Experts in community mobility and community participation disseminated valuable knowledge on January 26th, 2019 at the third annual Sandra Edwards Colloquium hosted by the Occupational Therapy Department. The keynote speaker, Dr. Anita Bundy emphasized the value of assessing cognitive fitness to drive through an innovative iPad application titled, DriveSafe DriveAware. Dr. Lily Elefteriadou and Dr. Sherrilene Classen co-presented on the topic of "Connecting OT’s and Engineers Towards Improved Community Mobility." Dr. Elefteriadou discussed I-STREET and how occupational therapy can support future research.

Occupational Therapy (OT) researchers published, “Smart In-Vehicle Technologies and Older Drivers: A Scoping Review” in Occupational Therapy Journal of Research: Occupation, Participation and Health's special Issue on "Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation." This paper focused on the impact, specifically convenience, comfort, and safety, of In-vehicle Information Systems or Advanced Driving Assistance Systems-- on the driving task of older drivers. Twenty-eight studies were synopsized, including those using driving simulator assessments and on-road assessments. Findings suggest safety and comfort of older drivers may be enhanced with the use of in-vehicle technologies, if an individual’s cognitive workload is not compromised.

Dr. Yinhai Wang, a professor in transportation engineering at the University of Washington and founding director of the Smart Transportation Applications and Research Laboratory (STAR Lab), will be presenting on "Artificial Intelligence Applications in Large-Scale Transportation System Analysis" on Thursday, February 29, 2019 at the UF campus. 

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The next Highway Capacity Analysis Webinar Series presented by McTrans is scheduled for April 8-12 with a bonus session to cover simulation using TransModeler SE, now integrated with the HCS7 Streets module. This session will provide training on converting Streets analyses to TransModeler SE simulation runs that are HCM-compliant and include 3D animation and geo-referencing.