Summer in Academia offers an opportunity to reflect on the previous school year and look ahead to the next one. Over the past year, ITS-Davis affiliates have made meaningful connections locally and globally, secured major funding, and worked hard to advance sustainable transportation research. We’re already planning for Fall 2024 events and are looking forward to seeing you there! | |
A huge congratulations to our recent Masters and Ph.D. graduates! [VIDEO]
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Ph.D.
Tisura Gamage
Hang Gao
Xiatian “Summer” Iogansen
Hossain Mohiuddin
Aditya Ramji
Daniel Orlando Rivera Royero
Ran Sun
Nanako Tenjin Wong
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Masters
Daniel Byrd
Jonathan Gruen
Musharrat Jahan
Aurojeet Jena
Laedon “Ray” Kang
Claire McGinnis
Naomi Panjaitan
Kevin Hernandez Rios
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Major Award Funds New Center | |
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In May, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced that it will provide $1.7 million to fund a new ITS-Davis Center dedicated to Emissions Reduction, Resiliency, and Climate Equity in Transportation.
Professor Kari Watkins, whose proposal was awarded, and who will lead the new center, stated, “We are grateful for the opportunity and look forward to working in partnership with USDOT on vital topics such as trip reduction, bicycle-transit connections, reduction of emissions from materials, and disaster resilient infrastructure.”
The Center will support the Nation’s clean energy goals, spur innovation and support research-backed transportation decisions. It will also address environmental inequities created by the transportation system.
US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “The funding and the new research center...will help develop the solutions we need to reduce carbon pollution from transportation and improve the resiliency of our infrastructure—and help turn those findings into national policy.”
Partner institutions include California State University Long Beach, Texas Southern University, University of California, Riverside, University of Southern California, and the University of Vermont. More information can be found here.
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September 10-11, 2024
Sint Veerleplein 5, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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November 12, 2024
UC Davis Alumni Center
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November 13-14, 2024
UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) Ballroom
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Registration is required for all upcoming events. | |
Transit Research Symposium
May 2024
| Public transit stakeholders, practitioners, policy makers, and researchers gathered at the third annual Transit Research Symposium in April 2024. Presentations and workshops highlighted microtransit in the US and abroad, micromobility, public transit, and transit access and development. More information here. | |
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STEPS+ Spring Symposium
May 2024
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The spring symposium hosted nearly 200 experts from industry, government, academia, and NGOs for presentations, posters, and discussions. Keynote speakers included Josh Newman, California State Senator, and Ann Shikany, USDOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy. Topics included alternative fuels and clean energy supply chains, decarbonization of shared mobility, the EV charging experience, sustainable freight, and US-Europe market and policy comparisons.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9bOzh0uQ8c
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ITS End-of-Year Picnic
June 2024
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Our annual end-of-year picnic brought together ITS and EEI faculty, staff, students, and their families for an afternoon of fun in the sun on the West Village lawn. Of special note this year were the inflatable entertainment, yard pong competition, and misters to beat the heat. Thanks to all who came out to celebrate another great year at ITS-Davis! | |
Recent promotions and arrivals include:
- Peter Ambiel, MS EGG, is starting a new role as Senior Strategic Business Planner at SMUD
- Jesus Barajas was promoted to Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy
- Aditya Ramji was named Director, India ZEV Centre and Director, Global South Clean Transportation Centre
- Prashanth Venkataram is now a Senior Professional at Cambridge Systematics Inc. in Bethesda, MD
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“My favorite part of this job is supporting the cutting-edge research that is moving us to a more sustainable transportation system,” says Grant Matson, an ITS-Davis alum now working as a key staff member at the institute. Matson has two roles at ITS-Davis: he serves as the Program Manager for the 3 Revolutions Future Mobility Program and as the Administration and Governance Officer for the World Conference on Transport Research Society. | |
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Matson graduated from the Transportation Technology and Policy Graduate Group with a master’s degree in 2021. He says, “The TTP program was a great way for me to switch industries by learning the foundations of transportation policy and academic research.”
Matson previously earned an MBA from Fordham University and a B.Sc. in Business Administration from the Marshall School of Business of the University of Southern California. He conducted research on micro-mobility travel behaviors as a Future Mobility Intern at the BMW Technology Office USA in Silicon Valley.
Matson’s academic expertise and interests include discrete choice modeling, transportation demand analysis, transportation policy, research design, and climate economics and policy.
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Leslie Baroody
(Retired from the State in May 2024)
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Reid (Rusty) Hefner
Vice President of Strategy, South 8 Technologies
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Kathleen Yip
Program Officer, Climate Imperative Foundation
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Transit Research Center Co-Director Kari Watkins received a US State Department Mandela-Washington Reciprocal Fellowship supporting travel and outreach to Kenya in March. She met with the Kenya office of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and with the Kenyan Urban Roads Authority in Nairobi, Kisumu, and Mombasa. She also met with the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority to learn about their bus rapid transit projects and conducted a workshop on traffic safety and transportation infrastructure. Watkins rode on matatus–privately owned minibuses used as share taxis–and met with operators to understand their informal transit system. | National Center for Sustainable Transportation Director Susan Handy, Transit Research Center Co-Director Kari Watkins, Assistant Professor Beth Ferguson, and Bailey Affolter gave presentations at the 2024 World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research in Bogota, Columbia, in June 2024. Beth Ferguson moderated a session on transit and presented her work with Angela Sanguinetti, entitled Integrating Micromobility with Public Transit: A Case Study of the California Bay Area. Susan Handy discussed the project Exploring the Effect of Micromobility Use on Daily Travel Patterns, Mode Shift, and Car Ownership and led a workshop related to her book Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking about Transportation. Kari Watkins, Bianca Mers, and Michael Hunter were nominated for an award for best paper at the conference. | EUROPEAN TRANSPORT AND ENERGY RESEARCH CENTRE | India Centre Director Aditya Ramji, European Transport and Energy Research Centre (ETERC) Senior Fellow Christoph Wolff, and ETERC Director Pierpaolo Cazzola presented at Transforming Transportation 2024, in March at World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC. This event brought together global leaders and transport professionals to work toward greener, safer, more resilient transport for all, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. | ETERC director Pierpaolo Cazzola attended the Sustainable Biofuels Workshop in Paris, France organized by the International Energy Agency in April. The event convened stakeholders from government, industry, international organizations and the public to discuss opportunities and challenges of ramping up sustainable biofuels, regulatory frameworks for carbon accounting, sustainable feedstock, and new technologies that could expand feedstock supply and boost its diversity. | Director Cazzola and ETERC senior fellows Jacob Teter and Christoph Wolff (also CEO of the Smart Freight Center) organized a panel discussion at the Smart Freight Week in Amsterdam, Netherlands in April. ITS-Davis representatives and members of the hydrogen-merit-order industry consortium participated in a workshop on truck decarbonization. | Director Cazzola presented at the International Transport Forum roundtable on managing competing sectoral demands for renewable energy in the transition to sustainable transport. The event was held in Paris as part of the ITF 2025/25 Programme of Work, at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. | EV Research Center representatives Gil Tal, Alan Jenn, and Scott Hardman attended the 37th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition EVS Conference (EVS) in Korea in April. They visited universities and regulators, along with representatives from the California Energy Commission. | EV Research Center and STEPS+ Director Gil Tal attended the Transatlantic Transportation Decarbonization Summit 2024 hosted by the International Council on Clean Transportation in June in Quebec, Canada. | INDIA ZEV RESEARCH CENTRE | The India ZEV and Global South Centers have been designated the technical leads for the Leadership Group on Clean Transport for Asia (LG-CTA) organized under the US State Department Global Climate Action Partnership, in collaboration with the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. LG-CTA provides technical assistance to 11 countries in Asia to support setting and meeting Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0 goals. | India ZEV Centre representatives and the Government of the State of Telangana hosted a session on framing a zero emission truck policy for the state in June. The session highlighted Telangana's efforts to augment manufacturing capacity and an overarching framework for accelerating the adoption of electric trucks. | India ZEV Centre and ITF co-hosted a session with NDC Transport Initiative for Asia at a workshop organized by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) in Bangkok, Thailand in June. Panelists Anannya Das, Rijhul Ladha, representatives of Asian Development Bank, and members of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific discussed pathways to zero emission trucking (ZET) as part of GIZ’s NDC Transport Initiative for Asia. The Initiative also included a joint report by ITF and ITS India Centre on the pathway to ZET in India. | 3 REVOLUTIONS FUTURE MOBILITY PROGRAM | 3RFM Director Giovanni Circella and Co-Director Yongsung Lee visited government agencies, universities, and public research institutes in Gothenburg and Lund, Sweden in May. This ongoing research collaboration, Transatlantic Cooperation for Leveling Up Mobility as a Service, is funded by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems. For the next site visit in California, 3RFM will organize meetings, workshops, and visits to government agencies and industry partners for Swedish collaborators. | The Velo-City Conference took place in Ghent, Belgium in June. 3RFM Director Circella presented a poster by his student Xiatian (Summer) Iogansen on the role of cycling in enhancing multimodality in the Los Angeles, California region. | Director Circella organized the 2024 Inclusive Mobility Summer School for international students in Ghent, Belgium in June. ITS-Davis students Maha Ahmad and Justin Flynn attended. The program included lectures, workshops, group work and social-cultural events. |
EV Research Center and STEPS+ Director Gil Tal spoke at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Distributed Energy Resources member advisory meeting in Wisconsin in June. | EV Research Center and STEPS+ Director Gil Tal and ITS-Davis Director Dan Sperling participated in the Industry Studies Association annual conference in Sacramento, California in June. | Policy Institute for Energy, Environment and the Economy Deputy Director and Low Carbon Fuel Policy Research Initiative Co-Director Colin Murphy spoke at the People's Low Carbon Fuel Standard Workshop, in May. The event was held by a group of environmental justice organizations to inform the ongoing LCFS rulemaking process | ITS-Davis leadership met with Assemblymember Lori Wilson, the new Chair of the California Assembly’s Transportation Committee, to learn about her priorities as the Committee Chair and to introduce her to the wide range of impactful research underway at ITS-Davis, NCST, and UC-ITS. | |
Dahlia Garas participated in the panel on education and workforce development as part of the Greater Sacramento SelectUSA Spinoff: Cleantech and ZEV Ecosystem Tour. This gathering, hosted by the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, included clean energy and mobility leaders with company representatives from around the world in the cleantech and mobility spaces. Discussion focused on collaborations between local educational institutions and private industry and how we prepare students to participate in the clean technology and mobility fields by providing education, experiences, and opportunities. | |
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EV RESEARCH CENTER SUMMER WEBINAR SERIES
Learn about the status and outlook for EV adoption in California and beyond. Follow the link below to register. Future events will be listed here as they are scheduled.
June 25, 2024 (recorded): How Do We Increase Electric Vehicle Adoption Among Priority Populations?
July 30 2024: How Do We Improve the Public Infrastructure Network?
The public charging ecosystem is key to reaching EV adoption goals. However, California (like most states) is struggling to provide users with a seamless and user-friendly experience when using these systems. In this webinar the research team will share early results and findings from a statewide evaluation and analysis of EV chargers “in-the-wild.” Researchers will discuss structural and operational factors that are impacting the performance of the system and share shifts that can optimize the usability and effectiveness of this critical system.
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NATIONAL CENTER FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION WEBINAR
July 2, 2024 (recorded): New Insights Into How Micromobility Services Affect Vehicle Miles Traveled
Dr. Dillon Fitch and Tatsuya Fukushige shared results of a study based on a smartphone travel diary of micromobility users in 48 cities in the US. They shared modeling results that examined factors influencing mode substitution of micromobility trips and person-level daily VMT, and presented a conceptual framework for how to integrate the findings into a tool for cities to use to estimate potential VMT reduction from micromobility services.
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Open to Open-Loop: Payments Challenges for Public Transit
Pike, Turner, Chin, Nguyen
A Pathway to Zero-Emission Trucking in India Ramji,
Rijhul Ladha, Bhattacharjee
Navigating India’s EV Financing Landscape
Ramji, Jain, Kanuri, Mulukutla
Policies to Improve the Environmental Performance of Road Vehicles in the Western Balkans
Muñoz-Raskin, Gauthier, Espitia, Cazzola
Greener Micromobility
Cazzola & Crist
Impact of electric vehicle charging demand on power distribution grid congestion
Li & Jenn
A Quantitative Framework for Assessing Long-Trip Transportation Accessibility for Road Vehicles
Rabinowitz, Karanam, Gupta, Tal
Future of Global Electric Vehicle Supply Chain: Exploring the Impact of Global Trade on Electric Vehicle Production and Battery Requirements
Busch, Pares, Chandra, Kendall, Tal
Assessing the Total Cost of Ownership of Electric Vehicles among California Households
Chakraborty, Konstantinou, Gutierrez Lopez, Tal
Change in work arrangement during the COVID-19 pandemic: a large shift to remote work and hybrid work
Iogansen, Malik, Lee, Circella
A Survey of Universal Basic Mobility Programs and Pilots in the United States
Rodier, Tovar, Fuller, D'Agostino, Harold.
Simulating Bike Transit Trips Using BikewaySim and TransitSim
Passmore, Watkins, Guensler
Using Vehicle Miles Traveled Instead of Level of Service as a Metric of Environmental Impact for Land Development Projects: Progress in California (policy brief)
Volker, Hosseinzade, Handy
Effects of Road Collisions on the Travel Behavior of Vulnerable Groups: Expert Interview Findings
Bhuiya, Barajas, Venkataram
More publications can be found by searching the ITS-Davis publications database.
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California Drives Toward Electric Future
ITS-Davis researchers Alan Jenn and Dahlia Garas answer common questions on California’s zero-emissions mandates. UC Davis Magazine.
Colorado’s Bold New Approach to Highways - Not Building Them
Findings from the Induced Travel Calculator influence the Colorado DOT's decision to cancel major highway expansions. New York Times
Amid roadkill epidemic, California builds world’s largest wildlife bridge
Construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Overcrossing in Liberty Canyon and California Highway 101 is underway. The design was informed by ITS-Davis research, says Fraser Shilling. Washington Post
It’s one of California’s worst freeway bottlenecks. Will fixing it ruin the planet?
“These projects are being oversold to the public as a way to reduce congestion; they are not,” said Susan Handy, director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation at UC Davis. Los Angeles Times
USDOT awards $1.7 million in research funding to UC-Davis for Climate Change and Transportation Research Center
The new center, which will be led by Kari Watkins, will advance research and technologies to support the nation’s clean energy goals, accelerate decarbonization of the transportation sector, strengthen the resilience of the nation’s transportation infrastructure and address environmental inequities created by the transportation system. Mass Transit Magazine
A Pivot to China Saved Elon Musk. It Also Binds Him to Beijing.
Tesla and China built a symbiotic relationship, with credits, workers and parts that made Mr. Musk ultrarich. Now, his reliance on the country may give Beijing leverage. Yunshi Wang, director of the China Center for Energy and Transportation at the University of California, Davis, weighs in. New York Times
EPA’s new auto emissions standard will speed the transition to cleaner cars, while also addressing consumer and industry concerns
Despite the EPA’s decision to extend the timeline for implementing its new emission limits, Alan Jenn, a researcher at the Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California, Davis, remains confident that the new standards will “nevertheless push electrification nationwide.” The Conversation
Opinion: How a California climate win could end up destroying rainforests — and what to do about it
California-inspired renewable diesel is booming across the country. As the industry grows, however, it’s having some unintended consequences. Los Angeles Times
The state of EVs in California today
Gil Tal, director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California, Davis, joins Midday Edition Wednesday to discuss the outlook for EVs in California and the challenges that remain for their adoption. KPBS
The Challenge of Decarbonizing Long-Haul Trucking
Turning diesel-powered trucks into electric vehicles poses three significant problems, says Lew Fulton, director of the energy futures program at the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California-Davis. Time
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