Join a live chat with leadership for the Obama Administration’s Sustainable Communities Partnership – Thursday July 15, 2010

July 14, 2010 at 3:19 pm

(Source: ITS America NewsletterWhite House Office of Urban Affairs)

Photo: Shelley Poticha. (courtesy of Planetizen)

Shelley Poticha - Image Courtesy: Planetizen

On Thursday, July 15, the White House Office of Urban Affairs will host a live chat with the leadership of the Sustainable Communities Partnership, an agreement between HUD, Transportation, and EPA to coordinate federal housing, transportation, and environmental investments. Last month, the Partnership released a joint notice of funding availability — $35 million in TIGER II Planning grants and $40 million in Sustainable Community Challenge grants — for local planning activities that integrate transportation, housing, and economic development. And, HUD also announced $100 million in funding for Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grant program that will support regional planning efforts that integrate housing, land use, economic development, and transportation.

What:
Sustainable Communities Live Chat

Who:
Shelley Poticha, Director of the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, HUD
Beth Osborne, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Policy, Department of Transportation
Tim Torma, Deputy Director of the Office of Sustainable Communities, EPA
Moderated by Derek Douglas, Special Assistant to the President on Urban Policy, White House

When:
2:00PM EST, Thursday, July 15, 2010

How:
Watch and participate at www.whitehouse.gov/live
Send questions in advance to Planetizen.

For more information on the partnership, read their latest blog that summarizes their work and accomplishments.

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Interesting observations from DC Digital Capital Week Event – Online Engagement for Sustainable Urban Mobility

June 16, 2010 at 8:46 pm

Yesterday (June 15, 2010), I had the chance to attend “Online Engagement for Sustainable Urban Mobility”, a panel discussion and roundtable organized by EMBARQ, the sustainable transportation arm of the World Resources Institute, at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. Part of a week-long citywide festival focused on technology and innovation, the event brought together citizen activists and representatives from government agencies and non-profits to discuss open data, online citizen engagement and collaboration – while looking at the nation’s capital as a case study.  The agenda, as seen on the invitation

How urban transportation can be made more sustainable through:

  • Open Data
  • Blogging and Citizen Journalism
  • Government Transparency and Civic Engagement
  • Citizen Collaboration

This was a great forum to share/listen best practices, lessons learned, failure stories and ideas of how to put theory into practice, as it relates to the following over-arching questions: What online tools exist in the D.C. area to make transportation more efficient, user-friendly and sustainable? What are some examples of Web-based innovation and collaboration in the D.C. transport sector? How can government, technology and civil society work together to improve the way we move around – by foot, by car, by bike, and by transit – in the nation’s capital?

The awesome panel consisted of the following individuals:Online Engagement for Sustainable Urban Mobility (Digital...

ModeratorChristian Madera (Columnist, Next American City)
HostErica Schlaikjer (Online Engagement Coordinator, EMBARQ)

Panelists:

Roundtable Discussion Leaders:

  • Eric Gundersen (Development Seed)
  • Harriet Tregoning (Office of Planning)
  • Nat Bottigheimer (WMATA)
  • Dan Silverman (Prince of Petworth)
  • Zvi Band (FixMyCity DC)
  • Philip Ashlock (OpenPlans)

Here are some  interesting observations worth sharing, courtesy of Moderator Christian Madera and fellow participant Kara Hadge, contributing author of New America Foundation’s Sustaining Democracy in a Digital Age blog,  who sat right next to me and offered great input to our discussion group.  For a detailed recap/summary, I seriously recommend you to check out Christian column on Next American City and Kara’s blog post titled Wired Cities .

  • While the local city government has been at the forefront of releasing its municipal data for the public and developers to utilize, most of the region’s transportation falls under the jurisdiction of WMATA, the regional transit agency.
  • DDOT is involved is now sharing an API for real-time location data for the city’s small fleet of circulator buses, and embarking on the use of QR codes on buses and shelters to assist both passengers and transit managers
  • DC Circulator will shortly be launching an Open Data Challenge for developers, featuring three categories: Public Apps (Web and/or Mobile;), Visualization (currently there is no dashboard to monitor what’s happening on all lines), and an unknown internal app to be used by WMATA/DDOT.
  • DC Capital Bikeshare #CaBi website  http://capital-bikeshare.appspot.com/ is expected to be launched soon
  • DDOT is looking to add (someday) these MIT conceived futurisitic looking, networked, read again – networked, bus stops called Eyestop

In all, it was a great experience meeting and listing to some of the best minds in business about the use of social media tools and emerging opensource efforts in transportation.  Thanks to EMBARQ and the Digital Capital Week community for putting together this event.  I’ll certainly keep you informed of  other resources/products resulting from this event as they become available.

“Don’t Talk While He Drives” – Bangalore City in India Delivers “Distracted Driving” Message With Stunning Visuals

May 10, 2010 at 5:15 pm

(Sources: The Inspiration Room & @Kiruba)

Source: Bangalore City Traffic Police via The Inspiration Room

I got this above image, courtesy of friend a (@Kiruba),  which I consider to be a strikingly effective capture that tells the dangers of Distracted Driving.  I was piqued by the creativity of this advertisement campaign by the Bangalore City Traffic Police (in India), and went looking for more details behind this creative effort.

Thanks to Google, I found The Inspiration Room, and got the following details along with a few more gruesome, yet effective pictures from this brilliant campaign.    These images capture the dangers of Distracted Driving, telling the story from the other side of the conversation a.k.a the non-Driver’s point of view.

Source: Bangalore City Traffic Police via The Inspiration Room

Source: Bangalore City Traffic Police via The Inspiration Room

Summary of the Project:

The outdoor advertising campaign uses disturbing photography to shock people out of talking to their friends and families on the phone while they are driving. Men and women are shown grimacing as blood spurts out from their telephones. The tag line: “Don’t talk while he drives. ”  IMHO, this is probably one of the best advertisement campaigns EVER devised to combat Distracted Driving, and ranks way up there along with the  famous British PSA video on dangers of Texting While Driving.

The Creative Team:

Developed at Mudra Group, India, by executive creative director Joono Simon, art director Vinci Raj, copywriter Akhilesh Bagri, photographer Mallikarjun Katakol, with retouching by Sathish.

Webinar Alert: Knowledge Is Power: How TRB’s Databases Improve Access to Transportation Research

March 30, 2010 at 8:10 pm

Monday, April 19, 2010 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EDT

Learn how to conduct transportation research more efficiently and effectively.  TRB will host a free webinar that provides practical tips for using the Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS), Research in Progress (RiP), and Research Needs Statements (RNS) databases.  Panelists will provide an overview of each database, offer tips on how to refine searches, and demonstrate advanced features added to the databases last year.  Learn how to enter records into the RiP Website and find out how agency publications are entered into TRIS.  Panelists from the University of California, Berkeley and the Montana Department of Transportation will discuss ways that they use TRB databases to enhance their research programs.

Presenters for this session include:

  • Barbara Post, Transportation Research Board
  • Rita Evans and Kendra L Levine, Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Berkeley
  • Susan Sillick, Montana Department of Transportation

Moderated by: Ken Winter, Virginia Department of Transportation

Questions may be posed any time during the webinar, and are answered at the end of the session.

Registration:  Participants must register 24 hours in advance of the Webinar.  This webinar is free for all participants.

There may be situations where a webinar may need to be rescheduled, due to interruptions in GoToWebinar servers or other unforseen events.  If a webinar needs to be rescheduled, TRB will contact you via email to discuss the situation and will provide information about rescheduling the session.

Click here to register. Problems signing in? Contact Reggie Gillum at rgillum@nas.edu or 202-334-2382

Webinar Alert: Experience from Others: How to Successfully Apply the ITS Knowledge Resources for Decision Making – April 15, 2010 @ 1PM

March 22, 2010 at 6:37 pm

Date: April 15, 2010

Time: 1:00–2:30 PM ET

Cost: All T3s are free of charge

PDH: 1.5. — Webinar participants are responsible for determining eligibility of these PDHs within their profession.

Register On-line
Contact the T3 Administrator

T3 Webinars are brought to you by the ITS Professional Capacity Building Program (ITS PCB) at the U.S. Department of Transportation‘s (USDOT) ITS Joint Program Office, Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA). Reference in this webinar to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by U.S. Department of Transportation.

Webinar Description

The Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has developed online ITS Knowledge Resources for decision making support. The major objectives on these online tools are to:

  • Capture ITS costs, benefits and lessons learned from experiences of stakeholders in their planning, deployment, operations, maintenance, and evaluation of ITS.
  • Provide all ITS stakeholders with convenient access to costs, benefits and lessons learned knowledge so that they can make informed decisions in their future ITS actions.

The ITS Knowledge resources include the ITS Benefits Database (www.itsbenefits.its.dot.gov), the ITS Costs Database (www.itscosts.its.dot.gov), and the ITS Lessons Learned Database (www.itslessons.its.dot.gov). The U.S. DOT’s ITS Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program is sponsoring a T3 (Talking Technology and Transportation) webinar to show ITS professionals how to use these databases to help stakeholders make better informed decisions.

This webinar will show participants how to use the databases and knowledge resources available through a “live” demonstration that features the websites. Following the demonstration of each of the ITS Benefits, Costs and Lessons Learned databases, participants will engage in interactive exercises where participants will use the knowledge resources to solve test case problems and respond to polling questions.

In addition, presenters will introduce new enhancements to the unit cost database that provide sample project costs. Participants will have an opportunity to provide comments about the new features.

Audience

Anyone involved in planning, implementation, and operation of ITS systems, including Federal, State, and local transportation professionals.

Learning Outcomes

  • Ability to use the ITS Knowledge Resources to find information on ITS costs, benefits and lessons learned.
  • Understanding how the ITS Knowledge Resources can help stakeholders make informed decisions in planning, deployment, operations, maintenance, and evaluation of ITS.
  • Provide comments on the new unit costs enhancements.

Host:

Marcia Pincus, Program Manager, Environment (AERIS) and ITS Evaluation, ITS Joint Program Office

Marcia Pincus is currently the Program Manager, Environment (AERIS) and ITS Evaluation, for the ITS Joint Program Office at USDOT. Marcia joined the ITS JPO six years ago, and has over 15 years experience as an ITS policy analyst and program manager in the public, private, and academic sectors.

Presenters:

Firoz Kabir, Principal, Noblis

Firoz Kabir is a Principal with Noblis in Washington, DC. He has over 24 years of experience in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and transportation engineering. He has been a consultant to public- and private-sector organizations for a wide range of projects that have encompassed regional transportation planning, highway design, ITS architecture, transportation knowledge resource development, and advanced technology implementation planning for traffic and transit systems. He has conducted research for U.S. DOT, the New Jersey DOT, and the Florida DOT in the areas of traffic operations and transportation safety. Firoz holds a BS in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai), an MS in Civil Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Johns Hopkins University.

Cheryl Lowrance, Principal Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Engineer, Noblis

Cheryl Lowrance is a Principal Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Engineer with Noblis supporting the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), ITS Joint Program Office. She has 25 years of experience in traffic engineering and traffic management including project management, design and implementation of traffic signals, traffic signal systems, and freeway surveillance systems. Cheryl currently provides leadership for the ITS Program Assessment Knowledge Resources, Benefits and Costs databases. Activities include researching and writing content; leading the development of improvements to the websites; making presentations to industry leaders on the resources available for planning, design, and implementation; and responding to quick task assignments from the client pertaining to benefit and cost inquiries. She has a BS in Civil Engineering from Tennessee Technological University.

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American road traffic fatalities fall to record low since 1950s; Alarming Numbers of Road Traffic Deaths Around The World Remains A Concern

March 11, 2010 at 7:28 pm

(Sources: Next Generation HealthCare via Good; Infrastructurist)

Incidents like 9-11 bring to people’s mind the dangers of man made disasters, and the enormity of the problem gets magnified with the loss of lives resulting from such incidents.  But how many of us realize that here in the US we lose many more lives on our nation’s roads every year due to automobile accidents?  If you have not grasped the enormity of the problem we are facing in our roads, it the rough equivalent of 12 times the losses we suffered in that one incident  — that would be roughly 34,000 lives were lost in the US roads in 2009 alone, according to a new report released by NHTSA. In the decades past the problem was even worse and the transportation agencies at all levels – Federal, State and Local have been actively engaged in combating this problem.  The silver lining in this grey cloud is that the numbers are dropping steadily in the past the years, at least in the US.   Thanks in large part to the continued efforts of the governments in making our roads safer and also to the auto manufacturers who have made the vehicles stronger and smarter, we can now continue to see a reduction in the years ahead.  Here are some interesting numbers from this NHTSA estimates:

  • A decline in highway deaths of  8.9% from 2008 to 2009
  • The lowest fatality rate–1.16 deaths for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled–on record
  • The lowest overall number of deaths–33,963–since 1954
  • 15 straight quarters of decline in the number of overall roadway deaths

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the rest of the world.  Pretty much every country on this blue planet has been a victim of this problem and many of them counter massive, tragic losses every year that have only continued to climb up.   The losses are steeper in many of the developing countries and under-developed countries, where the poor infrastructure and lack of enforcement & driver education are compounding the problems.  Especially in countries like China and India, where the growing economies have fueled a significant spike in the number of vehicles on road, the governments are struggling to keep pace with the surging demand for roads and other surface transportation infrastructure. The graphical depiction below, courtesy of  Next Generation Healthcare, clearly demonstrates the enormous problem we are facing around the world.  It shows how many deaths there are from road traffic accidents in different parts of the world and the numbers are alarming.

Road Traffic Accident Statistics

Click to enlarge the image

Quoting the numbers from the NHTSA estimate for 2009 motor vehicle traffic fatalities, Ray LaHood – the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation, noted on his blog that he is extremely encouraged by the significant drop in fatalities on American roads but at the same time he is disturbed by the fact that “we are still talking about nearly 34,000 preventable deaths a year. There are still too many people dying in traffic accidents every year. Just too many.”

On 2 March 2010 governments around the world took the historic decision to increase action to address the road safety crisis over the next ten years. The UN General Assembly resolution proclaiming a Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 (A/64/L.44/Rev.1) was tabled by the Government of the Russian Federation and cosponsored by more than 90 countries. WHO welcomes this proclamation which seeks to save lives by halting the increasing trends in road traffic deaths and injuries world-wide.  A draft Plan for the Decade, which was prepared by WHO with support from members of the UN Road Safety Collaboration, is now open to all stakeholders for comments. Visit the Collaboration’s web site at http://www.who.int/roadsafety.

Some nuggets of information for you that will make you gasp (courtesy of World Health Organization’s report on road safety titled The Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020):

  • Over 3000 people die on the world’s roads every day.
  • Tens of millions of people are injured or disabled every year.  Nearly 1.3 million people are killed each year. If trends continue unabated deaths will rise to an estimated 2.4 million a year by 2030.
  • Between 20 and 30 million sustain non-fatal injuries.
  • It’s predicted that by 2030, the amount of people who are killed in road traffic accidents will rise to fifth in the leading causes of death around the world. Currently it is in ninth place.

Hopefully, with improved funding and targeted attention towards issues like distracted driving and drunk driving, we can expect a decrease in this trend.   Oh if are wondering how you personally contribute towardsaddressing the problem — Leave your keys behind and take transit systems (buses, trains, etc) if you can.   If you have the proper infrastructure, you can consider walking or biking to places instead of driving. Next time when you drive your car/ motorcycle/bicycle ,  remember that you are not just driving for your own safety but also also for those of others who share that road with you.  At the end of the day, there is only so much the goverments can do to keep is safe and we the citizens have to realize that they have a very important and personal role to play in keeping our roads safe.  Let’s do it!

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Event Alert: Reclaiming our Competitive Advantage: How Intelligent Technologies are Revolutionizing Transportation and What America Can Do to Lead the World in 21st Century Innovation

March 1, 2010 at 1:50 pm

Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Time: 4:00 – 5:30 PM

Venue : 2167 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Event Host: The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America)

cid:image002.gif@01CAAB29.553B7810

From highways and transit systems to passenger vehicles and freight transportation, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are beginning to transform our nation’s transportation network and provide significant benefits to our communities, businesses and other transportation users.  ITS technologies are already being used in many parts of the U.S. to reduce traffic crashes, congestion, operating costs, and carbon emissions while helping to improve transportation efficiency and spur job growth.  But as a recent report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation highlights, the U.S. is falling behind leading Asian and European nations in deploying ITS technologies (see recent Wired News coverage here and here).

As Congress and the Administration work to spur economic growth and address critical transportation and environmental challenges, this is an opportunity to engage with leading transportation, transit, automotive, and economic policy experts in a discussion about how information and communications technologies are modernizing our nation’s infrastructure, and what steps can be taken to advance the deployment of current and next generation ITS technologies to create a smarter, safer, cleaner, and more efficient transportation system.  Please join ITS Caucus co-chair Russ Carnahan (D-MO) and our distinguished panelists for a discussion about the future of ITS in America, including how smart technologies can benefit your community and how policymakers can help the U.S. reclaim its role as an innovation leader.  Please RSVP to Charlie Tennyson at ITS America at ctennyson@itsa.org or 202-721-4207.

Moderator: Scott F. Belcher (bio)
President and CEO, The Intelligent Transportation Society of America (
ITS America)
Guest Speaker: U.S. Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO) (bio)

Co-Chair, Congressional ITS Caucus

Panelists: Ann Flemer (bio)
Deputy Executive Director, Policy, San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (
MTC)

John Inglish (bio)
General Manager and CEO, Utah Transit Authority (
UTA)

Kirk Steudle (bio)
Director, Michigan Department of Transportation (
MDOT)

Keith Cole (bio)
Director, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, General Motors (
GM)

Robert Atkinson (bio)
President, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (
ITIF)

Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Time: 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Place: 2167 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515 (map)

Note:  ITS America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association that represents several hundred member organizations including public sector agencies, private industry leaders, and academic institutions working to advance the research, development, and deployment of technologies that improve transportation safety, mobility, economic competitiveness, and the environment.  Register here to attend ITS America’s 2010 Annual Meeting and Exposition, which will be held in Houston, Texas from May 3 – 5.  Featured speakers include U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, IBM Chairman, President and CEO Sam Palmisano, and other public sector, private industry, and academic leaders from across the country.

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The Rudin Center/APA Graduate Student Award in Transportation Planning

February 26, 2010 at 1:45 pm

The Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, in partnership with the American PlanningAssociation’s National Transportation Planning Division and the American PlanningAssociation’s New York Metro Chapter, is pleased to announce this new award competition.

The Competition: This new award will recognize student projects with a substantial transportation planning and design component.

Submission Requirements: Individual students or student teams should submit:

  1. A summary ofno more than 500 words that clearly demonstrates the project’s application to transportationplanning and design;
  2. Three to five images illustrating proposed solutions to transportationrelatedneeds or challenges; and
  3. A brief letter of recommendation from a faculty member.

Eligibility and Rules:

  • Projects must have been originally created by a single student or group ofstudents for a graduate‐level studio or capstone project completed during the fall of 2009;
  • A project may be submitted only once; submissions may not be revised and resubmitted;
  • Atitlepage must be included with student name(s), address, degree program and school, date of projectcompletion, and a phone number. No name or other identification should be included on imagesor text summary;
  • Entries will only be accepted via e‐mail; PDF is the preferred format.

The Award: The winning submission will receive a modest honorarium and be announced on the APA Transportation Planning Division and APA NY Metro Chapter websites and in the RudinCenter’s New York Transportation Journal, an electronic publication viewed by thousands ofreaders. The winning project will be posted along with the submitted images and project summaryas part of the Journal’s New Voices feature.

Selection Criteria: A committee of Rudin Center staff, NYU Wagner planning faculty and APAmembers will review all submissions using blind review. The materials will be judged on:

  • Relevance to a current need or challenge in transportation planning and design;
  • Quality ofgraphic images and effectiveness in illustrating a solution to a transportation need or challenge; and
  • Innovation in approach to resolving a transportation need or challenge.

Submissions are due by 5:00pm on March 1st, 2010 to rudin.center@nyu.edu. Download the competition flyer here.

Please contact Emily Dowdall at (212) 998.7450 with any questions.

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2010 ITS America Annual Meeting Student Essay Competition

February 22, 2010 at 7:13 pm

ITS America’s 20th Annual Meeting & Exposition, scheduled forMay 3-5, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas will provide transportation professionals and policymakers the necessary tools and strategies they need to create communities that are safer, cleaner, more livable and less congested.

This year’s theme is “Connecting Communities through Smart Transportation Solutions.” We will also provide you with important policy insight from government officials and planning insights from leading transportation practitioners.

The competition, held in conjunction with the 2010 ITS America Annual Meeting & Exposition and sponsored by Southwest Research Institute, provides an opportunity for today’s transportation and engineering students to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking and enjoyable competition and to build awareness of a career path with unlimited potential in the ITS industry.  Contest guidelines are attached.

2010 Student Essay Competition Guidelines

The Student Essay Competition is designed to encourage student interest and future participation in the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and solutions. The objective of the essay competition is to provide an opportunity for today’s transportation and engineering students to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking and enjoyable competition and to build awareness of ITS as a career path with unlimited potential.  Essays will be judged on their creativity, quality of exposition, originality, depth of knowledge, and awareness of ITS issues and challenges.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Authors must be graduate or undergraduate full-time students enrolled in an accredited institution of learning in the U.S.
  • Entries are limited to one paper per student and should be original, unpublished work of an individual student.

Essay Topics

Essays must be based on one of the following topics.  You may also focus the paper on the sub-topics listed:

Topic 1:  Cooperative Systems

  • How cooperative systems will quantitatively improve the performance of standalone active vehicle safety systems?
  • One of the challenges of implementing cooperative systems is the penetration rate required.  What are the barriers to achieving the necessary penetration rates in order to realize system level benefits of a specific cooperative system/application?
  • Describe relevant research into the application of multi-agent/intelligent agent theory on current transportation challenges.

Topic 2: How will Traffic Management evolve, possible subtopics:

  • What new technologies/approaches will be used for collecting traffic status data?
  • How will regions integrate their data to provide consolidated views for the traveling public?
  • How can the information dissemination to travelers be improved?

Essay Format Requirements

  • The cover page must include the title of the essay, author’s name, name of school, mailing address, phone number, and the student’s e-mail address and phone number.  The author’s name and essay title should appear at the top of all other pages.
  • Essays should be typed, double spaced, and appear on 8 ½”x11” white paper.
  • A complete bibliography should be included, if appropriate.
  • Essays are not to exceed 2,000 words in length, must be written by only one person, and should not have appeared in any publications other than in school publications.
  • Essays will be evaluated considering: writing quality and clarity; interest of the topic and content to the broad Intelligent Transportation Systems industry; analysis and reasoning; timeliness, originality, and creativity; quality and use of research; and compliance with these rules.

AWARDS

The 1st, 2nd , and 3rd place winners will :

  • receive $1,500, $1,000, or $500 respectively to cover expenses of their trip to the conference.
  • receive a complimentary full registration to attend the conference.
  • have the opportunity to present their winning essay at the dedicated Interactive Session area in the exhibit hall on Tuesday, May 4, 2010,
  • have their winning essay displayed on the Student Essay Competition Web page of ITS America’s
  • be featured in nationally-distributed press releases.

Application Procedure

Entries must be submitted in electronic formats.  Essays must be accompanied by a cover letter from a faculty advisor or department chair.  E-mail essays to Edgar Martinez at emartinez@itsa.org by 5 p.m. (EST) on March 15, 2010.

Selection

Entries will be reviewed and the final selections made by a selection committee comprised of ITS America members and Southwest Research Institute representatives.  The winners will be notified on March 29, 2010.

ITS America and Southwest Research Institute strongly encourage the winners to be present for the awards ceremony on Monday, May 3, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas.

Questions should be directed to Edgar Martinez at 800-374-8472 ext. 4223 or emartinez@itsa.org.   For more information, please visit the 2010 ITS America Annual Meeting website.

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Event Alert: IBM Hosts “A Smarter Transportation System for the 21st Century” Forum in Washington, DC – Feb 25, 2010 @ 9AM

February 17, 2010 at 8:04 pm

Please RSVP to transprt@us.ibm.com

When: Thursday, February 25, 2010

Time: 9:00 – 11:45 a.m.

Where: The Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-318, Washington, DC 20005

The rising trends of globalization, urbanization and exponential population growth are applying pressure on our already stressed transportation networks. Leaders of public and commercial transportation systems face daunting challenges including predicting demand, optimizing capacity, improving the traveler’s experience, and maximizing efficiency – all while reducing environmental impact and continuing to assure safety and security. Fortunately, new approaches and technologies are delivering solutions to meet these challenges.

The need for progress is clear. There are now more than 475 urban areas with more than 1 million people residing in them. That’s an increase of 573% from 1950 when there were only 83. That translates into more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas. Transportation congestion continues to grow, wasting time and money while creating more pollution. Most of the developed world’s transportation infrastructures were designed decades ago and reflect the available technology, population and requirements at that time. Simply, the infrastructure responsible for moving the world’s people and things is inadequate.

Meanwhile, transportation investment remains a hot topic in Washington due to federal stimulus funding and new surface transportation legislation that Congress is working to pass.

Please join IBM on Thursday, February 25, 2010, for an exclusive forum in Washington D.C. which will bring together policy makers, transportation companies, metro planners and academics to discuss the future of transportation and how new innovations and investments can bring about speedier and greener passenger travel.

Hosted at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C., the forum will examine society’s need for updated transportation infrastructures– using technology to predict travel times, manage capacity and promote safer transport. Prominent transportation leaders from government and industry will discuss powerful strategies and solutions to dramatically improve our transportation systems.

Participants will include Congressman Earl Blumenaur from Oregon, Dr. Robert Bertini, Deputy Administrator, US DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Janet Kavinocky from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Judge Quentin Kopp, former Chairman of California High Speed Rail Authority, and other distinguished guests.

We value your perspectives and insights on this important topic and look forward to your participation in this collaborative event. Further details will be provided upon your response.

RSVP: transprt@us.ibm.com

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