hard to make any definitive conclusion of what drives travelers’ choice and how those choices may vary from time to time, and from location to location.” Researchers can look at the bus ridership before and after TNCs begin servicing an area, but changes may not be directly related to the TNC, making it almost impossible to tell why bus ridership changed. The best way to learn about the relationship between TNCs and public transportation is to analyze trip-level data, but such data can be difficult for researchers to access. To acquire trip-level-like information, Qian and his team used Port Authority data that counts how many people board passing buses and tracked Uber prices at 10 different hand-picked locations around Pittsburgh. There are many variables that decide if a person takes the bus or a TNC, so Qian accounted for the weather, nearby events, traffic, and other bus stops. To smooth out daily inconsistencies, data was taken over a six-month period. Qian was most interested in learning what an increase, or surge, in TNC prices does to bus ridership. Surge pricing works by comparing how many drivers are in an area with how many people need rides. Because an increase in TNC riders results in an increase in price, it might seem natural that bus ridership would increase during these surges. However, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. At stops on a university campus, which were filled with students, this assumption held. Qian states that this is probably related to students’ low budgets and the fact that Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh students have unlimited public transportation use incorporated into their tuition. However, at locations that connected local buses and downtown along a dedicated busway, there was a decrease in bus boarding, suggesting a substitutional relationship between TNC and public transportation. This might also indicate that TNCs are providing last-mile services to passengers using the dedicated busway. Otherwise, no correlation was found between price surges and bus boarding. While these results may be unique to Pittsburgh, researchers can apply the same model to other cities to find relationships there. According to Grahn, once the relationship is understood, targeted policies can be applied at a neighborhood level, ensuring a complementary and efficient relationship between transportation options. “Congestion fees can be applied to TNC trips in specific congested areas during commute times to promote more space efficient modes of travel,” Qian and his co-authors conclude. “Data-informed policies that consider emerging modes of travel are central to limiting rising congestion costs and improving mobility for vulnerable populations.” At the locations where significant changes in bus ridership occurred, the trend was restricted to specific times of the day and either weekdays or weekends. This fact alone is important, according to Qian. Large macroscopic research may not yield the significant, small-scale trends his team found. “The main thing this research is showing is that it is important to look throughout the day and at all these neighborhoods with different characteristics,” Grahn says.

April 7, 2020 - Talking Transit Through COVID-19 & Beyond - April 7, 2020 Today, METRO Magazine hosted “Talking transit through COVID-19 & beyond” webinar.  Katherine Kelleman, CEO of Pittsburgh’s Port Authority of Allegheny County and Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council member spoke as part of the panel to “…discuss what the future may look like once the country gets the situation under control and it is safe to work, live, and play again.”  Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer also attended this session to learn more about how transit operators are responding and potential research opportunities.  Learn more about this webinar here.

April 6, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Diversity Fellow Releases 100th Podcast - \"Allanté Whitmore [Mobility21 UTC Diversity Fellow] guides the conversation naturally, as though there weren\'t a studio microphone between her and Shena Marshall, her current interview subject. The two eagerly swap stories in a soundproof studio about how they came to graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University. Whitmore will take the recording and send it to an editor, who will shape it into an episode of her podcast \"Blk+ In Grad School,\" which recently released its 100th episode.\" Read the entire article here: https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2020/april/blk-in-grad-school.html 

April 4, 2020 - Edge Case Research Announces Podcast on Self Driving Car Industry - April 29, 2020 CMU spin-off company Edge Case Research has announced the launch of their Safety Series Podcast, which provides an independent perspective on the highly discussed topics in the self driving car industry.  Listen to the podcasts here.

March 30, 2020 - Pedestrian Trajectory Data From Mobility21 UTC Academic Partner, the Ohio State University Receives International Attention - March 30, 2020 \"There are constantly new studies and reports coming out about autonomous and connected vehicles and how they interact with other vehicles, traffic lights, and even the roads they are driving on via underground cables, but it is equally important to understand how these vehicles interact with the pedestrians they come in contact with.  Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Carnegie Mellon Mobility21 National University Transportation Center, a team of faculty and students led by Emeritus Professor, Umit Ozguner at Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research have developed a new dataset that can help researchers better understand vehicle-pedestrian interaction in crowded areas.\"  Read more here.

March 26, 2020 - Participating in the FTA Mobility On Demand Webinar - March 25, 2020 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for Mobility21 UTC, participated in the FTA Mobility On Demand Webinar to learn more about the initiative and possible future research initiatives. “The MOD Program undertook several projects to provide detailed analysis, supporting various parts of the decision-making and planning processes for local practitioners considering integrated MOD deployments. Topics will cover MOD and transportation operations; business models of mobility providers; planning for and implementing integrated mobility services; relevant standards and gaps in standards necessary to enable MOD; innovations in paratransit, off-peak service, and micromobility infrastructure; a concept of operations for a MOD Mobility Marketplace; and selected findings from the independent evaluation of some of FTA’s MOD Sandbox pilots.”

March 26, 2020 - Smart City and Technology Mini-Course held by Mobility21 and University of Pittsburgh - March 25, 2020 Mobility21 Researchers Sean Qian and Stan Caldwell joined University of Pittsburgh Professor Alexandros Labrinidis on an Intelligent Transportation Systems panel for a joint Carnegie Mellon/University of Pittsburgh “Smart City and Technology” undergraduate mini-course.  The class is typically held on Saturdays, but the panelists recorded their session to comply with social distancing.

March 26, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Participates in Smart Belt Coalition Quarterly Meeting - March 25, 2020 Stan Caldwell participated in the Quarterly Meeting of the Smart Belt Coalition. The Smart Belt is multi-state connected and automated vehicle test bed including the Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation, Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpike Commissions, Carnegie Mellon University, the Pennsylvania State University, Kettering University, the University of Michigan, the Ohio State University, the American Center for Mobility and the Transportation Research Center Inc.

March 24, 2020 - CMU Energy Fellow and Mobility21 UTC Researcher Venkat Viswanathan Discusses Cobalt Reduction - March 24, 2020 CMU Energy Fellow & Mobility21 UTC researcher Venkat Viswanathan (MechE) discusses cobalt reduction and how it could save electric vehicles in an article featured in Marker.  Read more here.

March 24, 2020 - Media Turns to CMU’s Costa Samaras for Expertise - March 24, 2020 CMU Energy Fellow and Mobility21 UTC researcher, Constantine Samaras (CEE/EPP) recently offered insight on green infrastructure and energy consumption as part of articles in Forbes, Bloomberg Green and WIRED.

March 24, 2020 - CMU Professors Vivian Loftness and Chris Hendrickson Appointed to The National Academies Committee for Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States - March 24, 2020 CMU Professor Vivian Loftness in the School of Architecture, and professor Chris Hendrickson in the CMU Civil and Environmental Engineering department and Director of Traffic21, have been appointed to The National Academies Committee for Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States: Technology, Policy and Societal Dimensions. The two-year committee is focused on the technologies and policies needed today for full decarbonization by 2050.

March 23, 2020 - The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast: Hear from Jason Dailey, director of Public Works for Cranberry Township - March 23, 2020 The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast features and shares information from thought leaders and highlights the smart transportation work happening at Carnegie Mellon University and in the community. Listen to the latest episode of the podcast, as we sit with Jason Dailey the director of Public Works for Cranberry Township in Butler County. With his well-rounded background in operations administration and local government, Mr. Dailey oversees the department responsible for managing traffic, streets, fleet, facilities, grounds maintenance. We discuss how Traffic21 researchers have dramatically improved the traffic congestion issue in Cranberry Township through collaborative research. Listen to this episode here. The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast is hosted and produced by Mobility21 UTC Diversity Fellow Allanté Whitmore.

March 19, 2020 - Virtually “Meeting” with University of Pennsylvania - March 18, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met with UTC faculty during her semi-annual visit with  Mobility21 academic partner, the University of Pennsylvania.  This year\'s visit was held via webinar where she visited and received updates from Rahul Mangharam, Megan Ryerson, Erick Guerra and Helen Loeb.

March 13, 2020 - 2020 Women of Achievement Award Winners Honored - March 12, 2020 Cribs for Kids® recognized 24 successful and prominent women from Pittsburgh at their 15th annual Women of Achievement Awards tonight at the Omni William Penn Hotel Grand Ballroom. The Women of Achievement Awards is an annual ceremony dedicated to highlighting the incredible feats and accomplishments of women in the Pittsburgh region. The event serves as an annual declaration, attributing the contributions of women to remarkable successes in the city’s history. This year\'s awardees included Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager for the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Institute, which houses the Mobility21 National University Transportation Center, where she is also an adjunct instructor.   Read more.

March 13, 2020 - Traffic21 Hosts Discussion with Lorraine M. Martin, President and CEO, The National Safety Council - March 12, 2020 Traffic21 hosted a roundtable discussion with Lorraine M. Martin, President and CEO, The National Safety Council. Traffic21 faculty and deployment partners joined in a discussion of transportation safety issues in the workplace and potential research collaboration.  NSC recently launched A Road to Zero: A vision for achieving zero roadway deaths by 2050, a research report completed with a variety of non-profit and private sector partners.

March 12, 2020 - CCAC’s Bob Koch featured in WQED program on “Future Jobs: Technology and Our Changing Workforce” - March 12, 2020 CCAC\'s Bob Koch was featured in a program called “Future Jobs: Technology and Our Changing Workforce” on WQED.  Bob discussed how technology is changing the way students are applying their knowledge and skills to positions in the automotive field.  Watch the video here.

March 11, 2020 - Allegheny Conference’s Regional Investors Meeting Includes Discussion on Transportation and Infrastructure - March 10, 2020 Karen Lightman Executive Director of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, joined panelists Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, State Representative Austin Davis, Allegheny County Port Authority CEO (and Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council Member) Katherine Kelleman and Argo AI CEO Brian Selesky for an engaging panel on transportation and infrastructure for the Pittsburgh region. The panel was live-streamed (in leu of the previously scheduled in person event) as part of the Allegheny Conference’s Regional Investors Meeting. Video from the event will be available on the Conference’s website.

March 9, 2020 - RoadBotics Asks UTC Researchers for Feedback - March 9, 2020 Miguel Dickson, Head of Data & AI provided an overview for UTC researchers about RoadBotics and their recent decision to share data (GPS tagged images with pavement ratings).  He asked for feedback on the data researchers would like, what data formats they prefer, and what kind of tools researchers would like RoadBotics to provide to make searching and downloading the data easy.  RoadBotics is a company that spun out of the Traffic21 and Mobility21 University Transportation Center.

March 6, 2020 - DENSO Visits CMU - March 5, 2020 Representatives from DENSO visited Carnegie Mellon University today.  Part of their visit included a meeting with Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian, who provided an overview of his research interests with the visiting team.

March 6, 2020 - Making Smart Traffic Signals Smarter and Safer Discussed at Regional Workshop - March 5, 2020 UTC researcher Steve Smith discussed “Making Smart Traffic Signals Smarter and Safer through Connectivity with Travelers” during the southwestern PA regional Smart Signals for Smart Regions workshop.  This session was organized and facilitated by Dom D\'Andrea, Manager of Transportation Operations and Safety for the Southwestern PA Commission.  

March 5, 2020 - Talking Transportation with The Ohio State University - March 4 & 5, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met with UTC faculty and students during her semi-annual visit to the Mobility21 academic partner, the Ohio State University.  She visited and received updates from Umit Ozguner (OSU PI), Keith Redmill (researcher), Beth Snoke (Director, Transportation and Traffic Management), David Cooke (Senior Associate Director of the Center for Automotive Research), Danny Freudiger (Ph.D. candidate & outgoing Smart Campus Group Leader, and Anita Nti (student and incoming Smart Campus group leader).

February 28, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Updates North Huntingdon Township on Smart Mobility Challenge Project - February 28, 2020 This morning Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian, Postdoctoral Research Associate Wei Ma, and Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer met with North Huntingdon Township Assistant Township Manager Mike Turley and Director of Planning & Zoning Ryan Fonzi.  This was an update meeting for the Smart Mobility Challenge project, Smart Multi-modal Transportation Solution for North Huntingdon Township in Response to Roadway Construction Projects on Route 30.

February 26, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Meets with Japanese Delegation - February 26, 2020 Stan Caldwell presented an overview of the Mobility21 UTC and the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute to a visiting Japanese delegation from the Robot Revolution & Industrial IoT Initiative (RRI). The RRI is an organization that rebuilds the Japanese manufacturing industry in order to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Society 5.0 in cooperation with the industry and government.

February 25, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Experts Tapped for Insights into Artificial Intelligence - February 25, 2020 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and UTC researcher Aaron Steinfeld were tapped by CMU alum Haley Townsend (now working as a consultant) to provide insights into artificial intelligence (AI) for the USDOT ITS Joint Program Office as they work to identify practical real-world scenarios where AI offers the potential to address transportation needs.  Aaron Steinfeld shared information about his work in artificial intelligence for accessibility and mobility. Stan Caldwell provided information about how to engage local partners in AI initiatives.

February 24, 2020 - Global City Teams Challenge Winter gathering of the Utility SuperCluster - February 20, 2020 Featured guests in Washington, DC for the Global City Teams Challenge  winter gathering of the Utility SuperCluster were Carnegie Mellon University\'s: Karen Lightman of Metro21: Smart Cities Institute and Anna J. Siefken of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.  \"The GCTC Utility SuperCluster focuses on sustainability challenges related to Energy, Water and Waste Management by bringing cities, counties, and municipalities together with technology solution providers, academia, entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations, and associations to celebrate, share best practices and demonstrate world-class innovation.\" 

February 21, 2020 - Traffic21 Director Assists Students with Project - February 21, 2020 Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson met with CMU students working on a Environmental Engineering Sustainability project.  The students are developing a migration plan for a Zero-Emission Bus System in the Mid-Atlantic Region.  Chris provided technical support and copies of the policy document he previously helped create, called Which Alternative Fuel Technology is Best for Transit Buses?.

February 20, 2020 - CMU Heinz School Politics & Policy Club hosted civic forum discussion with PA Congressman Mike Doyle - February 20, 2020 The Carnegie Mellon University Heinz School Politics and Policy Club hosted a civic forum discussion with PA Congressman Mike Doyle.  Congressman Doyle serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is one of only four exclusive committees in the House. There he sits on the subcommittees on Communications and Technology and Energy - and chairs the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell and Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson participated in the session.  During the session, Stan asked the Congressman about FCC\'s notice of proposed rulemaking on the 5.9 GHz band currently reserved for transportation safety and vehicle communications.

February 20, 2020 - Senator Bartolotta Visits CMU to Learn More about Mobility21 UTC - Senator Camera Bartolotta, state senator for Beaver, Washington, and Greene counties in PA and a member of the Senate’s Transportation Committee, visited CMU today to learn more about Mobility21 UTC research in action.  Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and UTC researcher Christoph Mertz provided the senator a tour of NavLab.

February 19, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Director Speaks at Mobility Convening - February 19, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar spoke at Innovation Works\' event, Mobility Convening.  His presentation provided the attendees with an overview of  autonomous vehicle work at CMU.

February 16, 2020 - Mobility21 Researcher Sean Qian Named 2019 Professor of the Year by ASCE - February 16, 2020 Last night, the American Society of Civil Engineers Pittsburgh Section honored Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian as the 2019 Professor of the Year.  \"This award is given to a civil engineering professor in recognition of continual excellent teaching with highlights during the award year.\"

February 14, 2020 - Mobility21 Executive Director provided a keynote speech at the Mid-Atlantic Quality Assurance Workshop - February 12, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell provided a keynote speech “Smart Pavement / Smart Cities” at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Quality Assurance Workshop.  The Mid-Atlantic Quality Assurance Workshop is a three day annual event that has been held each year since 1967 and is dedicated to highway materials and quality control/assurance of highway materials. Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia make up the Mid-Atlantic QAW area.

February 13, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Quoted In ITS America Tweet - February 13, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Stephen Smith was quoted today in an ITS America tweet about Why is #V2X important to your work?: \"Our research at CMU has shown that the 5.9 #safetyspectrum provides unprecedented opportunities for smarter traffic signal control & will transform urban #mobility.\"

February 11, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Publishes “Recommended Policies for the 21st Century Trends in US Mobility” Report - February 11, 2020 Mobility21’s Rick Grahn, Stan Caldwell and Chris Hendrickson published a new policy report entitled “Recommended Policies for the 21st Century Trends in US Mobility.”  The report analyzes the 2017 National Household Travel Survey which captured impacts of emerging technologies on the transportation system to learn about users of such technologies and shifting travel behaviors resulting from technology adoption.  Read the full report and review the team’s policy recommendations here:  21st Century Trends in US Mobility.

February 7, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Series Features Venkat Viswanathan - February 7, 2020 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection session featured Mobility21 UTC Researcher Venkat Viswanathan.  He discussed how weight, computational load, sensor load, and possibly higher drag may increase the energy use of automated electric vehicles relative to human-driven electric vehicles.   Watch the full SMC video here.

February 4, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting Features OSU Researcher Mark McCord - February 4, 2020 Today, the first Mobility21 UTC faculty meeting of the spring semester was held on CMU\'s campus.  The meeting included activity updates from the 4 academic partners - Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pennsylvania, the Ohio State University, and Community College of Allegheny County.   The meeting also featured OSU researcher Mark McCord presenting his project - Using municipal vehicles as sensor platforms to monitor the health and performance of the traffic control system.  

February 3, 2020 - “Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies, Automated Vehicles 4.0” Report References Work of Mobility21 UTC CMU Researcher Aaron Steinfeld - February 3, 2020 The recently published report by the National Science & Technology Council and the United States Department Of Transportation \"Ensuring American Leadership in Automated Vehicle Technologies, Automated Vehicles 4.0\" references the work Mobility21 UTC CMU researcher Aaron Steinfeld has done together with the researchers at the University of Buffalo through the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Physical Access and Transportation. Page 15 of the report says: \"NIDILRR’s [U.S. National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research] Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Physical Access and Transportation at Carnegie Mellon University is researching potential reference designs and vehicle interior concepts intended to promote and facilitate the accessibility of AVs for persons with disabilities. This center is also conducting R&D to generate new knowledge about how AVs can help address transportation barriers that are experienced by persons with disabilities in the first or last mile of a trip.\"

February 3, 2020 - UTC researcher and PH.D. student quantifying transportation relationships - Mobility21 UTC researcher Sean Qian along with Ph.D. student Rick Grahn, studied the relationship between Uber and public transportation, proving it can vary by time of day and location.  Read more here:  https://engineering.cmu.edu/news-events/news/2020/02/03-transportation-relationships.html.

January 29, 2020 - Traffic21/Mobility21 Spin-off Company RoadBotics Speaks on How can AI be used as a Tool for Equity in the Public Realm? - January 29, 2020 Today, Metro21 hosted Benjamin Schmidt, President of RoadBotics for a lunch and learn for a Carnegie Mellon University audience.  His talked focused on how building decisions for infrastructure reflects the values of our society.  RoadBotics is a Traffic21/Mobility21 spin-off company.

January 29, 2020 - CMU Transportation Club Kicks Off Spring Semester with Career Panel - January 28, 2020 The CMU Transportation Club kicked off spring semester today, with a career panel.  The panel included speakers from Bike Pittsburgh, Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, Port Authority of Allegheny County, Gridwise, Toole Design, and more.

January 27, 2020 - Carnegie Mellon University Student Wins ARTBA Student Transportation Video Contest - January 27, 2020 Lijun Yu, research master student in Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University  produced a video for the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s 9th Annual “Student Transportation Video Contest.” Yu won the post-secondary/college/graduate level in the Safety category of ARTBA’s 2019 Student Transportation Video Contest.  Watch the winning video here.

January 27, 2020 - Research Recap: Busload Detection via Autonomous Sensing - January 27, 2020 Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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.  Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project:  Busload Detection via Autonomous Sensing. 

January 24, 2020 - Smart Mobility Connection Seminar Series Features Stan Caldwell and Rick Grahn - January 24, 2020 The first Smart Mobility Connection session of spring semester was held today featuring Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell and CMU PhD student, Rick Grahn.  They provided an overview and took questions about the project, Research Results and Technology Trends to Inform Policies for Smart Mobility of People and Goods.  Everyone in attendance was also provided with a hard copy of the \"Recommended Policies for the 21st Century Trends in US Mobility\" policy guide.  Watch the full SMC video here.

January 21, 2020 - Mobility21 Program Manager Begins Role on Advisory Council for the National Center for Applied Transit Technology - January 21, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer was invited to serve on the Advisory Council for the National Center for Applied Transit Technology and participated in the council\'s kick-off meeting today.  \"N-CATT’s mission is to provide small-urban, rural, and tribal transit agencies with practical, replicable resources that help them apply technological solutions and innovations. N-CATT is carrying out this mission by analyzing information, communicating it, helping transit systems plan, and encouraging implementation of cost-effective, value-adding technology.\"

January 16, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC at the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting - January 14, 2020 As part of the U.S. Department of Transportation booth at the 2020 Transportation Research Board\'s Annual Meeting, Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell, Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer and Postdoctoral Research Associate Wei Ma staffed an demo and talked with attendees about the Mobility 21 research project “Data-driven real-time traffic prediction and management.”

January 16, 2020 - Research Recap: Contact Sensing for Improved Inspection of Transportation Infrastructure - Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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.  Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project.

January 16, 2020 - CMU Student Lijin Yu Presents at International Workshop on Big Data for Intelligent Transportation Systems - December 13, 2019 Lijun Yu, a first-year research master student in Language Technologies Institute, School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, working with Prof. Alexander G. Hauptmann presented their recent work at the International Workshop on Big Data for Intelligent Transportation Systems (BITS 2019) at the 2019 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Los Angeles. On behalf of the authors Lijun Yu, Peng Chen, Wenhe Liu, Guoliang Kang, and Alexander G. Hauptmann, he presented the paper entitled “Training-free Monocular 3D Event Detection System for Traffic Surveillance.”

January 16, 2020 - CMU Student Poster Wins Best in Session at TRB - January 16, 2020 Rick Grahn, a PhD student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University displayed his poster on \"Are travelers substituting between Uber and public buses? A case study in Pittsburgh, PA\" at the TRB Annual Meeting this week. The poster won “Best in Session.” The poster session was a part of the \'Standing Committee on Public Transportation Planning and Development\'.

January 15, 2020 - Mobility21 Goes to Transportation Camp - January 11, 2020 Dominick Fiorentino, Heinz College student and Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager participated in Transportation Camp today in Washington DC.  \"Transportation Camp is an unconference bringing together transportation professionals, technologists, and others interested in the intersection of urban transportation and technology.\"

January 14, 2020 - Mobility21 Part of Poster Presentation at TRB - January 14, 2020 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, was part of a team who presented a poster today on \"Building a National Transportation Data Preservation Network\" during the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.  For the past year, she has been serving on the committee helping develop recommendations for a national transportation data preservation network.  

January 14, 2020 - Mobility21 Diversity Fellow, Allanté Whitmore, presented at the 2020 TRB Annual Meeting - January 14, 2020 Mobility21 Diversity Fellow, Allanté Whitmore, presented at the 2020 TRB Annual Meeting.  She shared her research on the role of engineering ethics in decision making for automated mobility.

January 13, 2020 - Mobility21 Program Manager Shares Best Practices at TRB - January 13, 2020 Earlier this morning, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer presented at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting on \"Dynamic synthesis and dissemination of research results\" as part of the \"Research Implementation and Management Best Practices\" conference session sponsored by the Standing Committee on Conduct of Research (ABG10).  She shared successful strategies Mobility21 uses & tips to track and report program and research activity.

January 13, 2020 - Traffic21 Director Wins S.S. Steinberg Award - January 12, 2020 The American Road and Transportation Builders Association has selected Traffic21 Institute Director Chris Hendrickson, to receive the Research and Education Division’s prestigious S.S. Steinberg Award. This award honors educators at an institution of higher learning for contributions to research and education in transportation, development or construction.

January 12, 2020 - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson Awarded CUTC – HNTB Lifetime Achievement Award - January 11, 2020 Last night at the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) awards banquet at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson was presented with the prestigious CUTC- HNTB Lifetime Achievement Award for Transportation Education and Research. \"This award honors individuals who have had a long history of significant and outstanding contributions to university transportation education and research resulting in a lasting contribution to transportation.\"

January 11, 2020 - CMU’s Matt Battifarano Named Student of the Year - January 11, 2020 Matt Battifarano was honored tonight as a “Student of the Year” at the Council of University Transportation Centers awards banquet held during the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. 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. Meet the 2019 Mobility21 winner: Matt Battifarano grew up on the buses and subways of New York City and never stopped thinking about transportation. After completing a bachelor\'s degree in Mathematics at the University of Chicago, Matt worked for three years as a Data Scientist and Software Engineer for Bridj, a smart mobility start up. Matt is currently a PhD student in the Mobility Data Analytics Center at Carnegie Mellon University where he studies network modeling of ride-hailing systems and connected and autonomous vehicles. Over the summer, Matt interned on the Strategy Team at Uber’s Advanced Technology Group, building a simulator to model Uber’s autonomous vehicles. In 2018 Matt was selected as a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Research Fellow.  His nominator, CMU Associate Professor Sean Qian said \"Matt\'s research interest and strength well match the UTC’s goal on improving mobility and what I envision the future of transportation infrastructure, data-driven decision making for mobility systems....Discussing research with him is always inspiring. I found his attention to details and intent to understand the material and investigate further depth is excellent. He has taken advantage of every opportunity to gain knowledge, experience and participate in problem solving. He offers in-depth understanding for the machine learning model, and was able to apply it to the transportation problem quickly and thoroughly.\" Educating, recruiting and training new workers is critical to managing our country’s infrastructure safely and efficiently.  Mobility21 UTC strives to help develop a transportation workforce capable of designing and maintaining the complex transportation systems of tomorrow. Help us congratulate our 2019 UTC Student of the Year! To view the Student of the Year program booklet click here: Booklet.  

January 11, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC University of Pennsylvania Academic Director Rahul Mangharam presented today at The Penn India Technology Forum - January 11, 2020 Mobility21 UTC University of Pennsylvania Academic Director Rahul Mangharam presented today at The Penn India Technology Forum on How do we build the Department of Autonomous Systems.  In his talk, he explored how Penn research is building (1) Safe Autonomous Vehicles: What is a driver’s license test for driverless vehicles? (2) Safe Medical Devices: How can we use computer models to speed up clinical trials with a reduced cost? and (3) Grid-responsive Energy Systems: How do we build AI for Smart Buildings?  

January 9, 2020 - Rahul Mangharam Gives Keynote Banquet Speech at Comsnets - January 9, 2020 Rahul Mangharam, the Penn Academic Director for the Mobility21 UTC  was the featured banquet speaker today at the Comsnets 2020 conference in Bangalore, India.  He spoke about his UTC research project, Designing Safe Autonomous Systems:  A Driver\'s License Test for Driverless Vehicles.

January 8, 2020 - Mobility21 UTC at the Consumer Electronics Show - As part of the U.S. Department of Transportation booth at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show, Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell and Postdoctoral Research Associate Wei Ma staffed an demo and talked with attendees about the Mobility 21 research project “Data-driven real-time traffic prediction and management.”

December 20, 2019 - UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell Serves on Pittsburgh’s Mobility Collaborative Public Stakeholder Group - December 20, 2019 Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of the Mobility21 UTC serves on the Public Stakeholder Group for Pittsburgh\'s Mobility Collaborative.  As part of his role on the committee he provides guidance for crafting policy for the new micromobility technologies in the context of deploying new services in the City of Pittsburgh (in a manner that augments existing resources such as transit and bikesharing while providing services for traditionally underserved populations).

December 13, 2019 - CMU Postdoctoral Research Associate Participates on 2 Panels at the Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference - December 13, 2019 Wei Ma, Postdoctoral Research Associate from Carnegie Mellon University served on 2 panels during the Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference in State College, PA.  He presented on his work Estimating Multi-class Dynamic Origin-Destination Demand through a Forward-Backward Algorithm on Computational Graphs, and Data-Driven Traffic Prediction and Management: Case Studies of Cranberry Township and Philadelphia Region.

December 12, 2019 - UTC Researcher, Costa Samaras Mentioned on Marketplace and in Los Angeles Times - December 12, 2019 UTC Researcher Constantine Samaras offers his expertise to Marketplace on the declining price of battery packs used for electric vehicles and energy storage systems. He also spoke with the Los Angeles Times about his study, stating that drones could have the lowest carbon footprint for deliveries.

December 12, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha participated in the FCC December 2019 Open Commission Meeting in Washington, D.C. - December 12, 2019 Today in Washington D.C., Mobility21 UTC researcher Jon Peha participated in the Federal Communications Commission December 2019 Open Commission Meeting.  This meeting included discussion on \"Promoting Innovation in the 5.9 GHz Band - The Commission considered a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would take a fresh and comprehensive look at the rules for the 5.9 GHz band and propose, among other things, to make the lower 45 MHz of the band available for unlicensed operations and to permit Cellular Vehicle to Everything (C-V2X) operations in the upper 20 megahertz of the band. (ET Docket No. 19-138).\"

December 11, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Participate on Transportation in Smart City Ecosystem Panel - December 11, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director & Researcher, Stan Caldwell and UTC Researcher Don Carter,  served as panelists at the Transportation Engineering and Safety Conference in State College, PA today.  Speaking about Transportation in Smart City Ecosystems, their presentations included how transportation threads into the Smart City Ecosystems including energy, building systems, and telecommunication.

December 10, 2019 - Metro21 Executive Director Interviewed by Center for Data Innovation - December 2019 Karen Lightman, Executive Director for Metro21 was interviewed for a story published by Center for Data Innovation.  Read the article to see what Karen shared about open data and smart cities.

December 10, 2019 - Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson is participating in the Research and Technology Coordinating Committee - December 10, 2019 Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson, is in California to participate in the Transportation Research Board\'s Research and Technology Coordinating Committee.  \"The committee will monitor and review FHWA\'s research and technology activities and advise FHWA on (a) research agenda setting and coordination of highway research with states, universities, and other partners, (b) strategies to accelerate the deployment and adoption of innovation, and (c) potential areas where research is needed. The committee will hold at least two meetings annually and report via letter report annually, as requested by FHWA.\"

December 10, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC researcher and student team won the Best Demonstration honorable mention award - December 8, 2019 Mobility21 UTC researcher Rahul Mangharam and his student team won the Best Demonstration honorable mention award at #neurips2019 for their F1/10 demo!  \"They  illustrated a platform for distributed #RL, sim to real transfer, and self supervised online learning of a vision based obstacle avoidance/racing policy. Plus, they wrapped this all in the intuitive #OpenAI Gym API to turn the Racecar hardware into its own reinforcement learning environment. Look out for github.com/f1tenth for more updates on the paper and code.\"

December 9, 2019 - UTC Researcher, Lee Branstetter contributes to a WIRED article on China increasing its number of coal plants - December 9, 2019 UTC Researcher, Lee Branstetter contributes to a WIRED article on China increasing its number of coal plants.  Read the article here.

December 9, 2019 - The DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy has awarded CMU researchers over $1.1 million for the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools - December 9, 2019 The DOE\'s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy  has awarded CMU researchers over $1.1 million for the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools. Energy Fellow Zachary Ulissi (ChemE) will lead a project on reinforcement learning and machine learning potentials for catalyst metastability; and Energy Fellow & UTC Researcher Venkat Viswanathan\'s team will use the funding to speed up the process of materials innovation for electrochemical devices, batteries for next-generation electric vehicles and new routes to making chemicals and fuels.   Read more.

December 6, 2019 - Smart Mobility Connection with Ding Zhao - December 6, 2019 This Smart Mobility Connection session featured Ding Zhao who described how his team is trying to build the world’s first scenario-based driving database that is dedicated to connected and autonomous vehicles.  Watch the video here.  

December 5, 2019 - CMU Students Share Capstone Project Results, Day 2 - December 5, 2019 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 the final day of the poster fair.  The projects featured today included 3 transportation related projects: A Public Transportation Accessibility Index for Allegheny County Selection Standards Analysis for Subsidized Public Housing Bringing Employers \"On Board\" to Reduce SOVs in Downtown Pittsburgh- Mobility21 Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer was the adjunct instructor for this project        

December 5, 2019 - CMU Students Share Capstone Project Results, Day 1 - December 4, 2019 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 fair continues tomorrow).  The projects featured today included 3 transportation related projects: Qualified Municipal Infrastructure Bonds:  Improving Infrastructure Finance in the US - Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson served as an advisor for this project Optimization of Security Checkpoints through Wait Time Forecasting Unsupervised Auto Insurance Fraud Detection      

December 5, 2019 - Traffic21 Director Speaks at National Lieutenant Governors’ Association - December 4, 2019 Today, Traffic21 Director Chris Hendrickson participated as part of the transportation panel at the National Lieutenant Governors\' Association in Kansas City.  Dr. Hendrickson spoke about the Transportation Research Board’s Future Interstate Study (he was one of fourteen committee members who helped develop this report).

December 5, 2019 - Metro21 Executive Director, Karen Lightman Presents at Bridge to 2030 Event - December 5, 2019 Metro21 Executive Director, Karen Lightman gave an overview of Metro21, Traffic21 and Mobility21, and talked about the intersections and synergies between smart infrastructure and transportation at today\'s Green Building Alliance’s Bridge to 2030 event. She also shared best practices and case studies of technology deployment in the public realm in partnership with the community.

December 4, 2019 - The Ohio State University – CAR Researchers Tackle Extreme Fast Charging of Electric Vehicles - December 4, 2019 An exploratory research program at the Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Ohio State University, through its Center for Automotive Research  aims to evaluate the feasibility of Extreme Fast Charging (XFC) which would allow electric vehicles to be recharged as fast as conventional vehicles are refueled. XFC promises to accelerate the adoption of battery electric vehicles by designing high-performance, cost-effective, safe and affordable energy-storage systems.  Learn more here.

December 3, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai’s Helmet Team Won the NIST Haptic Interface for Public Safety Challenge - December 3, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Researcher Yang Cai\'s Helmet Team won the National Institute of Standards and Technology Haptic Interface for Public Safety Challenge.   The team set the shortest haptic guided navigation record less than half of the average time.  The prototype will be exhibited at Consumer Electronics Show in January 2020.  The link to the GoPro video of the live field test in Denver, CO, on November 5, 2019: https://youtu.be/CB8RyoIfNmw.

November 30, 2019 - Smart Mobility Connection with Fei Fang - November 15, 2019 This Smart Mobility Connection session featured Fei Fang who highlighted her research entitled “Efficiency and Fairness in Ride-sharing.\" Fang discussed the growth in location-tracking technology, the popularity of smartphones, and the reduced cost in mobile network communications have led to a revolution in mobility and the prevalence of ridesharing. Fang covered both commercial on-demand ride-sharing and peer-to-peer ride-sharing, focusing on how to find efficient vehicle-rider matching. Furthermore, she showed how her team evaluated the fairness level of matchings and propose several approaches to balance fairness and efficiency. Watch the full SMC here.

November 25, 2019 - Mobility21 Director and Executive Director Participate in the Governor’s Action Team Meeting on Autonmous Vehicle Technology in PA - November 21, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar and Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, participated in today\'s \"Autonomous Vehicle Technology in PA Roundtable.\"  The roundtable included a discussion of the economic development impact of AVs and included industry leaders, state department of transportation officials, representatives of the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh.

November 21, 2019 - The Travelers Institute Sponsored – “Transforming the Driving Experience: Automated Vehicle Technologies and Human Attention” - November 21, 2019 The Travelers Institute, the public policy division of The Travelers Companies, Inc., hosted a symposium today at Carnegie Mellon University. The program, “Transforming the Driving Experience: Automated Vehicle Technologies and Human Attention,” brought together experts to address the safety, regulatory and insurance implications of advanced technologies that are on the road today.  Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson and Mobility21 UTC Researcher Costa Samaras spoke as part of the event.  

November 20, 2019 - UTC Researcher Presents Work at the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference 2019 - October 27 - 30, 2019 The IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) 2019 was held in Auckland New Zealand, from 27th October - 30th October 2019. CMU National Robotics Engineering Center’s Robotics Engineer Suryansh Saxena was invited to present his published work; titled “Multi-agent Sensor Fusion for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles to Enhance Navigation Safety” which introduced a novel framework for distributed multi-agents to share time-critical information about their immediate surrounding, and isolate false negatives in their local interpretation using the gained knowledge. The work presented was well received by the research peer community. The feedback gained highlighted the usefulness of the proposed methodologies especially the statistical framework and simulation environment that demonstrated the efficacy in improving navigation safety. Suryansh was requested to make the source-code public so that other researchers in the same-domain can utilize the demonstrated architecture to further the state-of-the-art. The feedback received also urged him to enhance this framework to account for various open-data sources. During his time at the ITSC conference, Suryansh attended several presentations in domains including self-driving vehicles safety, collaborative-autonomy, infrastructure-based-sensing to enhance mobility, human-computer interaction, updates to traffic-policies for incorporating mixed traffic streams and connected vehicle environments, etc.

November 19, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Hosts Breakfast and Learn For Business Managers - November 19, 2019 Business Managers representing faculty across the Carnegie Mellon University attended a \"breakfast and learn\" hosted by Mobility21 to learn more about the Traffic21 and Mobility21 UTC funding.  During the event, Rhonda Kloss & Heather Depasquale of the Research Accelerator, and Jacob Bacharach of the Heinz College reviewed the funding sources and shared some tips with the business managers.

November 19, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Gave Guest Lecture in Smart Cities: Growth and Intelligent Transportation Systems Class - November 19, 2019 Tonight, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer provided a guest lecture for CMU students enrolled in the Smart Cities: Growth and Intelligent Transportation Systems class.  She discussed her experience leading the regional ridesharing program, commuting options, and how students can get involved with the UTC.

November 14, 2019 - Mobility21 Program Manager Visits Academic Partner, the Ohio State University - November 14 – 15, 2019 Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager, traveled to Columbus, Ohio to meet with researchers, students and others from the Mobility21 academic partner, the Ohio State University. The visit aims to continue developing the partnership, vision and mission of the University Transportation Center’s research, development and deployment.

November 14, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, met with students from the Columbus College of Art & Design - November 14, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, met with students from the Columbus College of Art & Design.  The students are working on a project to explore design of autonomous shuttles to encourage the sharing of rides and measure user experience.

November 13, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council Member Kirk Steudle Authors Article on Connecting the DOTs - Mobility21 UTC Advisory Council member Kirk Steudle\'s article on Connecting the DOTs appeared in the November/December 2019 Traffic Technology International magazine on Connecting the DOTs.  Read the article here.

November 13, 2019 - WPXI Features the Traffic21 Smart Mobility Challenge in Interview - November 13, 2019 Watch the WPXI interview highlighting the Traffic21 Smart Mobility Challenge and work being led by CMU researcher Sean Qian. \"Unique service helping areas with limited public transportation.\" https://www.wpxi.com/news/investigates/unique-service-helping-areas-with-limited-public-transportation/1007942538 via @WPXI

November 12, 2019 - UTC November Faculty Meeting with Scott Matthews - November 12, 2019 At the UTC Faculty Meeting, Scott Matthews highlighted his Mobility21-funded project \"Forbes Avenue Betterment Project:A Before & After Impact Study\". The meeting also detailed the CMU Request for Proposals for FY2020 and a recap of the Traffic21 10 Year Anniversary Symposium.

November 11, 2019 - Traffic21 Director Participates in NRC Governing Board Meeting - November 11, 2019 Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson traveled to Washington DC to participate in the National Research Council Governing Board Meeting. Hendrickson, attended the meeting on behalf of the Transportation Research Board Division.

November 8, 2019 - Recap: Traffic21 10-Year Anniversary Symposium - November 7-8, 2019 The Traffic21 Institute celebrated its 10-Year Anniversary with a two-day Symposium at Carnegie Mellon University.  The symposium brought together expert panelists, keynote speakers and participants from industry, academia and government to discuss emerging transportation technology and deployment. Read the full recap >>>

November 8, 2019 - Traffic21 Launches “Traffic21 Smart Transportation” Podcast - The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast launched today, coinciding with the  Traffic21 10-Year Anniversary Symposium. This podcast was created to feature and share information from thought leaders and highlight the smart transportation work happening at Carnegie Mellon University and in the community.  Click here to learn more. The inaugural episode of the podcast highlight content recorded at the 2019 National Mobility Summit.  Listen to the  inaugural episode here. The podcast series will include interviews and stories from UTC faculty, students, industry and government leaders, community members and academic partners.   They will share their thoughts on the future of transportation, intelligent technology systems, shared mobility, and more. The Traffic21 Smart Transportation Podcast is hosted and produced by Mobility21 UTC Diversity Fellow Allanté Whitmore.

November 7, 2019 - Mobility21 National UTC Advisory Council Members Share Their Expertise - November 7, 2019 A talented group of national leaders attended the Carnegie Mellon University Traffic21 Institute and Mobility21 National University Transportation Center (UTC) Advisory Council meeting, held on CMU’s campus today. Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar and Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson welcomed the group, and provided an overview of update of activities and plans at the centers.  The day continued with a discussion on technology transfer and plans for the upcoming National UTC Mobility Summit scheduled to be held in Washington, DC on April 2, 2020. Throughout the meeting Advisory Council members shared their expertise and ideas on workforce demand, technology trends, research needs,  and new funding opportunities to advance the missions of Traffic21 and Mobility21. # # # 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: 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 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, Director, Public Policy & Government Affairs, Toyota Research Institute Ken McLeod, Policy Director at The League of American Bicyclist James A. Misener, Senior Director, Technical Standards at Qualcomm Leslie Richards, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 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 Learn more about the Advisory Council members here. The next in person meeting of the Advisory Council will be in November 2020.

November 1, 2019 - Mobility21 Executive Director Adviser for Girls of Steel Robotics - November 1, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, participated in the Girls of Steel Robotics Program at the CMU Robotics Institute. Caldwell worked with young women grades 4 to 8 who are interested in learning how to improve public transportation.  Their project is a part of the FIRST LEGO League City Shaper challenge.

November 1, 2019 - Roads Australia Publishes Policy Update on 2019 Future Transport – Smart Cities Study Visit - November 1, 2019 Roads Australia visited North America, including visits to the Mobility21 UTC at Carnegie Mellon University, Washington, Detroit and San Francisco to explore the future of transportation in smart cities.  Based on their findings from their tour, they published a report of their findings - Read the full report here.

November 1, 2019 - Mobility21 Executive Director Presented at Administrative Judges Committee - November 1, 2019 Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, presented on a panel at the 14th Meeting of the American College of Business Court Judges in Pittsburgh. The panel was titled \"The Law, Economics, and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in Driverless Cars and Other Advanced Technologies.\"  

October 29, 2019 - DOT’s Access and Mobility for All Summit Features UTC Research - October 29, 2019 The US DOT’s Access and Mobility for All Summit, hosted by Secterary Chao featured Mobility21 UTC Faculty developed app, PedPal, in a technology showcase.  PedPal  assists mobility impaired pedestrians in crossing signalized intersections. UTC Faculty Steve Smith and Aaron Steinfeld were in attendance.  Both faculty are using their research to aid people with disabilities move around their cities easier.

October 29, 2019 - Sean Qian Interviewed by WPXI - October 29, 2019 UTC Faculty and Director of the Mobility Data Analytics Center at CMU, Sean  Qian, was interviewed by WPXI this morning for an upcoming story on the Smart Mobility Challenge project with the Airport Corridor Transportation Association.  Stay tuned for the interview.

October 28, 2019 - Surtrac Allows Traffic To Move at the Speed of Technology - October 25, 2019 Author Heidi Opdyke Artificial intelligence is giving more Pittsburgh drivers the green light. Developing and deploying the technology to keep the traffic flowing took a team of researchers and roboticists from Carnegie Mellon University together with the help of city engineers and funding from foundations. It all started because Henry Hillman, the late Pittsburgh business leader and philanthropist, was frustrated with traffic signals that wouldn\'t turn despite a lack of traffic. In 2009, he reached out to then-CMU president Jerry L. Cohon, to promote the idea that Pittsburgh could be used as a test bed for transportation systems. Not only could it help make traffic move more smoothly, but technology could be developed and spun off, thereby creating more jobs in Pittsburgh. Their conversation became the impetus for CMU\'s Traffic21 Institute, a multidisciplinary research institute with the goal to design, test, deploy and evaluate information and communications-technology-based solutions to address transportation problems. The center is directed from CMU\'s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. \"We don\'t have a transportation department, but we looked around and identified that there were faculty doing work across the university in transportation,\" said Stan Caldwell, executive director of CMU\'s Traffic21 Institute. As one of its first initiatives, Traffic21 distributed grants for a dozen pilot projects to address transportation issues that could be solved with external partners. The seed money was provided by by The Hillman Foundation with along with additional support from The Heinz Endowments\' Breathe Project and from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Surtrac, an intelligent traffic signaling system, was one of the pilots. Surtrac is a real time signal control system developed at Carnegie Mellon that reduces travel times, emissions and supports economic opportunity and quality of life. Stephen Smith, a research professor in CMU\'s Robotics Institute, leads Surtrac. His group researches work related to multi-agent decision-making. \"We focus on problems where no one agent is in charge and decisions happen as a collaborative activity,\" Smith said. \"It seemed like a natural application to apply to traffic lights.\" Software allows the signals to \"talk to each other.\" Each signal makes its own decisions on timing by sensing approaching traffic streams and generating a timing plan to optimize movement through intersections. The signals then share plans with neighboring signals to create coordinated actions. The system employs artificial intelligence to coordinate traffic lights based on traffic conditions, which improves traffic flow and reduces average travel times by 25%. And as cars spend less time idling (up to 40 percent), air pollution from emissions is reduced as well. The project began in 2012 with nine intersections in Pittsburgh\'s East Liberty neighborhood. At the time, the older neighborhood was experiencing congestion in part from larger, newer stores such as Home Depot, Target and Whole Foods, and Google had just moved into Bakery Square nearby. The area was equipped with new traffic signals that included cameras with actuation and fiber optic cables that connected the signals. \"The East Liberty Development Inc. was a great partner that said \'Yes, we would love to have this demonstrated in our neighborhood,\'\" Caldwell recalled. Hillman praised the project when the first lights were installed in 2012. \"This type of technological breakthrough is just what we hoped could happen when Traffic21 was created with a broad community partnership led by CMU,\" Hillman said. Smith licensed the technology to create Rapid Flow Technologies, has commercially deployed Surtrac in four cities beyond Pittsburgh, and is installing signals in two Canadian municipalities by the end of the year. The traffic signal system first senses vehicles, pedestrians, bikes and transit to build a real-time model of travelers and where they are headed. Next, the system plans how to best move travelers through the intersection by optimizing over the model second-by-second. Then, the traffic signal communicates with neighboring intersections to coordinate traffic flow in real-time. Finally, the system acts to control the state of the traffic signals at the intersection. “If you look at Pittsburgh, what you see is an urban lab. It’s a place where research and development is happening within our public rights of way.” — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto Locally, 50 intersections, or 15 percent of the total in Pittsburgh, have been equipped with the smart system. \"This project epitomizes the Traffic21 research, development and deployment model that connects community partners to innovative research happening at the university,\" Caldwell said. A new exhibit at Pittsburgh International Airport showcases the partnership between Carnegie Mellon and the city that explains the benefits of smart traffic lights. Surtrac is just one of the ongoing collaborations between the university and Pittsburgh. “If you look at Pittsburgh, what you see is an urban lab,\" said Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto. \"It’s a place where research and development is happening within our public rights of way.” Caldwell said that Traffic21 has helped improve life for residents, transform Pittsburgh\'s image as a smart city and has created companies with more than 200 jobs in Pittsburgh to feed a whole new ecosystem of smart transportation-related industry. CMU\'s Metro21: Smart Cities Institute expands on the work that Traffic21 has done and takes a forward-looking approach to bringing people, technology and policy together to improve the quality of life for metropolitan area citizens. The work of Metro21 provides a global model for innovative future cities. Metro21, in turn, took the Pittsburgh/CMU model of research, development and deployment and founded the MetroLab Network, which launched in 2015 as part of the White House\'s Smart Cities Initiative and spun out of CMU in 2018. Today there are more than 45 city-university partnerships modeled after the success CMU and the City of Pittsburgh. In 2016, Traffic21 worked with the city of Pittsburgh on the U.S. Department of Transportation Smart City Challenge. Pittsburgh was named a finalist and was awarded an Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies (ATCMTD) grant for $10.8 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The city is looking to add an additional 150 intersections of smart traffic signals beginning in late 2020. Rapid Flow Technology will be among the firms competing for the project. \"Pittsburgh is going to have a citywide smart and connected signal system that will make it more efficient, but a lot of other things have happened simultaneously to make the city an international leader,\" Caldwell said. Among those initial dozen pilot programs, included the early beginnings of ParkPGH, Tiramsiu and Roadbotics. The world is noticing. In 2017, Le Monde, a Paris-based newspaper, recognized Smith with a Le Monde Smart Cities Global Innovation Award in the mobility category. Surtrac was the only U.S.-based winner selected by an international jury of urban planners, sociologists, journalists and innovation experts. In the future, connected infrastructure will enhance safety and mobility for human-driven and self-driving vehicles alike. A More Connected Future Smith said as vehicles become equipped to communicate directly with the traffic signals, additional data can be shared with traffic signals to create even more efficiencies. Because Surtrac models and optimizes actual traffic flow, it can directly take advantage of any additional information vehicles can provide. The connected infrastructure will enhance safety and mobility for human-driven and self-driving vehicles alike. \"Imagine a future where everything is connected,\" Smith said. \"Where we look at direct and continuous communication about where vehicles are, how fast they are moving and what direction they are heading.\" Smith said this future is still decades away when all vehicles are equipped. In the shorter term, there are still benefits to be had from the use of connected vehicle technology. For example, freight companies know their routes throughout the city. If fleets are equipped the ability to communicate, smart traffic signals could optimize their routes. Ride-hailing companies could optimize their routes as well to carry more passengers. \"Many travelers routinely follow routes produced by navigation apps like Google maps or Waze and if a vehicle is willing to share this route with Surtrac, then we can move them faster through the intersections along this route and do so without adversely affecting vehicles that are not sharing this information,\" Smith said. \"It sounds magical at first, but really you\'re just giving us more information and reducing uncertainty so we can we do a better job at optimizing the signal timings.\" Smith\'s team is working to equip Port Authority of Allegheny County buses with radios that communicate with Surtrac signals to better predict arrivals and to give buses priority when appropriate. \"The idea is that since busses can clog traffic at intersections, if we know their routes and arrival times, then we can give them priority in a smart way without ignoring the other traffic at intersections,\" he said. Additionally, his team is working with the Federal Highway Administration on a mobile app to assist pedestrians with disabilities. The app communicates directly with the Surtrac system and indicates how much time its user needs in order to safely cross the street. The system also lets the person crossing know how much time is left before lights change. \"We\'ve just completed a series of user tests with invited people to come out and try it and give us their feedback and such,\" Smith said. \"It\'s really positive. They are overwhelmingly providing good feedback.\" https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2019/october/traffic-moves-at-speed-of-technology.html  

October 27, 2019 - Surtrac Technology Displayed at Pittsburgh Airport - October 27, 2019 A new display has been installed at the Pittsburgh International Airport in Concourse A near gate A10 - and it\'s featuring Traffic21-funded research, Surtrac Technology. To learn more and see the display, watch the full video.

October 25, 2019 - CMU News Features Traffic21 and Surtrac in Article - October 25, 2019 CMU News featured the history, accomplishments and partnerships of Traffic21 and Surtrac technology in a new article. The article highlights quotes from Mayor Peduto, Traffic21\'s Stan Caldwell, and Mobility21 faculty, Steve Smith. Read how it all started here.

October 24, 2019 - Mobility21 Hosts Delegation from Hong Kong - October 24, 2019 Mobility21 Faculty, Steve Smith, hosted a visiting delegation from Hong Kong. During their visit to CMU, Smith introduced the delegation to Surtrac smart traffic signal technology, and a visit to a Surtrac inersection.

October 23, 2019 - Raj Rajkumar Featured on NOVA’s Episode on Self-Driving Cars: “Look Who’s Driving” - October 23, 2019 NOVA is the most-watched prime time science series on American television, reaching an average of five million viewers weekly and on 10/23/2019, it featured Mobility21\'s Director, Raj Rajkumar. The episode has a look at self-driving cars taking to the streets, investigates how they work, and if they are safe. Watch the full episode here.  

October 21, 2019 - “The Future of Autonomous Vehicles is Running Through Pittsburgh” Webinar - October 21, 2019 Carnegie Mellon University\'s Tepper School of Webinar Series featured \"The Future of Autonomous Vehicles is Running Through Pittsburgh\" led by Robert T. Monroe, Teaching Professor of Business Technologies. During this session, Monroe walks attendees through the perspectives and developments in the space. You can watch the full webinar here.

October 18, 2019 - American Scientist Article Authored by Mobility21 Researchers - October 18, 2019 The American Scientist article \"Bargain-Hunting Robocars Could Spell the End for Downtown Parking\" was authored by Mobility21 Researchers, Corey Harper and Costa Samaras. Read the full article on how  AVs can help diminish parking troubles here.

October 18, 2019 - Metro21 Co-Teaches Policy Innovation Lab - October 18, 2019 In fall 2019, Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, Mobility21 partner, teamed up with the Policy Innovation Lab, a new initiative at CMU’s Heinz College to offer a new course. Co-taught by Professor Christopher Goranson and Metro21 Executive Director, Karen Lightman, students investigated smart city policy, including intelligent transportation systems, using technology to predict landslides and smart traffic signal implementation challenges across different municipalities around the world. The Policy Innovation Lab is based on the premise of user-centered research through human-centered design. The goal is to connect students with actual policy challenges and through an agile, design-driven framework to rapidly create solutions to those challenges.

October 16, 2019 - UPenn Intro to Transportation Class Gives Feedback on SEPTA’s Rail Extension - October 16, 2019 Leslie Roche, Planning Manager at AECOM, and Ryan Judge, Senior Long Range Planner at SEPTA, walk Erick Guerra’s Introduction to Transportation Planning class through a role-playing exercise to identify key factors in selecting a locally preferred alternative for SEPTA’s proposed rail extension to King of Prussia, PA.

October 16, 2019 - Stan Caldwell Welcomes Guest from Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program to CMU - October 16, 2019 Mobility21 Executive Director Stan Caldwell met with a group of 6 Indonesian professionals working with issues relating to improving cities and regional economies.  They are  participating in a project entitled, “Good Governance Through Technology.” They have been invited to the U.S. under the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program for a 21-day project. Pittsburgh was the second city on their trip, the group will also visit Columbus, Denver and DC.  The themes for the Pittsburgh segment of the program were: Using technology to improve services and quality of life; and University and research partners in smart city development.

October 15, 2019 - Mobility21 Program Manager Moderates Panel at APTA TRANSform - October 15, 2019 Mobility21 Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, moderated “Transit and Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Partners in Regional Decision Making” session at the  American Public Transportation Association’s TRANSform Conference in New York City.

October 13, 2019 - CMU Student, Noel Lau, Receives Scholarship at APTA Conference - October 13, 2019 Noel Lau, a Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University  traveled to New York City to attend the American Public Transportation Association\'s (APTA) TRANSform conference and receive her scholarship award.  Lau was able to personally thank the sponsors of her scholarship, network with other scholarship recipients, participate in APTA\'s mentorship program as a mentee, and sit in on committee meetings.  Attending workshops on critical topics such as the effects of mobility on community health, safe and secure deployment of new systems, and the goals of research in the field, gave her a sense of the organization and inclusivity of the transportation industry, as well as unique experiences into what real-world conversations between policy and technology look like.

October 11, 2019 - Smart Mobility Connection Series with Aaron Steinfeld - October 11, 2019 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection seminar featured Aaron Steinfeld, Associate Research Professor with the Robotics Institute at CMU. Steinfeld talked about “What\'s Been Learned from the Tiramisu Transit Deployment.” Steinfeld was part of the team from the CMU Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center who researched, developed and deployed Tiramisu, a transit app with a universal design but focused on improving public transit for individuals with disabilities. Watch the full seminar here to learn more.

October 9, 2019 - October 2019 Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meeting - October 9, 2019 Mobility21 hosted the second UTC faculty meeting of the Fall Academic Semester today. The meeting featured Reed McManigle, Mentor in Residence, Senior Manager, Licensing and Business Development for CMU who led a discussion on spin-offs, start-ups and opportunities to learn more about the business side of research.

October 9, 2019 - UTC October Faculty Meeting - October 9, 2019 Mobility21 hosted the second faculty meeting of the Fall Academic Semester. The meeting featured Reed McManigle, Mentor in Residence, Senior Manager, Licensing and Business Development who led a discussion on spin-offs, start-ups and opportunities to learn more about the business side of research.

October 8, 2019 - Research Recap: Optimizing Snow Plowing Operations in Urban Road Networks, Phase II - Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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.  Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Optimizing Snow Plowing Operations in Urban Road Networks, Phase II.

October 7, 2019 - Ding Zhao Meets with Congressional Staff at Carnegie Mellon University - Varun Krovi, is Deputy Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence  (D-MI) and Diem-Mi Lu from Rep Bill Foster\'s (D-IL) office visited Carnegie Mellon University for a visit that was arranged through the US Army Office of Congressional Liaison.  The congressional staff had a packed full agenda that included meetings with  UTC Faculty, Ding Zhao and the Block Center faculty to discuss the Army AI Task Force and issues related to ethics and bias, privacy and the education and training imperatives created by the emergence of AI in fields ranging from cyber to transportation.

October 7, 2019 - Mobility21 Director Meets with Commerce Deputy Secretary Karen Kelly to Discuss Research - October 7, 2019 Mobility21 Director, Raj Rajkumar met with Commerce Deputy Secretary Karen Kelly and provided an autonomous vehicle presentation, highlighted Mobility21’s research in the mobility and autonomous vehicle space.

October 4, 2019 - Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell speaks at Odyssey Day - October 4, 2019 In collaboration with Pittsburgh Region Clean Cities, the Mobility21 UTC academic partner, Community College of Allegheny County hosted Odyssey Day on Friday, October 4 . This event is dedicated to promoting the use of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and is designed to educate fleet managers, municipalities, school districts and others about cleaner transportation technologies and the important role they play in providing solutions to growing energy and environmental issues. Read the Full Press Release: CCAC Press Release -- Odyssey Day 2019.  Watch the video here.

October 4, 2019 - OSU CAR: Fall External Advisory Board Meeting Focused on Mobility, Innovation and Collaboration - October 4, 2019 Today, industry, government and campus partners attended The Ohio State Center for Automotive Research\'s (CAR) semiannual External Advisory Board meeting. The meeting provided an opportunity to highlight CAR’s capabilities in a variety of labs including the new Battery Labs and the Driving Dynamics Lab as well as unveiling the 2019 CAR Annual Report.

October 3, 2019 - Department of Energy picks Carnegie Mellon and NAWI to lead Energy-Water Desalination Hub - October 3, 2019 Carnegie Mellon\'s College of Engineering has been chosen to be part of the U.S. Department of Energy Energy-Water Desalination Hub as a founding member of the National Alliance for Water Innovation . Mobility21 UTC Faculty, Venkat Viswanathan will participate in the new initiative researching new, more cost-effective ways to achieve a circular water economy from water sources alternative to the pre-existing ones.

October 2, 2019 - Smart Belt Coalition Meeting Hosted at CMU - October 1 – 2, 2019 The Smart Belt Coalition convened a two day meeting on CMU\'s campus to discuss the coalition’s strategic plan current and future status. The Smart Belt Coalition is a regional effort between Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania to establish a dynamic and proactive collaboration between this region for the development of connected and automated vehicles.

October 2, 2019 - CMU Team Paper Accepted to ICCV 2019 - October 2, 2019 Carnegie Mellon team, Lijun Yu, Dawei Zhang, Xiaojun Chang, Xiangqun Chen, and Alexander G. Hauptmann had a paper accepted to ICCV 2019 Demo Program at the International Conference on Computer Vision in Seoul, Korea entitled \"Traffic Danger Recognition With Surveillance Cameras Without Training Data.\"  More information about this project is available here.

September 30, 2019 - RISS Program Participant to CMU Employee - In June, the Mobility21 UTC welcomed Tessa Guengerich as part of the CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program. By the end of August, she was offered a job as a Robotics Engineer and began working for Carnegie Mellon University at the National Robotics Engineering Center. During the spring, Tessa was an undergraduate student at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.  She graduated with her bachelor’s in chemical engineering in May and arrived in Pittsburgh for the summer program hoping to learn more about machine learning, programming and the implementation of robots outside of academia. Tessa was a part of the 2018 RISS cohort and said she was excited to return to Pittsburgh. She was eager to learn more 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. 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. As she explains, “On the Mat Sinking project with RISS mentor Isaac Isukapati, Project Scientist, at CMU’s NREC: National Robotics Engineering Center, I’m learning a lot about computational statistics and algorithms, and I’m coding in C++ for the first time. I’ve faced a bit of a learning curve, but it’s a challenge I’ve been able to face thus far. The overall project is to write a scheduling program for robotic arms performing specific tasks — for example, given X robotic arms and Y objects, what’s the best course of action for the robotic arms to move those objects safely and efficiently? My contribution to the project is to write a statistical simulator to test the performance of the scheduler with a specific set of parameters, to see where the scheduler performs well and where it fails.” By the end of the summer RISS experience, she had been encouraged to apply for a job at the National Robotics Engineering Center. She was hired on as a full-time Robotics Engineer and is now continuing her work on the Mat Sinking Project. Before beginning her summer RISS program Tessa was unsure what her next steps would be. She says she is thrilled to be in Pittsburgh. She loves the people in Pittsburgh, noting everyone is super friendly. Tessa said everyone at her new job has been supportive and helping her get acclimated.

September 27, 2019 - Smart Mobility Connection Seminar with Pei Zhang - September 27, 2019 Today\'s Smart Mobility Connection seminar featured Pei Zhang sharing his research on “Incentivizing Vehicle Mobility to Optimize Sensing Distribution in Smart City Applications.”  He examined the utilization of existing taxi fleets to optimize both mobility and passenger pickup as well as smart city sensing. Pei showed his teams work through 50,000 collected taxi traces with 230 actuated routes in the city of Beijing, China. Watch this seminar here.

September 25, 2019 - Mobility21 Spinoff, Rapid Flow, Wins Tech Startup of the Year Award - September 25, 2019 Today, Pittsburgh Tech Council hosted their 23rd annual Tech 50 where they honor technology innovation in southwestern Pennsylvania. The council determines winners by growth in product, corporate citizenship, job growth and retention, industry achievement and innovative technologies. Mobility21 UTC spin-off, Rapid Flow Technologies, was awarded Tech Startup of the Year! Rapid Flow Technologies is the commercialization of Surtrac (Real-time Adaptive Traffic Control). Rapid Flow Technologies is using technology to improve congestion, and shares one of their biggest achievements of 2019: landing their first international customers. Watch the full video here.

September 23, 2019 - Christoph Mertz Featured on NPR - September 23, 2019 Christoph Mertz, UTC Faculty, sat down with NPR station WESA to discuss his latest work using deep learning to develop an early-warning system to predict landslides. Using the same technology Mertz developed under the UTC, he is able to use computer algorithms to analyze, identify and calculate where a landslide is more likely to occur. Learn more and listen here.

September 23, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Team Tours UTC Faculty Member Ding Zhao’s Safe AI Lab - September 23, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Faculty member Ding Zhao, welcomed Mobility21 UTC Executive Director Stan Caldwell, Program Manager Lisa Kay Schweyer, Senior Administrative Coordinator Chelsea Cavlovic and Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman for a tour of his Safe AI Lab.  Zhao, along with 4 of his students, provided an overview of their research, demonstrated how their autonomous vehicles \"see and react\" to pedestrians and vehicles and more.

September 22, 2019 - FHWA’s Center for Accelerating Innovation Tours NREC - September 22, 2019 The Federal Highway Administration established the Center for Accelerating Innovation to serve as the focal point for internal and external coordination for identifying and prioritizing innovations. The team held their Center of Accelerated Innovation Meeting in Pittsburgh on September 18, focusing on Pittsburgh\'s innovation. For their agenda they teamed up with Mobility21 to tour the National Robotics Engineering Center to learn more about technology and initiatives being led at CMU.

September 20, 2019 - CMU Transportation Club Kicks off Fall 2019 Semester - September 20, 2019 The CMU Transportation Club held its first meeting of the new academic year today.  Mobility21 UTC Women in Transportation Fellow, Bonnie Fan co-facilitated the meeting.  Attendees included students from across the university  studying policy, infrastructure, architecture, and data.  The agenda included a review of data projects, a traffic management site visit, and the development of a mentorship program with the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Women in Transportation Seminar.  In addition, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer provided an overview of the UTC and ways students could be involved.   CMU students interested in joining the club should complete this form: https://tinyurl.com/cmu-transpo-19.

September 19, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Program Manager Elected to ACT Board of Directors - September 21, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, was elected by her peers to serve as a member of the Association for Commuter Transportation\'s Board of Directors.  \"The Association for Commuter Transportation, is an international association and leading advocate for commuter transportation and transportation demand management.\"  Her term will start January, 2020 and run through 2021.

September 19, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty, Costa Samaras, Publishes Opinion Piece in NY Times - September 19, 2019 Gernot Wagner and Mobility21 UTC Faculty member Costa Samaras published an opinion piece entitled “Do We Really Have Only 12 Years to Avoid Climate Disaster?\"   The article reminds readers that the children and grandchildren of today will be managing the impacts of climate change for decades and centuries to come. Read the full article here.

September 18, 2019 - Ding Zhao Welcomes CMU-Thailand Program Sponsors - September 18, 2019 UTC Researcher, Ding Zhao introduced the Safe AI Lab lab to Mr. Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi, president and CEO of ThaiBev, which is a founding industry sponsor for the CMU-Thailand program.

September 18, 2019 - Leveraging Computer Vision to Better Detect the Risk of Landslides: RISS Alumni Presents at the Tapia Conference - \"Each fall, computer science researchers gather across the nation in celebration of diversity in STEM, the Tapia Conference. For two consecutive years, Hameed Abdul (Robotics Institute Summer Scholar ’18 working with Dr. Christoph Mertz) has presented his undergraduate research results and shared his journey as an increasingly accomplished STEM scholar.\"   Learn more here.   Mobility21 UTC sponsored Hameed\'s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar experience.  

September 18, 2019 - PennDOT, Carnegie Mellon University lead team on “Safe Integration of Automated Vehicles into Work Zones” for Demonstration Grant - September 18, 2019 PennDOT’s submission to the Automated Divine System Demonstration Grant was awarded 7.5 million to develop a consistent approach to allow for automated vehicles to safely operate in work zones. The core team is made up of PennDOT, CMU, and PSU. Mobility21 Director, Raj Rajkumar will be leading the Carnegie Mellon effort on the grant. To learn more about the research, team and proposal, read on>>

September 18, 2019 - Research Recap: The Intelligent Mobility Meter - Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\" 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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: The Intelligent Mobility Meter.

September 16, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty, Sean Qian, Leverages Ride-Hailing Companies Platform - September 16, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Faculty, Sean Qian, is developing a cyber-physical-social system that lets cities leverage the platform of ride-hailing companies in order to provide benefits for everyone in the transportation system. Qian will partner with the University of Pittsburgh and the City of Pittsburgh on this research, which is being funded by the National Science Foundation. Learn more here.

September 15, 2019 - Stan Caldwell Presents to National Association of College and University Business Officers - September 15, 2019 Mobility21  Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, presented background information on Traffic21 and the Mobility21 University Transportation Center research to the the National Association of College and University Business Officers who are attending the 2019 Budget and Planning conference in Pittsburgh.

September 13, 2019 - Smart Mobility Connection with Sean Qian - September 13, 2019 Today, the first fall 2019 Smart Mobility Connection Series featured Mobility21 UTC faculty, Sean Qian. Qian discussed his work with helping Cranberry Township predict traffic delays in real time for 30 minutes in advance. The SMC was attended by Cranberry Township partners who presented to the CMU community why this work is so important and the positive impact it has had on congestion in Cranberry Township. Watch the video here.

September 11, 2019 - Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson, Keynote Speaker at PWX Expo - September 11, 2019 Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson attended Public Works Expo in Seattle where he was a featured speaker, presenting his research entitled \"Past and Future of the US Interstate Highway System.\" The PWX Expo draws thousands of public works professionals from all over the world.

September 11, 2019 - Research Recap: Incentive Design in Ride Sharing Platforms - Today, Mobility21 UTC released its latest \"Research Recap.\"  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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about this project: Incentive Design in Ride Sharing Platforms.

September 9, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Participates in the Pennsylvania Automated Vehicle Summit - September 4-6, 2019 The Pennsylvania Automated Vehicle Summit is the largest dedicated Automated Vehicle conference in the Northeast region, bringing together both public and private industries – and the Mobility21 UTC  students, staff and faculty participated, serving as presenters and session moderators. Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar participated on a panel of CAV Testers during a Plenary Session. He was joined by panelists from AV companies Uber, Aurora, Argo AI and Aptiv.   During the Equity breakout session, Allante\' Whitmore, Doctoral Candidate and Mobility21 Diversity Fellow ,moderated a panel that included Corey Harper, Post-Doctoral Research Associate at CMU who works closely on Mobility21 research projects focused on equity and mobility. Lisa Kay Schweyer, Mobility21 Program Manager moderated a panel focused on Human Factors: Consumer Expectations & Education. The panel featured a variety of panelists from academic including Penn State and organizations such as AARP and Partners for Autonomous Vehicle Education. Another breakout session entitled Energy Implications, featured Parth Vaishnav, an Assistant Research Professor at CMU, who joined panelists from PA’s Governor Office of Energy, Maryland SHA, Momentum Dynamics and more. Mobility21 UTC academic partner, the Community College of Allegheny County, also had a presence at the summit as Bob Koch presented as part of the breakout session “Jobs for an AV World.” Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, Stan Caldwell and Women in Transportation Fellow, Carlee Benhart were also in attendance, participating in the conference.

September 7, 2019 - Ding Zhao: Making AI Safe for Autonomous Vehicles - September 7, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Faculty, Ding Zhao discusses how his lab is developing better AI for safer autonomous vehicles. He discusses how he\'s partnering with industry and government to save time and lives with AI. Watch the full video here.

September 4, 2019 - UTC Faculty Discusses Tesla’s New Solar Rental Option - September 4, 2019 Costa Samaras, UTC Faculty in Civil and Environmental Engineering/Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, discusses Tesla’s newly-unveiled solar rental option with Marketplace’s Jack Stewart.  Read the article and/or listen to the conversation here:  https://www.marketplace.org/2019/08/20/teslas-plan-for-solar-could-increase-competition/. 

September 4, 2019 - Mill 19’s Grand Opening - September 4, 2019 The nonprofit Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM), and Catalyst Connection hosted an event celebrating the opening of Mill 19.  CMU faculty and researchers will occupy Mill 19, including Mobility21’s Director, Raj Rajkumar who will have a space for his research on sensors and autonomous vehicles.  Today\'s event marked an exciting chapter first envisioned and brought to life by three Pittsburgh foundations—The Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.

September 3, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Authors Article Telling Cities Robocars Could Be the End of Downtown Parking - September 3, 2019 Costa Samaras, Mobility21 UTC Faculty in CEE/EPP at Carnegie Mellon, in collaboration with Postdoctoral Research Associate Corey Harper, authored in article published in The Conversation about the future of autonomous vehicles and their impact on city parking lots. Read the full article here.

September 1, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Lead DOE Team Improving Rural Mobility - September 1, 2019 Mobility21 UTC Researcher, Sean Qian, is leading an interdisciplinary team from Carnegie Mellon University as they attempt to address rural transportation in Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Greene County.  The team includes Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson, UTC Researcher, Costa Samaras and Metro21: Smart Cities Institute Director Karen Lightman. Working in collaboration with Greene County and Waynesburg University, the team from Carnegie Mellon University will test an innovative rural county mobility platform, with the ultimate goal that it can be replicated in other rural counties. Sean Qian says this project has “the potential to advance the fundamental knowledge of how energy-efficient, affordable mobility services can work in rural America.\"

September 1, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher, Christoph Mertz, Presents at SMAR 2019 - September 1, 2o19 Mobility21 UTC Researcher, Christoph Mertz presented his UTC research at Smart Monitoring, Assessment and Rehabilitation of Civil Structures (SMAR) 2019 in Germany. His talk entitled \"Moving Beyond the Romans: Deep Learning and Road Maintenance\" highlighted his research using machine learning to predict and prevent potholes and road repairs.

August 30, 2019 - Research Recap: Connected Vehicle Infrastructure for a Smart City - Today, Mobility21 UTC has released its first \"Research Recap.\"  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. Check out the one page recap to learn more about Jon Peha\'s project: Connected Vehicle Infrastructure for a Smart City.  

August 28, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Faculty Meet with Butler County Commissioners - August 28, 2019 Mobilty21 UTC researchers Sean Qian and Stan Caldwell visited Butler County to meet with Commissioners Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and county transportation officials to discuss transportation research and technology and explore potential collaboration.  

August 22, 2019 - CMU, OSU team wins first event in DARPA Subterranean Challenge - August 22, 2019 In the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, Team Explorer, whose members come from Carnegie Mellon University and Oregon State University, deployed robots to autonomously map and search underground mines. Team explorer won the event by detecting and pinpointing the most artifacts. Further, In addition to being named champions of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge event, the team also was cited for “Most Accurate Artifact.”  Sebastian Scherer, UTC Faculty and an associate research professor in the Robotics Institute said that “Mobility was a big advantage” for the team. Read more and watch videos of the robots during the challenge here.

August 22, 2019 - Results of 2018 Gates Foundation Visit to CMU Included in New Report - August 22, 2019 During 2018, the Gates Foundation along with MetroLab (a Mobility21 UTC spin-off) sent a team to meet with communities, organizations and universities across the US to explore civic innovation.  In July 2018 the team traveled to Pittsburgh, and their visit included meeting with Mobility21 UTC leadership.  A year later, the team produced a report that recapped their findings called Exploring Civic Innovation:  Leading U.S. Approaches to Civic Data, Technology, and Engagement.  The Mobility21 UTC is highlighted in the report (pages 10 - 11) : EXPLORING-CIVIC-INNOVATION-Leading-U.S.-Approaches-to-Civic-Data-Technology-and-Engagement.

August 19, 2019 - Mobility21 Director, Raj Rajkumar Featured in RetroReport – Can We Teach Cars to Drive? - August 19, 2019 RetroReport, an independent, nonprofit news organization, dives in Autonomous vehicle technolgy and how it gotten better in the last decade, and so has the hype. The report dives into how close we truly are to robots being able to drive people around safely. Mobility21\'s Director, Raj Rajkumar, gives his thoughts on the obstacles that AVs have to overcome, including weather, traffic and pedestrians. Watch the full report here.  

August 19, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Ding Zhao featured in new video on Making AI Safe for Autonomous Vehicles - Mobility21 UTC Researcher Ding Zhao discusses his research in new CMU College of Engineering video on Making AI Safe for Autonomous Vehicles.   Learn more about his research here. https://youtu.be/zcuqYjinQmc

August 15, 2019 - Public Policy and International Affairs Students Learn About Smart Transportation - August 15, 2019 Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, led a class entitled \"Smart Transportation: Issues of Equity\" for the The Public Policy and International Affairs Program (PPIA) students during Summer 2019. The classes featured UTC researchers who presented on different topics of intelligent transportation systems (ITS).  The class was able to develop hands on experience of ITS concepts by applying them to a group project with the Port Authority of Allegheny County.

August 15, 2019 - Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson, Presents at AASHTO Committee Meeting - August 11-15, 2019 Traffic21 Director, Chris Hendrickson, presented his talk: Renewing the National Commitment to the Interstate Highway System: A Foundation for the Future at the meeting of the AASHTO Committee on Construction in Franklin, Tennessee.  

August 15, 2019 - Harvard Business School case study on Testing Autonomy in Pittsburgh and its Connection to Traffic21 & Mobility21 - August 2019 Integral to the Harvard Business School case study on Testing Autonomy in Pittsburgh, was information shared by Traffic21 & Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, Stan Caldwell. The case study provided an overview of the introduction, evolution and lessons learned testing autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh, presented in a way allowing fellow academics and city leaders access to this unique knowledge on autonomous vehicle testing.  

August 14, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC’s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar Participated in Poster Showcase - August 14, 2019 Today, Tessa Guengerich, Mobility21 UTC\'s Robotics Institute Summer Scholar participated in the end of session poster showcase. Her poster highlighted the work she did on project:  Statistical Simulation for Multi-Agent Scheduling Under Uncertainty.

August 8, 2019 - Port Authority of Allegheny County Cites Traffic21 Study in Successful Funding Request - August 8, 2019 Port Authority of Allegheny County was one of the recent recipients of Driving PA Forward funding.  With this $1,104,00 award, Port Authority will purchase two battery electric buses and charging stations.  Helping make the case for battery electric buses the Traffic21 study, Which Alternative Fuel Technology is Best for Transit Buses? was included in the grant application package.  

August 8, 2019 - Traffic21 Institute Announced its Ten Year Anniversary Symposium - August 8, 2019 This week “Save the Date” announcements were sent out for the Traffic21 Institute Ten Year Anniversary.  This celebration held November 7 & 8 on CMU’s campus, is expected to include 300+ participants, creating a forum for connecting community, foundation, government and industry partners to increase collaboration and kick-off Traffic21’s (including Mobility21 and Metro21) next decade.  At this Ten Year Anniversary, Traffic21 is also embracing a formidable new challenge: Innovating Mobility for All.  If you did not get a “save the date” and want to attend the symposium, please email Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer (LKSchweyer@cmu.edu).

August 7, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, Wins International Award - August 7, 2019 Today at the Association of Commuter Transportation\'s Annual Conference, Mobility21 UTC Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, received a President’s Award for Extraordinary Service.  The Association for Commuter Transportation mission is to “… create an efficient multimodal transportation system by empowering the people, places, and organizations working to advance TDM [transportation demand management] in order to improve the quality of life of commuters, enhance the livability of communities, and stimulate economic activity.”  Lisa Kay has been actively involved in this association since 2003, served on state-wide chapter leadership roles, and led the international Vanpool Council for 2 years.

August 4, 2019 - Costa Samaras Discusses Teaching Via Podcast - August 4, 2019 Costa Samaras, UTC Faculty with CEE/EPP was featured on the Energy Transition Show\'s 100th podcast special. During the episode entitled \"Teaching Energy Transitions\" he discusses the topics covered in his courses, concepts students find difficult and what it’s like to utilize a podcast as teaching material. Listen to the full podcast here.

August 4, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Director, Raj Rajkumar, Discusses the Future of Transportation on KD/PG Sunday Edition - August 4, 2019 On today\'s KDKA TV KD/PG Sunday Edition show, Mobility21 UTC Director Raj Rajkumar sat down with Dr. Kent Harries, PITT Engineering Faculty, to discuss ideas for the Pittsburgh 2070 Transportation Plan.  The segment includes discussion on different ways to address older infrastructure, city transportation, and how to build sustainable infrastructure for the future. Watch the full video here.

July 31, 2019 - The Governor’s Action Team Visits Mobility21 - July 31, 2019 Brent Vernon, Director of The Governor’s Action Team, Department of Community and Economic Development, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, visited Carnegie Mellon to learn more about Carnegie Mellon’s perspective on the evolution of the autonomous vehicle industry in Pittsburgh. During Vernon’s visit he met with Raj Rajkumar, Director of Mobility21, and Stan Caldwell, Executive Director of Mobility21.

July 30, 2019 - CAR Introduces High School Students to Automotive Engineering - July 30, 2019 The Ohio State Center for Automotive Research provided a unique STEM experience for high school students this summer at Camp CAR, a week long summer day camp intended to educate students 14-18 year olds on various aspects of engineering and mobility.  Learn more here.

July 29, 2019 - 2019 Tech 50 Finalists - July 29, 2019 The Pittsburgh Technology Council initiative, Tech 50, is an awards program that honors and recognizes the top-fifty member companies of the Pittsburgh Technology Council, across technology-focused industries – and Mobility21 is having an impact. Rapid Flow Technologies, a spin-off of CMU, utilizing Surtrac technology that was funded by Mobility21 is nominee for Start-up of the Year. Additionally, Mark DeSantis, CEO of RoadBotics has been nominated has CEO of the Year. RoadBotics spun-out of CMU with technology that predicts potholes and other flaws in infrastructure though smartphones and artificial intelligence.

July 29, 2019 - Update from Tessa Guengerich, CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholar - July 29, 2019 In June, Mobility21 welcomed Tessa Guengerich as part of this year’s  CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholars (RISS) program. Currently 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. [caption id=\"attachment_14729\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"] SCS, 190718B, UBTECH, Robotics Institute, July 18 2019.  Tessa on right.[/caption] Six weeks later, Tessa provided this update on her experience: On my project with Isaac [Isukapati, Project Scientist, at CMU’s NREC: National Robotics Engineering Center], I\'m learning a lot about computational statistics and algorithms, and I\'m coding in C++ for the first time. I\'ve faced a bit of a learning curve, but it\'s a challenge I\'ve been able to face thus far. The overall project is to write a scheduling program for robotic arms performing specific tasks -- for example, given X robotic arms and Y objects, what’s the best course of action for the robotic arms to move those objects safely and efficiently? My contribution to the project is to write a statistical simulator to test the performance of the scheduler with a specific set of parameters, to see where the scheduler performs well and where it fails. Participating in RISS has also exposed me to other areas in robotics I\'ve never seen before, like the DJI and UBTECH workshops. During the DJI workshop we had to set up the software development kit for a small drone, and then use that SDK to program the drone for a race of sorts. First of all--I\'ve never worked with drones or been forced to think about their specific challenges, so working with my team to think about wind and tuning parameters was surprisingly fun to me. Second, I found it fun to work with four students from such different backgrounds to complete the challenge. Two of the students had experience with drones and were able to take the lead, helping and teaching along the way. It was new for me to be in the situation of getting help from a peer on a common goal (and not for individual assignments or school group projects, where most students have similar sets of skills.) For the UBTECH workshop, we were again placed in teams and tasked with programming a humanoid robot to complete a task of \"rescuing\" stuffed animals and placing them in \"safe\" zones. The challenge was two-fold. First, we were expected to connect to the humanoid robot via bluetooth and control it with a gaming controller. Then we needed to connect specific buttons on the controller to specific movements in the robot, and test that functionality. My contribution ended up being to set up the software development kit for the gaming controller to connect via bluetooth (which I had learned a lot about in the DJI workshop). I also helped my teammates to fine-tune the movements of the robot for walking to and grasping the animal. Again, all of this was pretty far out of my comfort zone, but I had a great team that managed to balance each other\'s skill set. We\'ve also had the privilege of hearing and seeing a lot of presentations from different faculty members at CMU about their research. That has also been an eye-opening experience. As a Chemical Engineering student, most of the talks were outside of my traditional curriculum, but that\'s exactly what I\'ve enjoyed most about RISS -- learning about research I wouldn\'t have been exposed to otherwise, and trying my hand at tasks that initially intimidated me. 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.

July 26, 2019 - CMU Student Noel Lau Awarded APTA Scholarship - July 26, 2019 CMU Civil Engineering graduate student, Noel Lau was awarded an American Public Transportation Foundation (APTF) scholarship. As part of the award, Noel will attend the national APTA conference in October, where she will have the opportunity to attend workshops and sessions as well as meet with industry professionals from across the country.

July 26, 2019 - Students Present Research on Forbes Avenue Reconfiguration - July 26, 2019 Students advised by Chris Hendrickson, Director of Traffic21 and UTC Faculty, were featured in a poster session that highlighted the work the students have been doing on the Forbes Avenue reconfiguration. Their research included topics like air quality, bus ridership, speed and multi-vehicle detection.

July 24, 2019 - Roads Australia Delegation Visits CMU - July 24, 2019 Roads Australia, a delegation of Australian industry and government leaders traveled all the way to North America from 22 July – 2 August 2019 to explore Future Transport: Smart Cities. Their visit was designed to deepen their understanding of the progress, challenges and emerging trends in Regulatory and Technological Innovation around future transport and smart cities - more specifically, to learn about the latest strategies and solutions and how they might apply them in an Australian context. One of their first stops in North America was Pittsburgh for a visit to Carnegie Mellon University to Meet with Mobility21. The Australian team was interested in meeting with key participants in the future of transportation, and Mobility21 was able to provide the delegation firsthand information on the types of research, partnerships and entrepreneurship that is happening in Pittsburgh through Mobility21 to enhance the future of transportation and mobility. The delegation met with Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21; Aaron Steinfeld; Associate Professor and UTC researcher, Carnegie Mellon University and Griffin Shultz, CEO of a Mobility21 spin-off, Rapid Flow Technologies. Roads Australia was eager to learn more about the beneficial partnerships created through Mobility21, the variety of research projects supported by Mobility21 and how the City of Pittsburgh is working collaboratively – not competitively – to build a city focused on mobility and innovation for all.

July 17, 2019 - Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21 UTC, Participates at PennDOT STIC Meeting - July 17, 2019 Mobility21 Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, is a member of the State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC).  The STIC meets three times each year in Harrisburg so members can provide feedback on innovations in development, approve Innovation Development Summaries and Deployment Plans, and receive updates on STIC activities, including communication and outreach efforts.

July 15, 2019 - Mobility21 Students Attend Automated Vehicle Symposium - July 15 - 18, 2019 Throughout the week in Orlando, Florida, more than 1,800 leading researchers, regulators, technologists and decision makers converged to discuss the future of automated vehicles. Keynote speakers included Carnegie Mellon alumni and Aurora founder, Dr. Chris Urmson. Also participating in the event were Mobility21 supported PhD students, Allante\' Whitmore and Jake Ward.  The students represented Mobility21 research and development as well as collaborated with industry leaders on the future of mobility.

July 11, 2019 - DJI visits CMU for RI Summer Scholars event - July 11-12, 2019 DJI, a leader in commercial and civilian drone industry, visited CMU as part of the RI Summer Scholars (RISS) event program. DGI\'s time on campus included meeting with leaders in robotics at CMU, providing attendees with demonstrations of their drones, and a drone flying contest for RISS students.  Mobility21 program manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, attended the event with PA Rural Robotics Initiative Director, Tim Heffernan.  

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

July 8, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC Researchers Present their Work at The 19th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals - July 8, 2019 Mobility21 UTC researchers presented their work at the 19th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals, Transportation in China 2025: Connecting the World, held July 5th - July 8th, 2019 at Southeast University in Nanjing, China.  Dr. Sean Qian, Associate Professor, led a session on “A General Formulation for Multi-modal Dynamic Traffic Assignment Considering Multi-class Vehicles, Public Transit and Parking.” Dr. Scott Matthews, Professor, presented on the “Use of Connected Vehicle Technologies for Monitoring Passenger Vehicle Emissions.”

July 5, 2019 - The Ohio State University EcoCAR team won first place in the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge - May 22, 2019 The Ohio State University EcoCAR team won first place in the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge Year One Competition. This is the sixth consecutive year that Ohio State won an Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition. The competition is headline sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors and Mathworks, and managed by Argonne National Laboratory. Ohio State EcoCAR scored 887 out of 1,000 overall points. In addition to the first-place overall finish, the team also won eight other awards including first place for its final technical report, its target market presentation, and its controls, systems modeling and simulation presentation. Learn more here. 

July 5, 2019 - SURTRAC Featured in Ethical Corporation Magazine - July 2019 Mobility21 funded research Scalable Urban Traffic Control (Surtrac) was featured in the July edition of Ethical Corporation Magazine. The article describes how cities like Pittsburgh are using the technology to improve vehicle flow, reduce engine idling and cut carbon emissions. Read the full article (starting on page 13).    

July 3, 2019 - CMU Students Making an Impact in a Big Way, Far Away - Article By Bruce Gerson Four students took a meaningful and fulfilling winter-break trip they’ll never forget. Christina Ou, Cathy Fang, Melina Driscoll and Ashley Burbano, members of Carnegie Mellon University’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB), traveled to Nyadire, Zimbabwe, where they spent two weeks at the town’s United Methodist Centre helping the small community of about 2,000 people. Their trip was twofold: They followed up on their chapter’s four-year solar street light project and began a new effort to improve the cooking system for a local school. Read more...  

July 3, 2019 - Students from PA Rural Robotics Initiative Visit CMU - June 27, 2019 Today, 15 students from the Franklin Area High School went to Carnegie Mellon University for the day. The students, all part of the PA Rural Robotics Initiative, traveled almost 2 hours each way to get a glimpse into some of CMU’s programs and resources. Organized and supported by CMU’s Mobility21 University Transportation Center and the Robotics Institute, the visit included: A discussion of transportation & technology An introduction to making traffic “smarter” A tour of the NavLab where the students saw and learned about autonomous vehicles A tour of the Field Robotics Center where the students learned more about aerial robotics A networking lunch where the students met and talked with members of the 2019 CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholars cohort When asked what she thought of the experience, Grace said “I really enjoyed learning about the autonomous vehicles and our discussions with the summer scholars. Thank you, CMU!” Tim Heffernan, the Executive Director of the PA Rural Robotics Initiative said “Although geographically Carnegie Mellon isn’t too far from home, sometimes these types of opportunities and institutions seem worlds away to these students. Having the chance to meet the summer scholars and interact with the world’s best in their professions will change how these kids view themselves and their futures. We couldn’t be more excited about, and grateful for, the opportunity that our friends at CMU have provided for these young people. Events like today have a positive impact on our kids and our region.” In addition to the students and Mr. Heffernan, five chaperones accompanied the group: Mrs. Jill Foys, Northwest Commission, Director Mr. Trenton Moulin, Bridge Builders Community Foundation, Executive Director Mr. William Vonada, Cranberry Area School District, Superintendent Dr. Jody Strausser, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Associate Professor Computer Information Science, PA Rural Robotics 2019 Volunteer of the Year Mr. Albert Abramovic, Venango County Commissioner. He said he was impressed with the day’s program and was grateful for the opportunity to join the students for the day. One of the Mobility21 UTC’s focus areas is Education & Workforce Development.  Research and technology is only one half of the new mobility equations. The transportation industry is being deluged with disruptive technologies just as its current, aging workforce faces mass retirement. Educating, training and inspiring the currently and next generation of transportation professionals is critical to the success of new technology. Helping coordinate and participate in the visit from the PA Rural Robotics Initiative is one way the Mobility21 UTC is engaging the next generation of transportation professionals. Learn more: PA Rural Robotics Initiative – https://www.paruralroboticsinitiative.com/ Mobility21 UTC – https://mobility21.cmu.edu CMU Robotics Institute Summer Scholars - https://riss.ri.cmu.edu/ # # # In 2018, Franklin Area High School had four lonely VEX robots that students traveled around Pennsylvania and West Virginia with, searching for teams to compete against. Fast-forward to the end of this June and those four robots have 180 new companions right next door. Together they make up the Pennsylvania Rural Robotics Initiative, a consortium of 11 school districts, one technology center, and an intermediate unit that all share a common robotics platform and curriculum. Twenty-five schools, covering five counties, have found like-minded friends in higher education, business and industry, state and local government, non-profits, and regional economic and workforce development that not only support their initiative but help it to thrive. The Traffic21 and Mobility21 Institute’s leadership team have been trusted advisor since the conception of PA Rural Robotics and continues to look for ways to support their mission. Both faculty and graduate students from the Robotics Institute are working to bring CMU and these young STEM students together. PA Rural Robotics was also excited to find themselves partnered with a team of CMU undergraduate students as part of the 2019 Information Systems Spring Project. The Office of Outreach and Engagement have provided a menu of options that can further the CMU connections as the initiative grows. The most recent Carnegie Mellon connection was with the CMU CS Academy. PA Rural Robotics plans to introduce their member schools to the CS1 course and discuss the potential it could have in expanding computer science offerings within all of the member districts.

July 2, 2019 - Mobility21 UTC participated in COMTO “Get Acquainted” event - June 27, 2019 Katharine Kelleman, Mobility21 UTC Advisory Board Member and Port Authority of Allegheny County\'s CEO and  Lisa Kay Schweyer, Program Manager of the Mobility21 UTC participated in the \"Get Acquainted\" and Pittsburgh chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials kick-off event.  COMTO is a national organization; the group\'s mission is to “… ensure opportunities and maximum participation in the transportation industry for minority individuals, veterans, people with disabilities and certified MWDBE businesses through leadership training, professional development, scholarship and internship funding, political advocacy, partnership building and networking opportunities.”

July 1, 2019 - Scott Matthews, Mobility21 UTC Researcher’s Work Published in the Transportation Research Record - July 1, 2019 Mobility21 UTC researcher, Scott Matthews and his fellow CMU researchers Vinod Krishnappa and Yi Liu’s work on “Data-Driven Analysis to Support Revised Tire Tread Inspection Standards” was published today in the July 2019 edition of the Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. Click here to read the article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0361198119851456.  

June 28, 2019 - Mobility21 Exec. Director Participates in TRB Ahead of the Curve Subcommittee - June 28, 2019 Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, participated today in the Transportation Research Board’s “Ahead of the Curve” Subcommittee at the National Academies of Science Keck Center in Washington DC.  During the meeting, members made final edits to the \'Instructor\'s Manual\' for this course, which was designed for transportation research managers including those at the state departments of transportation and University Transportation Centers.  

June 25, 2019 - Mobility21 Director Presents at CUTC Summer Meeting - June 25, 2019 The Council of University Transportation Centers Summer Meeting was held in Norman, Oklahoma. The themes of this summer\'s meeting included Preparing for the Mobility Future:  Workforce Development and Training Needs, Climate-Resilient Transportation Infrastructure, and Public-Private Partnerships.  Mobility21 Director, Raj Rajkumar, presented today on workforce development.

June 25, 2019 - Stan Caldwell Presents on Technology Transfer at Annual CUTC Summer Meeting - June 25, 2019 During the Annual Council of University Transportation Center\'s summer meeting in Norman, Oklahoma, Stan Caldwell, Executive Director, Mobility21 presented the UTC\'s technology transfer plan, and how impacts and accomplishments are tracked. The meeting brings together the nation’s leading transportation professionals from academia and industry along with U.S. DOT and other transportation agency officials.

June 24, 2019 - ArgoAI Partners with Carnegie Mellon University - June 24, 2019 Carnegie Mellon University and Argo AI announced a five-year, $15 million sponsored research partnership under which the self-driving technology company will fund research into advanced perception and next-generation decision-making algorithms for autonomous vehicles.  Press Release

June 21, 2019 - Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC Executive Director, Served on the Southwest Partnership for Mobility Advisory Council - Stan Caldwell, Mobility21 UTC Executive Director served as a member of the Southwest Partnership for Mobility Advisory Council.  This month as a result of the council\'s work, a report was released describing the challenges facing the region’s transportation system. Read the report and learn more about the council\'s work here: https://www.paturnpike.com/yourTurnpike/partnership_for_Mobility.aspx.  

June 20, 2019 - The Hill District CDC Hosts Transportation and Mobility Community Meeting - June 20, 2019 Mobility21\'s Program Manager, Lisa Kay Schweyer, participated in tonight\'s Hill District\'s CDC community meeting on transportation and mobility. This was the first of many upcoming community engagement meetings where community members will have an opportunity to voice their concerns around bus routes, parking, sidewalks, and much more.

June 20, 2019 - Mobility21 Exec. Director Participates in Public Meeting on Four Mile Run - June 20, 2019 Stan Caldwell participated in a public meeting where the Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure and the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority presented plans for innovative transportation plans connecting the neighborhoods of Hazelwood, Greenfield, the Run and Oakland.

June 17, 2019 - Mobility21 Exec. Director leads Workshop at PSPE Boot Camp - June 17, 2019 Mobility21\'s Executive Director, Stan Caldwell, presented a workshop entitled \"Pittsburgh\'s Evolution as a Smart Transportation Testbed\" at the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers Bootcamp West. The bootcamps are designed for licensed engineers to gain a broad range of knowledge and make connections with experienced professionals.