A new school year is beginning, and the weather is just starting to cool off–great for biking, walking, and transitioning to sustainable transportation! We are excited to share some exciting news about recent happenings both here and abroad, awards, publications and upcoming events of note. We are also delighted to announce a few additions to our ITS-Davis team! We hope to see you in Davis soon. Wishing you all a splendid fall! | | |
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Roland Hwang is joining ITS-Davis as Policy Director. In this role, he will help the institute to increase the policy impact of its research. He will consult with policy makers in the field—government, industry, and NGOs—to identify the key policy questions they are facing where new analysis can help improve the decision-making process. This position will help to better disseminate ITS-Davis' ongoing research to policymakers, as well as develop new research | |
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directions to keep the institute on the cutting edge of policy research. Some of the immediate projects Roland will be working on include addressing the topics of EV grid integration, battery circularity, and advancing transportation electrification in the Global South.
We are delighted that Roland will be joining our team. He brings with him over 30 years of research and policy making experience in government, NGOs, and climate philanthropy. Roland holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from UC Davis, and a master’s degree in Public Policy from UC Berkeley. He has worked with Director Sperling and ITS-Davis researchers since the early 1990s. In addition, he has served on the ITS-Davis Board of Advisors since 2017. For more information about Roland, check out his full bio here.
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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. | |
The current cohort of Environmental Justice Leaders spoke about their work in mobility, energy, and environmental justice. The event was attended by researchers, government officials, and policymakers.. | |
New Student Orientation and Mobility Quest
September, 2024
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This four-day experience introduced incoming ITS-Davis students to the ITS-Davis research community and current transportation-related topics. | |
Second Annual European Transport & Energy Research Centre Conference
September, 2024
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At the annual ETERC conference in Ghent, Belgium, this September, numerous meetings and panel discussions were held. The two-day conference focused on an equitable and cost-effective shift to sustainable transportation that will be a win-win for climate, the environment, industry, and society. Stakeholders included the European Commission, US DOE and companies such as Amazon, BMW, BP, DHL, Iberdrola, Milence, Neste, Shell, Total, and Traton. Intergovernmental organizations such as IEA, IRENA, and ITF and nongovernmental organizations such as ICCT and the European Federation for Transport and Environment also participated. | |
This summer, participants gathered to advance the adoption of zero-emission heavy duty trucks in California and continue California’s bi-lateral efforts with China. This day-long forum brought together leaders of Chinese companies that use battery-swapping trucks, researchers studying battery swapping in the US, and stakeholders. They discussed potential benefits and challenges of developing and implementing battery-swap technology in California. The forum was co-hosted by the California State Transportation Agency, California Energy Commission, and ITS-Davis. | |
Strong Performance by UC Davis EcoCAR Team
The UC Davis EcoCAR team had a successful year-two at the EcoCAR EV Challenge competition in Arizona this May. The team walked away with many awards and honors, including a strong finish in fifth place out of fifteen teams. This was a significant step up from their eleventh-place finish in 2023. The team received individual awards recognizing effort and accomplishments this year. Some areas of focus were software integration with hardware and safety. The team was able to get the vehicle up and running with their new powertrain this summer.
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The 2024 UC Davis EcoCAR team. | |
The team took home first place in (1) Propulsion Controls and Modeling Presentation, (2) Communications Presentation, (3) Over the HIL, (4) Best Schematics, and (5) Winter Project Status Update Report. They placed second in Overall Communications Program, third in MathWorks Modeling Presentation, and were runner-up in the Excellence in Leadership category. The UC Davis EcoCAR team is advised by Drs. Michael Hill and Shima Nazari from Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Chris Nitta, an ITS-affiliate in Computer Science and Engineering, and Dahlia Garas from ITS-Davis. | |
Student Video Receives Recognition from US EPA
TTP Ph.D. Student Trisha Ramadoss was named to the Honorable Mentions list for a video she submitted to the US EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality’s My Electric Ride: An EV Transportation Video Challenge. Check out her video titled, Waiting for the Electric Bus.
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2024 NCST Undergraduate Summer Research Fellows
Congratulations to our fourteen 2024 Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship awardees on another successful program year! The NCST fellowship program provides undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with UC Davis faculty, professional researchers, and graduate students on research projects related to environmentally sustainable transportation. Our 2024 awardees recently concluded their fellowship with presentations and reports on the research they’ve contributed to. See their contributions here.
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2024 NCST research fellows, fellowship mentors, and NCST staff on presentation day. | | |
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Sydney Cliff was recently hired as the NCST’s new Research Program Manager. In this position, Sydney will manage the full project portfolios of the NCST, the ITS-Davis Statewide Transportation Research Program, and will also assist with the set-up of the new Center for Emissions Reduction, Resiliency, and Climate Equity in Transportation. | | |
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Kari Watkins charts a sustainable future
Kari Watkins brings contagious confidence to the objective of building sustainable transportation systems. Brimming with energy, enthusiasm, and skill, she has rapidly established herself as a force at ITS-Davis. Watkins says she came to UC Davis in 2022 because, “Here, I can bring amazing people from ITS and Civil Engineering together with government agencies to connect research expertise to policy, working hand-in-hand.”
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California can have ubiquitous safe routes for cyclists and pedestrians and a world-class transit system that inspires changes elsewhere, in Watkins’ view. Her efforts toward these goals are well underway.
In May 2024, the Department of Transportation funded a new ITS-Davis Center for Emissions Reduction, Resiliency, and Climate Equity in Transportation (CERRCET), which will be led by Watkins. This center will make an immediate connection between research and real-world applications. Watkins looks forward to the role because, in her words, “We’re creating tools that can be used right away by cities and states and working on projects that directly inform policy at government agencies.”
Watkins serves as co-director of the Transit Research Center at ITS-Davis and was appointed to the California Transit Transformation Task Force established by SB 125 in December, 2023. The task force will develop policy recommendations to grow transit ridership, improve riders’ experiences, and address long-term operational needs. Her involvement gives her frequent opportunities to interact with leaders at transit agencies, metropolitan planning agencies, non-profits, and the state to bring research to policy.
Learning from abroad is a passion for Associate Professor Watkins. In 2024, Watkins received a Mandela-Washington Reciprocal Fellowship to spend three weeks in Kenya studying matatus, mini-buses that comprise an informal transit system. While in Kenya, she met with government officials in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu. They discussed new bus rapid transit systems, access to transit, and roadway safety.
To create memorable learning experiences for students, Watkins leads a study abroad course in the Netherlands each summer. While traveling, students see and experience solutions that can be applied in the US. “I love to go to places where they’ve built their transportation systems in ways that support healthy communities. The transportation system in the Netherlands is something we could achieve here if we move forward and invest in bikeable and walkable cities and transit.”
This fall, Watkins is teaching an undergraduate transportation design course in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. She applies a multimodal lens to the traditional engineering highway design course.
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The Transit Research Center team presented at numerous academic conferences and meetings around the world, including Vienna, Austria; Bogota, Columbia; Nairobi, Kenya; Chicago, and Los Angeles, US.
New study areas include how vehicle miles traveled are impacted by service improvements, the interface between transit and micromobility, and the role of gender in public transit perceptions and use.
ITS-Davis was well-represented at the seventh International Conference on Women and Gender in Transportation held in Irvine, California, in September. Professor and NCST Director Susan Handy, TRC Director Susan Pike, Associate Professor and TRC Co-Director Kari Watkins, and students Carolina Lecompte, Naomi Panjaitan, and Claire McGinnis attended. Handy, a longtime member of the TRB committee, participated in a panel discussion regarding the accomplishments over time. Watkins spoke in a plenary session on women’s safety research with a focus on cycling. McGinnis spoke on accessibility metrics and Pike, Panjaitan, and Lecompte presented posters on rail access and availability of modes.
| In September, members of the International EV Policy Council, chaired by the EV Research Center, met in Ghent. Researchers from Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and the US discussed the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles, the role of plug-in hybrids and fuel cell vehicles in the transition to zero-emission transportation, and emerging trends in the light-duty vehicle market. | 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 Centre is supporting a cooperative agreement for clean transportation among a dozen South Asian countries. This work will help countries achieve nationally determined contribution commitments to greenhouse gas emission reductions in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. An analysis by ITS-Davis researchers identified six priority areas for policy action and completed five training sessions for policymakers from participating countries. This project began in August and is supported under the Global Climate Action Partnership of the US State Department. | Aditya Ramji has been invited as a Special Advisor to the Global Council for Responsible Transition Minerals under the Paris Peace Forum to be held in November. | The India ZEV Centre jointly organized and participated in the August Asia Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS) Partnership Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, in partnership with UN agencies, NREL, and the US Government to support clean transportation action in the Asia Pacific region. | Represented by affiliate researcher Shivani, India ZEV Centre jointly hosted a roundtable on critical minerals and energy transitions at the Indonesia Sustainability Forum in Jakarta in September. Partners included UN Sustainable Energy for All, Swaniti, and KADIN (Indonesian Chamber of Commerce). | 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. | Directors Circella and Lee and team member Xiatian Summer Iogansen presented research at the 17th International Conference on Travel Behavior Research conference in Vienna, Austria, in July. | In August, Carolina Lecompte presented her research on high-speed rail at the 35th International Geographic Congress 2024 in Dublin, Ireland. |
National Center for Sustainable Transportation
The inaugural USDOT Future of Transportation Summit was held in August, 2024, in Washington, DC. Dr. Susan Handy, Director of the NCST, led the Environment Session and organized stakeholder panel discussions. This invitation-only event was attended by nearly 500 academics, federal agency representatives, legislative staff, students, industry professionals, and others.
| The NCST sponsored two Transportation Research Board conferences over the summer. ITS-Davis researchers presented their work to diverse audiences. The Transportation Symposium on Environment, Energy, and Livable Economies was held in August, in Denver, Colorado. | |
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Comparative Assessment of the EU and US Policy Frameworks to Promote Low-Carbon Fuels in Aviation and Shipping
Cazzola, Murphy, Kang, Ro, Wolff, Teter
Mobility Justice: A New Framework
Smith, Herda, Hsu, Freeman, Barba Sanchez, Gadnis, McCullough
A Blueprint for Improving Automated Driving System Safety.
D'Agostino, Michael, Ramos, Correa-Jullian
Correlates of Modal Substitution and Induced Travel of Ridehailing in California
Giller, Young, Circella
Investigating Objective and Subjective Factors Influencing the Frequency and Purpose of E-Scooter Trips Kothawala,
Haddad, Ozbilen, Circella, Saridakis, Wadud, Yang, Grant-Muller, Castellanos, Bhat
American Micromobility Panel (Part 2): Transit Connection, Mode Substitution, and VMT Reduction
Fukushige, Fitch-Polse
Pair of white papers: Sustainable EV Market Incentives: Lessons Learned from European Feebates for a Zero Emissions Future and Equitable Revenue-Neutral Incentives for Zero-emission Vehicles in the United States
Fulton, Ramji, Jenn
More publications can be found by searching the ITS-Davis publications database.
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