January 19, 2022

Mobility21 UTC researcher and Community College of Allegheny County Professor of Advanced Technology Justin Starr participated in a panel discussion about the risks and security concerns where AI meets critical infrastructure at the 6th Annual Smart Cities Technology International Symposium.

Metro21 Executive Director Karen Lightman also hosted a panel at the symposium entitled “Smart Isn’t Smart Enough – Redefining the Smart City Through Co-Creative Partnership,” where the discussion focused on how the  pandemic has shone a bright light on the inequities that lie within our communities, particularly low-income communities and communities of color, and we must turn our focus to creating equitable and sustainable communities for all through co-creative partnerships between academia, government, non-profit and the private sectors.

January 14, 2022

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

January 12, 2022

Mobility21 Diversity Fellow Allante’ Whitmore was selected for a Best Presentation Award for the Workshop on Doctoral Research in Transportation Analysis, Planning and Policy at the TRB Annual Meeting.

January 10 & 11, 2022

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

January 11, 2022

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

January 7, 2022

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

January 5, 2022

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

January 4, 2022

Mobility21 UTC researcher Steve Smith’s UTC project, “Safe Intersection Crossing for Pedestrians with Disabilities“ was highlighted in this week’s Transportation Research Board’s newsletter in the Research Roundup section.  Read the newsletter here.

December 28, 2021

Public transportation is one of the most critical aspects of our infrastructure, but it is also one of the most imperiled and underfunded. This episode looks at how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan’s historic investment in public transit and other targeted policymaking can build the transportation systems of the future, with guests and UTC researchers Stan Caldwell and Corey Harper, as well as Eric Goldwyn, and Anthony Foxx.

Consequential is a Heinz College of Carnegie Mellon University podcast that looks at the human side of technological change and develops meaningful plans of action for policymakers, technologists and everyday people to build the kind of future that reduces inequality, improves quality of life and considers humanity. In its third season, Consequential will examine how AI and machine learning will impact research practices and data collection, as well as the development and dissemination of knowledge. Topics will include combatting disinformation, the ethics of crowdsourced research, and representation in open source software development. Hosted by Lauren Prastien and Eugene Leventhal.