Connected Cities for Smart Mobility toward Accessible and Resilient Transportation
Read about projects, events, and announcements from the C2SMART Center.
In December 2022, the City of Buffalo in Erie County, New York experienced a “generational storm” that claimed the lives of 31 residents and brought activity to a standstill for nearly a week. Mayor Byron Brown commissioned the NYU Wagner School to conduct an analysis of the storm’s impacts and to identify actionable solutions aimed at improving preparation and recovery, and reducing loss of life and property in the future.
Over the course of May 15-18th, NYU Tandon hosted KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) for the first KN-C³ Workshop. KAIST faculty and students traveled from Korea for the four-day workshop for a research exchange between the two schools, which focused on transportation and urban research.
C2SMART students contributed to NYU Tandon’s Research Excellence Exhibit, held on Friday, April 28, 2023. This annual event illustrates the scope of advancements in research across the fields of engineering research and the applied sciences — and their potential for improving the world.
On March 28, 2023, C2SMART Center and NYU’s student chapter of ITE hosted the 5th Annual Women in Transportation Panel at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Over 50 rising transportation professionals attended the hour-long panel discussion focused on gender equity in the workforce and throughout global transportation systems. The panelists shared insights about their experiences as women in a male-dominated field of work, including gender challenges in transportation, advice for overcoming those challenges, and tips for aspiring transportation engineers and planners.
C2SMART Center is proud to announce that its proposal to form the Connected Communities for Smart Mobility Toward Accessible and Resilient Transportation for Equitably Reducing Congestion (C2SMARTER) Center was selected for funding by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). C2SMARTER is one of just twenty centers selected for Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC) designation under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) by U.S. DOT. The awards, announced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, provide $435 million to form UTCs around the country.
C2SMART is delighted to congratulate Daniel Ortiz, a graduate research assistant with the Rutgers Infrastructure Monitoring Evaluation Group (RIME), on his selection as the 2022 Council of University Transportation Center Student of the Year Award.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 102nd Annual Meeting was held in person, January 8–12, 2023 in Washington, D.C. This year’s theme, Rejuvenation Out of Disruption: Envisioning a Transportation System for a Dynamic Future, asked participants to envision transportation in a post-COVID world. C2SMART was well-represented at TRB this year, with 39 affiliated students and researchers presenting ongoing work.
The past year brought C2SMART more growth, progress, and partnership-building with communities and agencies. We initiated 11 new projects under our USDOT-funded research program ranging from artificial intelligence applications to transportation systems, equitable allocation of resources and technology, and digital twin modeling of infrastructure to improve resiliency of transportation systems. Ongoing projects produced significant contributions to the transportation field with direct implementations alongside industry and agency partners, and publications in some of the top journals and high-impact conferences in the field.
Over the past two months, C2SMART held a series focused on the latest research and deployment of Connected Vehicle (CV) technologies towards improving and making roadways safer and more secure for all users. USDOT recently completed a series of CV pilot tests throughout the country, and lessons learned form the research and findings from these deployments were shared, with a focus on the New York City pilot led by NYCDOT. C2SMART Center researchers and partners shared their experience with this cutting-edge work, culminating in a roundtable discussion on the future widespread implementation potential of this technology.
On Wednesday, November 16, 2022, Town+Gown: NYC held its annual Vision Zero Research on the Road symposium, a public event for city agency staff, academic researchers, and other analysts to share recent findings that relate to road safety. Various topics were covered during the symposium, including the intersection of sustainability and traffic safety, enforcement and education, emerging trends in e-micromobility, speeding, substances and driving, and road design. C2SMART Center Director, Dr. Kaan Ozbay, and Senior Research Associate, Dr. Jingqin Gao, were invited to present C2SMART at the event.