MIT
CTL Chosen to Lead USDOT Transportation
Research Center
Leadership
post comes with $6 million grant for
transportation research
August
17, 2006
CAMBRIDGE,
Mass., August 8, 2006 – The
MIT Center
for Transportation and Logistics
is pleased to announce that the US
Department of Transportation’s
Research & Innovative Technology
Administration (RITA) has named the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
as the lead university of the New
England University Transportation
Center.
The
New England Center is one of ten university
centers set up in each of the standard
Federal regions by USDOT to provide
a national resource for research and
education in both freight and passenger
transportation.
This
leadership appointment comes with
a $6.25 million grant for the New
England Center to be awarded over
three years. The MIT Center for Transportation
& Logistics (CTL) is the Institute’s
host department for the New England
Center and will therefore be the primary
recipient of the US-DOT RITA funds.
MIT
CTL was selected to lead the New England
Center based on the proposed research
theme: “Strategic Management
of Disruptive Change on Transportation
Systems.” This theme builds
on research currently being done by
the CTL AgeLab
in the area of aging and transportation,
specifically the impact of disruptive
demographics.
“We
live in an aging society - one baby
boomer turns 60 every seven seconds,”
said Dr.
Joseph F. Coughlin, founder of
CTL’s AgeLab and Director of
the New England University Transportation
Center. “These disruptive demographics
will force our region and our nation
to rethink and reinvent transportation
planning, safety, and mobility options,
as well as the future transportation
workforce.”
CTL
Director Yossi
Sheffi said the grant will provide
an opportunity to combine the unique
expertise of the AgeLab and talents
of each of the partner universities.
“Together we can improve the
responsiveness of our highway and
public transportation systems to the
demands of an aging society and to
prepare for the new challenges of
an aging transportation workforce,”
Dr. Sheffi explained.
The
partner universities of the New England
University Transportation Center led
by MIT include Harvard University
and the state universities of Connecticut,
Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island and Vermont.
For
more information on:
MIT
Center for Transportation & Logistics:
http://ctl.mit.edu
MIT
AgeLab: http://web.mit.edu/agelab
New
England University Transportation
Center: http://ctl.mit.edu/utc
Or
contact: Becky Schneck Allen at 617.253.4592
or bschneck@mit.edu
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