The population of the United States is concentrated in urban areas; 82% reside in over 500 urban areas. Despite many benefits, high urbanization leads to various environmental issues, such as polluted urban road runoff, the surface stormwater created by urbanization. Urban runoff largely from impervious surfaces such as roadways and parking lots is recognized among major nonpoint pollution sources for surface water, groundwater, and soil. The transportation-associated sources of runoff pollution are principally vehicles and atmospheric deposition.

This proposed work examines the relationships among: (i) sense of place; (ii) non-motorized sustainable travel choices and accessibility; and (iii) adoption and use of mobile information and communication technologies (ICT). A guiding principle in designing the built environment for sustainability and livability is a sense of place which leads users and visitors to perceive and associate a strong identity or character with a particular location.

Currently the university is working on a mobile computing application for automating the collection process of field inspection data using iPads or Android Tablets. The application contains standard forms of the specifications that appear in the Standard Specification of Road and Bridge Construction book. With these forms the application intends to provide a method of uniform inspection that assures the quality of highway projects.

According to the EPA, 28% of all 2011 GHGs for the US are from transportation related sources1. These are the second largest sources of GHGs in the US after electricity. The US is also the second highest CO2 emitter after China2. These emissions are primarily from burning fossil fuels for transportation usage. While vehicles have become more environmentally friendly with lower emissions, there has still been a steady rise in GHGs from these modes of transportation.

This project assembles long-run historical data of American vehicle ownership, travel behavior, and attitudes about travel, in order to cast light on the recent downturn in American driving. The project will make three contributions to our understanding of travel behavior. First, assembling heretofore neglected historical data will provide an unprecedented view of how American travel has evolved over the last 80-100 years.

This research proposes Smart Bus System (SBS) powered by bus-to-devices wireless communications technology including, but not limited to, 3G, 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), and Bluetooth. SBS is an innovative urban bus operation system integrated with Information Technology (IT) to enhance the efficiency of bus operation, to encourage bus ridership, and to improve the mobility and sustainability of urban transportation.

The objectives of this research proposal have been divided into two phases to address the major issues of concern. Phase I includes a thorough literature review and assessment of laser technology to be utilized for real-time characterization of aggregate properties in the laboratory, while Phase II addresses field implementation and training of personnel.

Vehicle routing problems (VRPs) have been studied extensively and, therefore, there are many algorithms and techniques already developed for the VRPs. In VRPs, the common objective is to minimize the distance travelled or time spent for the travel. That is, the objective is to achieve profitability and/or quality by minimizing the total travel time and/or distance. In disaster relief vehicle routing problems, the objective is quite different; loss of life and human suffering need to be minimized, which may weaken most algorithms and techniques developed for the VRPs.

Man-made or natural disasters, either noticed or un-noticed, could result in severe life losses and property damages. Hurricane Sandy, for example, made landfall in a heavily populated urban area (New Jersey and New York City) in late 2012, causing117 deaths in the US and 69 more in Canada and the Caribbean, and leaving millions of people homeless and billions of dollars of damages.

Evidence is rapidly accumulating that attaining the full set of benefits from Automated Vehicles (AVs) will require that they do not merely mimic human-driving behavior.