USDOT Funds ‘Innovative, Resilient, Equitable’ Transportation Research

The USDOT selected five National, nine Regional and 20 Tier One UTCs (depicted on map) for research funding that “will help the next generation of transportation professionals make our roads, bridges, rail, shipping, and airspace safer, more innovative, and more efficient.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Feb. 21 reported distributing up to $435 million in grant awards to 34 University Transportation Centers (UTU), which conduct research that supports the “safe, efficient, and environmentally sound movement of goods and people.”

Each UTC is a consortium of two- and four-year colleges and universities that come together to form a “center of transportation excellence” on a specific research topic, according to USDOT. “Together, they advance U.S. technology and expertise in the many disciplines comprising transportation through education, solutions-oriented research and technology transfer, and the exploration and sharing of cutting-edge ideas and approaches.”

This round of UTU Program funding, USDOT said, “will help the next generation of transportation professionals make our roads, bridges, rail, shipping, and airspace safer, more innovative, and more efficient.”

The department reported receiving a total of 230 grant applications—the largest number ever submitted in 35-year-old program’s history. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act), five National, nine Regional and 20 Tier One UTCs were selected to respectively receive $4 million, $3 million and $2 million annually for five years. 

Prairie View A&M University was the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to become a National UTC grantee. An additional four HBCUs are lead consortia of UTCs selected for an award, and another five consortia members are Hispanic-Serving Institutions/Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). Overall, there is a record number of HBCUs, MSIs and Tribal colleges participating this year, according to USDOT.

The five National UTCs selected are:  

1. National Center for Transportation Cybersecurity and Resiliency: Clemson University will lead a group focused on cybersecurity. This UTC will continuously monitor and address “the vulnerabilities of cybersecurity associated with transportation cyber-physical-social systems (TCPSS),” according to USDOT. “TCPSS uses computations and communication embedded in and interacting with physical processes to add new capabilities to transportation systems.” This UTC is slated to identify challenges and threats across transportation modes, geographies and applications, and to develop advanced cybersecurity strategies and solutions for multimodal transportation. The consortia members are Benedict College, Florida International University, Morgan State University (MD), Purdue University, South Carolina State University, University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, University of California at Santa Cruz, and University of Texas at Dallas.
2. National Center for Sustainable Transportation: University of California, Davis will lead a group focused on the environment. This UTC will focus on “accelerating equitable decarbonization that benefits both the transportation system and the well-being of people in overburdened and historically disadvantaged communities,” USDOT reported. It will concentrate research activities on “vehicle technology to accelerate lower greenhouse gas emissions, infrastructure provision, and reshaping travel demand.” The consortia members are California State University Long Beach, Georgia Institute of Technology, Texas Southern University, University of California Riverside, University of Southern California, and University of Vermont.
3. National Center for Infrastructure Transformation: Prairie View A&M (Tex.) University will lead a group focused on infrastructure. This HBCU-led UTC will “develop and transfer into practice new technologies or approaches not currently deployed in the transportation system, including novel data and technology approaches related to artificial intelligence and environmental stewardship/resilience,” according to USDOT. The research aim: to develop and deploy interoperable data platforms and technology systems for transportation planning and infrastructure operations. The consortia members are Arizona State University, Blinn Community College (Tex.), Michigan State University, Rutgers University, and Texas A&M University.
4. Center for Understanding Future Travel Behavior and Demand: University of Texas at Austin will lead a group focused on mobility. This UTC will execute the “Transportation Heartbeat of America Survey” to collect longitudinal data and “understand how travel behavior and demand is evolving,” according to USDOT. “By undertaking this breakthrough research for measuring, monitoring, modeling and managing traveler behaviors, it aims to foster the design, development and operation of a people-centric, multimodal, intelligent transportation system that meets the needs of people, institutions and businesses.” The consortia members are Arizona State University, California State Polytechnic University Pomona, City College of New York, Diné College (Navajo Nation), Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, and University of Washington.
5. Safety21: Carnegie Mellon University will lead a group focused on safety. This UTC is slated to implement “an innovative system-of-systems approach to integrate autonomous, connected, electric and shared vehicles (ACES) technologies into transportation networks,” USDOT said. “The research will address challenges of connected/automated vehicles (simulation, systems design, validation and testing) and infrastructure (planning, design, condition assessment and monitoring) to equip U.S. companies with innovative technologies including AI, data analytics, connectivity, edge computing and smart infrastructure.” The consortia members are Community College of Allegheny County, Community College of Philadelphia, Morgan State University (Md.), Ohio State University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. 

The nine Regional UTCs and 20 Tier One UTCs will address reducing congestion, reducing transportation cybersecurity risks, preserving the environment, improving the durability and extending the life of transportation infrastructure, improving mobility of people and goods, promoting safety, and preserving the existing transportation system.

“The work performed by our next generation of diverse transportation researchers at these Centers will help the American people travel more safely, quickly, and affordably,” said Dr. Robert C. Hampshire, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology.