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Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to a new academic year. It really does feel like the beginning of a new chapter as many of us are returning in one way or another to campus this semester for in-person learning, work, research, and extra-curricular activities and all that makes campus so exciting. We begin the semester with high hopes, but we are also aware of the continued uncertainties and concerns born of the pandemic’s ever-changing nature and impacts. We urge you to watch campus messaging closely throughout the fall and beyond as we navigate our way through the semester together.
Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve welcomed a number of new, new to campus, and returning transportation graduate students from Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of City and Regional Planning, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Materials Science and Engineering to the campus and to ITS Berkeley. We are excited you are here and look forward to meeting all of you!
While we’ve welcomed a number of students, we also saw a number of retirees in the last year and a half during our work from home period. I’d like to recognize the hard work and dedication these employees have shown to ITS and its Centers: Maggie Lazar, Administration Manager and the Lab Safety Coordinator of the UC Pavement Research Center Berkeley, retired after 30 years of service; David Rapkin, Calibrations Manager of the UC Pavement Research Center Berkeley, retired after 16 years; Tom West, Co-Director of PATH, retired after 13 years; Bob Meade, Chief Operations Officer for PATH, retired after 11 years; alum Ching-Yao Chan (PhD ’88), Program Manager at PATH and Associate Director of Berkeley DeepDrive, retired after 27 years; Alexander Skabardonis, Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor In-Residence and ITS/PATH researcher, retired after 20 years; Joe Butler, Connected Corridors at PATH program manager, retired after 12 years; Lena Lau Stewart, BDD/BAIR Administrative Officer, retired after 30 years at UC Berkeley; Karen Chapple, Department of City and Regional Planning Professor, retired after 20 years at UC Berkeley: Paul Waddel, Department of City and Regional Planning Professor, retired after 12 years at UC Berkeley; and Professor Jennifer Wolch, Department of City and Regional Planning, retired after 12 years at UC Berkeley, including 10 years as the first female dean of the College of Environmental Design.
As we say goodbye to our colleagues, we are excited to welcome new colleagues and changes within our Centers. While plans for searches are in place for many positions, Zema Katsnelson has taken on PATH COO and Manager and Josh Bass is helping with administration operations at UC PRC. I’d also like to welcome Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Mara Laura Delle Monache and her expertise in mathematical modeling of traffic flow and mixed autonomy research to ITS.
We are also excited to announce ITS Berkeley has funded 13 new research proposals, including three equity specific and four equity focused proposals, totaling $854,697 through the Statewide Transportation Research Program (STRP) funded by the State of California through the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 1) and the Public Transportation Account. This year, projects cover a broad range of transportation topics and areas including pedestrian injury, cyber security, climate change, transit, truck movement, and autonomous vehicles. The three equity projects focus on providing alternatives to private vehicle ownership in low income areas, assessing and improving equity with California High-Speed Rail, and modeling equitable electrification of zero-emissions mobility.
We have a lot of new projects, people, and process on the horizon, and we are excited to see how the semester unfolds. I look forward to seeing everyone in person and online. Go Bears!
Alexandre Bayen
Director of Institute of Transportation Studies
Liao-Cho Professor of Engineering
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