CITT Town Hall 2025 Calls for Port Town Resilience

From left to right: Dr. Noel Hacegaba, COO for the Port of Long Beach; Commissioner Bonnie Lowenthal, Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners; Robert Loya, CEO for the Harbor Trucking Association; Sal DiCostanzo, Port Liaison for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union; and Dr. Tom O'Brien, Associate Dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Education at CSULB.

The Cabrillo High School Marching Jaguars perform during the event's opening reception.

This year’s CITT State of the Trade and Transportation Industry Town Hall celebrated the legacy of resilience in our Port Town communities. Town Hall attendees ranged from supply chain and transportation industry veterans to community stakeholders to students—each in their own way reflecting on the importance of global trade to our community. After an opening reception with performances by Cabrillo High School’s Marching Jaguars and Spirit Squad, the crowd gathered in the auditorium to hear welcoming remarks from representatives in local government and education, celebrate the presentation of the Domenick Miretti Award to Guy Fox, and glean insights from an expert panel. More than 300 people gathered at Cabrillo High School in West Long Beach for the event. California State University, Long Beach and the CITT team are grateful to all participants and attendees for making the 2025 Town Hall a success.

METRANS advisory board member Jodie Muller was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) effective September 1. Muller previously served as WSPA’s Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, a position she has held since 2019. As a METRANS advisory board member, Muller provides invaluable insight and guidance in service of METRANS' mission to solve transportation problems of large metropolitan regions.

METRANS researcher and Cal State University, Long Beach professor Gwen Shaffer is leading a research team that has secured a $1.5 million National Science Foundation grant to develop a mobile privacy assistant app and dashboard for Long Beach residents. Tyler Reeb, Executive Director of the Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) will serve as a co-PI on the research team.

Chris Swarat, Dean of the College of Professional and Continuing Education at Cal State University, Long Beach announced a new Port of Long Beach contract with CSULB’s Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) to support Port-sponsored pathways at three Long Beach Unified School District high schools. 

The METRANS Transportation Consortium was established in 1998 as the first University Transportation Center in Southern California. METRANS is a joint partnership of the University of Southern California (USC) and California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

METRANS' mission is to solve transportation problems of large metropolitan regions through interdisciplinary research, education, and outreach. Its three primary objectives are: (1) fostering independent, high quality research to solve the nation's transportation problems; (2) training the next generation transportation workforce; and (3) disseminating information, best practices, and technology to the professional community.