August Regular

AUGUST 2020

Two CUTR students were recently named Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions, and Dollars (CTEDD) Scholarship recipients. Daniel Arredondo and Tobias Coon are students in the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF), and they are both passionate about transportation and how it affects communities.

As Daniel begins his last year as an undergraduate student, he is incredibly thankful for the scholarship as it will let him pursue his career goals after graduation from USF. “Moving from one place to another safely and efficiently is a challenge that interests me,” said Daniel. “Transportation engineering allows our communities to grow smarter and progress toward better functionality.”

Growing up, Tobias lived in a very low-income community that faced extreme transportation challenges. “I believe one of the key factors in the unequal distribution of wealth and class in our nation is tied to how we handle transportation, and I'm looking to contribute to fixing our system and making it better for everyone, regardless of who they are.” Tobias is also an avid cyclist who is beyond grateful to be named as a scholarship recipient.

USF earned two out of the nine awarded scholarships, and CUTR is extremely proud of both students’ hard work and dedication to transportation - on and off campus.

The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's pre-publication of TCRP Research Report 218 "Characteristics and Elements of Non-Punitive Employee Safety Reporting Systems for Public Transportation" compiles the best practices used in non-punitive employee safety reporting systems at transit agencies.

This report is by CUTR Program Director Lisa Staes & Senior Research Associate Jodi Godfrey.

CUTR Research Associate Mouyid Islam, Ph.D.'s paper entitled "Unobserved Heterogeneity and Temporal Instability in the Analysis of Work-Zone Crash-Injury Severities" is now available. Findings include driver injury severity in Florida work zones.

Research Support Specialist Alexander Cruz recently earned his GIS Graduate Certificate from USF. Cruz made a map to examine COVID-19 cases.

View COVID map

Student Highlights

The University of South Florida team won second place in the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) University Design Competition with their design entitled "Modular Operation Solution to Airport Baggage Transportation." Congratulations to the winners Zhiwei (Nicklaus) Chen, Xiaowei Shi, and Susan A. Bracken Faculty Fellow Xiaopeng Li, Ph.D.

CUTR hopes that you stay safe this August!

For more information, please visit www.cutr.usf.edu

CUTR was established in 1988 in the College of Engineering at the University of South Florida, in Tampa, Florida. CUTR’s mission is to proactively support implementation of innovative multimodal transportation solutions and develop leaders through research, education and action. Our work supports transportation agencies, the transportation profession and community, policymakers, and the public. CUTR provides high quality, objective expertise in the form of insightful research, comprehensive training and education, effective technical assistance and in-depth policy analysis, that translates directly into benefits for CUTR’s project sponsors. CUTR’s 45 research faculty, 60 students and post-docs combine academic knowledge and extensive “real world” experience in developing innovative, implementable solutions for all modes of transportation. The multidisciplinary research faculty includes experts in engineering, planning, computer science, economics, public policy, public health, and geography. CUTR logs nearly $20 million per year in expenditures through contracts and grants to support its research, education, training and technical assistance missions.