News Stories

The SWUTC sponsored Undergraduate Transportation Scholars Program (UTSP) at Texas A&M University concluded it’s twenty-sixth successful year in August. This annual summer program, directed by Dr. Gene Hawkins, recruits upper-level undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds into a 10-week program designed to provide each student with a research/work experience that will help them get a […]

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Carol A. Lewis, Professor in the Department of Transportation Studies, and Director of the Center for Transportation Training and Research at Texas Southern University, and longtime SWUTC Executive Committee member and key researcher, has been selected as the recipient of the Transportation Research Board’s 2016 Sharon D. Banks Award for Humanitarian Leadership in Transportation. She […]

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The Transportation Research Board—one of seven program units of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—has initiated the Future Interstate Study and asked Dr. Mike Walton to serve on the study’s committee. Required by the federal FAST Act of 2015, this study will determine the actions needed to upgrade and restore the nation’s Interstate Highway System. This […]

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Kristie Chin Selected to Receive 2015 Robert Herman Award – Kristie Chin is a visionary leader in transportation with experience in performance management, strategic planning, and public policy. She is pursuing a M.S./Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin as a graduate research assistant to Dr. C. Michael Walton. Her research […]

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Megan Hoklas Selected to Receive 2015 Naomi Ledé Outstanding Masters Student Award – Megan’s passion for transportation engineering began while she was studying abroad in Vienna, Austria. Riding the U-bahn was her first encounter with a rapid transit system; experiencing its efficiency firsthand ignited a fire in her to learn more about transportation systems and […]

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Lacy Brown Selected to Receive 2015 William Harris Award – Lacy received her Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Idaho in 2006 and moved to Denver, Colorado to work as a transportation engineer for a small consulting firm. After gaining a few years of practical experience, Lacy decided to return to graduate […]

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Congratulations to SWUTC Executive Committee member, Mike Walton, who was named to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) Foundation’s “Transportation Development Hall of Fame.” This Hall was established in 2010, and “recognizes individuals or families who have made extraordinary contributions to US transportation development and demonstrated exceptional leadership over their lifetime.” The official induction […]

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The SWUTC sponsored Undergraduate Transportation Scholars Program (UTSP) at Texas A&M University concluded it’s twenty-fifth successful year in August. This annual summer program, directed by Dr. Gene Hawkins, recruits upper-level undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds into a 10-week program designed to provide each student with a research/work experience that will help them get a […]

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Dr. Clifford H. Spiegelman, distinguished professor of statistics at Texas A&M University, and key SWUTC researcher has been recognized as a 2014 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Spiegelman is one of two Texas A&M professors who are among the 401 AAAS members honored by their peers with the prestigious […]

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Brad Brimley represents the SWUTC at the 2015 UTC Student of the Year Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C.

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Lucien Bruno Selected to Receive 2014 Naomi Ledé Outstanding Masters Student Award – With a bachelor from Tulane University, Lucien pursued on his Masters at the University of New Orleans in Urban and Regional Planning. While at UNO, Lucien participated in the SWUTC research program assisting with issues related to transportation and land use policy. […]

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Meredith Cebelak Selected to Receive 2014 William Harris Award – After receiving her BS in Civil Engineering at the University of Florida in 2001, Meredith worked for 10 years in the private sector on issues related to intelligent transportation systems and traffic engineering.  She decided to continue her education at the University of Texas at […]

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CTR Director, and SWUTC Executive Committee Member and researcher, Chandra Bhat from the University of Texas was selected to receive the prestigious 2015 Hind Rattan, an award given by Government of India in conjunction with a non-profit welfare society for PIOs (People of Indian Origin) residing outside India. The Hind Rattan (a Hindi phrase, which […]

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Assistant Professor and SWUTC Researcher Stephen Boyles from the University of Texas was selected for the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC-ARTBA) New Faculty Award.  This award honors tenure-track educators who have made outstanding teaching and research contributions in the transportation field.  Dr. Boyles formally received the award at the CUTC Annual Awards Banquet on January […]

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On December 1, 2014, CTR was honored as Dr. C. Michael Walton was inducted into the Texas Transportation Hall of Honor. The ceremony took place at the AT&T Conference Center with many key figures in the Texas transportation field in attendance. The Hall of Honor, established in January 2000, provides the opportunity for transportation professionals […]

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University of Texas at Austin Professor, and SWUTC key researcher, Kara Kockelman is the recipient of a Google Research Award in the category of Robotics for her work on Anticipating & Mitigating the Latent Demand Effects of Self-Driving Vehicles: A Role for Data-Driven Modeling & Credit-Based Congestion Pricing.  This work built on her previous SWUTC project […]

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2014 Summer Undergraduate Program concludes with presentations to practicing professionals.

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University of Texas at Austin Associate Professor, and SWUTC Executive Committee member, Zhanmin Zhang has recently been selected to serve as Council Chair of the Mode Spanning Council by the Transportation and Development Institute’s (T&DI) Board of Governors.  T&DI is one of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) eight specialty institutes.  His term begins […]

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SWUTC researcher to chair TRB Transportation and Land Development Committee.

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Ming-Han Li, SWUTC researcher and associate professor in Texas A&M’s Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, has been elected vice president of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA).

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Name: Alison Conway Hometown: Philadelphia, PA Currently Residing: New York, NY Current job: Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the City College of New York and Associate Director for New Initiatives at the Region 2 University Transportation Research Center (UTRC). Affiliation with SWUTC:  SWUTC Advanced Institute scholarship recipient and researcher on SWUTC research efforts. Supervisor […]

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Rajesh Paleti, SWUTC doctoral graduate researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, was awarded the 2013 Milton Pikarsky Award for Outstanding PhD Dissertation in Science and Technology at the CUTC Annual Awards Banquet in January 2014.  Rajesh’s award winning dissertation “On Integrating Household Vehicle Ownership, Composition, and Evolution with Activity-Based Travel Models” looks at […]

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Christina Bernardo, SWUTC graduate researcher at the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Dr. Chandra Bhat, received the C.V. Wootan Award for Best MS Thesis in Planning and Policy at the CUTC Awards Banquet in January 2014.  Christina’s award-winning thesis “An Empirical Investigation into the Time-Use and Activity Patterns of Dual-Earner Couples […]

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SWUTC researcher and transportation engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Kara Kockelman was selected as the recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) James Laurie Prize in Transportation Engineering. She is recognized for “innovative data acquisition and analysis efforts, outstanding contributions to the study of highway safety and crash occurrence, […]

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Dr. Amit Bhasin, SWUTC researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded the New Faculty Award from CUTC during their January 2014 meeting in Washington D.C. This award recognizes significant achievements of young faculty members. “We are so fortunate to have Amit. He’s a research leader in his field, and an incredible […]

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SWUTC researchers part of team to be awarded the 2013 TRB Pike Johnson Award.  This award, given annually, is for an outstanding paper published in the field of transportation systems planning and administration. The winning paper, “Modeling of Household Vehicle Type Choice Accommodating Spatial Dependence Effects” was co-authored by Rajesh Paleti (SWUTC doctoral student researcher), […]

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Justin M. Ericson Selected to Receive 2013 William Harris Award – Justin is a doctoral student working in the Beck Visual Cognition Laboratory at Louisiana State University. Justin’s research interests are based in the areas of visual perception and attention. Specifically, his research has focused on studying how individuals can accurately identify, store, and track […]

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Kai Yin Selected to Receive 2013 Robert Herman Award – Kai Yin is a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University – College Station. Coming from a background in information and computation sciences, he joined the transportation engineering program in fall 2008, and first obtained his MS degree […]

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Christina Bernardo Selected to Receive 2013 Naomi Ledé Outstanding Masters Student Award – Christina Bernardo joined the MS program at UT Austin in Fall 2011, after completing her BS degree at Northwestern University (NU). The recommendation letters from her professors at NU that accompanied her application for graduate study at UT were nothing short of […]

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Khosro Godazi, SWUTC Associate Director for Transportation Research at Texas Southern University was elected as Southwest Region Director for the National Technical Association (NTA) on September 20, 2013. As the nation’s oldest (since 1925) technical association of minority scientists and engineers, NTA remains pledged to insure that science and technology serve the needs of the […]

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SWUTC Graduate Assistant Researcher Lisa Larsen received the Future Industry Spotlight Award during the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) National Convention held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sept. 8-10. Larsen works in TTI’s Transportation Planning group. The Future Industry Spotlight Award recognizes a student who achieved “an outstanding academic record and demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills […]

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Melissa Tooley, SWUTC Director at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), has been elected vice chairman at large for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Results of the nominating process were announced during ARTBA’s National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, September 8-12. Tooley’s election represents the first time a TTI employee has been elected […]

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TAMU undergraduate students gain valuable transportation research experience during TxDOT Summer Internship Program.

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Student discover career options during the 2013 Transportation Security Institute.

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Meredith Cebelak is a PhD student at the University of Texas in the SWUTC Advanced Institute program.  Here she discusses her Masters Thesis which uses social media check-in data for use in transportation models.

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At a recent forum on the University of Texas campus, Dr. Talia McCray discusses findings from two of her recent SWUTC research efforts – how to change the perceptions of cycling and transit use in the African American community.

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Students make final presentations to transportation faculty and staff.

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The SWUTC sponsored 2013 Undergraduate Summer Internship in Transportation (USIT) program at the University of Texas in Austin concluded it’s 11-week summer program on August 15th.

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During the July meeting of the TRB Automated Vehicle Conference at Stanford University, UT-Austin researcher, Dr. Kockelman presented the paper Environmental Implications of Shared Autonomous Vehicles Using an Agent-Based Model based on her recent SWUTC research work.  Here, she shares some key takeaways with us.

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New research findings suggest voice-to-text applications offer no real safety advantage over manual texting.

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The goal: to transform an erosion control and stormwater management lab into a premier hands-on teaching facility for low-impact development techniques and green infrastructure options.

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Chandra Bhat, SWUTC Executive Committee Member and key researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, is the recipient of the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.  The award recognizes “academics whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are […]

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Inconsistent traffic conditions forcing nation’s commuters to allow even more extra time for trips.

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A recent SWUTC study examines the deployment of solar-powered traffic control devices by evaluating the installation and maintenance costs of solar panels and LED retrofits versus traditional incandescent bulb installations.  Using data gathered in Houston, Texas researchers found that retrofitting traditional incandescent bulbs to LED, while initially costly, will yield benefits in less than five […]

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Dr. C. Michael Walton, SWUTC Executive Committee member and Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, was selected to receive the 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Presidents’ Award.  With this award, Dr. Walton is recognized for his exemplary career and contributions to civil engineering education and […]

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Texting drivers may believe they’re being more careful when they use the voice-to-text method, but new research findings suggest that those applications offer no real safety advantage over manual texting.

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Dr. Randy Machemehl, SWUTC Associate Director and Nasser I. Al-Rashid Centennial Professor in Transportation Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, was selected to receive the Distinguished Contribution to University Transportation Education and Research Award from the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) during their annual banquet in Washington D.C. in January, 2013. The […]

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C. Michael Walton, SWUTC Executive Committee member, professor of civil engineering and the Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, received the 2013 Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation. The award recognizes lifetime achievement in transportation, as demonstrated by a distinguished career in the field, professional […]

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Steve Boyles, SWUTC Researcher and Assistant Professor in Transportation Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, was a recent recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award. Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards from the National Science Foundation recognize promising young faculty and supports their research with five years of funding. Boyles’ proposal is […]

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SWUTC’s Travel Survey Symposium earns rave reviews by providing a forum for participants to exchange knowledge on best practices.

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Daniel J. Fagnant Selected to Receive 2012 William Harris Award Daniel Fagnant is a Ph.D. candidate in Transportation Engineering at UT Austin.  He obtained a B.S degree in Computer Engineering at Gonzaga University and his MS in Civil Engineering from UT.  After his undergraduate studies, Mr. Fagnant spent 5 years at the Alaska DOT’s Southeast […]

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Chelse L. Hoover Selected to Receive 2012 Naomi Ledé Outstanding Masters Student Award Ms. Chelse Hoover entered Texas Southern University in the fall of 2007 and graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering Technology, Cum Laude in the spring of 2011. Immediately after graduating, Ms. Hover was accepted into the Transportation Planning and Management graduate […]

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Jinpeng Lv Selected to Receive 2012 Robert Herman Award Mr. Jinpeng Lv is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University – College Station and expects to graduate in December 2012. Previously he earned his Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University – Kingsville in 2008. Over […]

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Mr. Cesar Queiroz, former World Bank Highways Advisor, was invited by the SWUTC to visit students and faculty at the University of Texas at Austin’s transportation engineering department on October 12 and give a presentation titled: “Technical and Financial Factors for Successful Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Projects.”  He spoke of the dire state of transportation funding […]

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Dr. Gene Hawkins, SWUTC Researcher, SWUTC Associate Director for the Transportation Scholars Program at Texas A&M University, SWUTC Executive Committee member and Associate Professor in the Texas A&M Zachry Department of Civil Engineering received the 2012 Wilbur Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award from ITE International at their Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, August 15th. ITE […]

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Chandra Bhat has been named director of the Center for Transportation Research (CTR) at The University of Texas at Austin. Bhat, a senior SWUTC researcher and professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, assumed the role of director on Sept. 1. He is the fourth […]

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The SWUTC sponsored 2012 Undergraduate Summer Internship in Transportation (USIT) program at the University of Texas in Austin concluded it’s 11-week summer program on August 9th with the student final presentations and  farewell reception.  This demanding and rewarding program conducted each summer, under the guidance of Dr. Chandra Bhat,  provides students with a unique insight […]

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The 2012 Summer Transportation Institute (STI) program was held from July 23rd through July 27th on the Texas A&M University-Kingsville campus.  The week long program featured several fun hands-on activities such as building bridges and constructing tetrahedral kites.  New to this year, the program included a solar power curricula where the students were able to […]

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Daniel Fagnant, SWUTC Advanced Institute doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin, was selected as author of the second annual William P. Eno Research Paper, by the Eno Center for Transportation. Each spring, the Eno Leadership Development Conference brings a select group of the top graduate students in transportation and related disciplines to […]

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The SWUTC sponsored Undergraduate Transportation Scholars Program (UTSP) at Texas A&M University concluded it’s twenty-second successful year in July.  This annual summer program, directed by Dr. Gene Hawkins, recruits upper-level undergraduate students from diverse academic backgrounds into a 10-week program designed to provide each student with a research/work experience that will help them get a […]

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With funding from USDOT to the SWUTC, researchers at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute have determined that a driver’s reaction time is doubled when distracted by reading or sending a text message.

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High school students explore topics in transportation security at the inaugural Transportation Security Institute held on the Texas Southern University campus in Houston. Students experienced fun hands-on technical activities, field trips, lectures and on-site seminars as they were introduced to various career opportunities in transportation security.

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Key SWUTC researcher and Texas Transportation Institute Research Engineer Amy Epps Martin was recently awarded the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (AAPT) Board of Directors Award of Recognition during their annual meeting in Austin, TX. Epps Martin also began her term as one of two AAPT Directors at Large. “I’ve been involved with this organization […]

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Dr. Zhanmin Zhang, SWUTC Executive Committee member and key researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, has received the 2012 James Laurie Prize from the Transportation and Development Institute within the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The James Laurie Prize recognizes contributions to the advancement of transportation engineering in research, planning, design, or […]

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Since beginning in 1988, the Southwest Region University Transportation Center (SWUTC) has grown into one of the most highly respected University Transportation Centers (UTC) in that U.S. DOT-sponsored program.

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Dr. Bruce Wang, key SWUTC researcher and Assistant Professor in Transportation Engineering at Texas A&M University, was the recipient of CUTC-ARTBA New Faculty Award presented during the January 21st Annual CUTC Awards Banquet in Washington D.C.  This award, presented annually, recognizes outstanding teaching and research contributions to the transportation field by a new tenure-track faculty […]

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SWUTC Advanced Institute student at the University of Texas at Austin, Mrs. Carey Blackmar Barr, was the 2012 recipient of the Wootan Award for Outstanding M.S. Thesis in Policy and Planning presented at the Council of University Transportation Centers Awards Banquet in Washington D.C. on January 21st.  This award is given annually for the best […]

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Shain Eversley Selected to Receive 2011 Naomi Ledé Outstanding Masters Student Award Mr. Shain Eversley, SWUTC graduate researcher and masters student at Texas Southern University was selected to receive this award for his outstanding academic and research achievements.  His research contributions include a leadership role in the SWUTC project Transit Agency Strategies that Encourage Mixed Uses […]

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Rajesh Paleti Selected to Receive 2011 Robert Herman Award Mr. Rajesh Paleti, Ph.D. student from the University of Texas at Austin, was selected to receive this award for his very high degree of motivation and dedication to his academic pursuits, combined with his spirit of camaraderie toward his fellow students.  Mr. Paleti has taken a […]

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Benjamin Sperry Selected to Receive 2012 William Harris Award Mr. Ben Sperry is a SWUTC Graduate Researcher in the Multimodal Freight Transportation Division of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University.  He is currently a Doctoral degree candidate in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, and expects to graduate with a Ph.D. in […]

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Dr. Dallas N. Little, SWUTC Executive Committee member and key SWUTC researcher at Texas A&M University, was selected a Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  Little is an associate director of the International Center for Aggregates Research and a senior fellow at the Texas Transportation Institute.  Distinguished Membership is the highest […]

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A paper co-authored by SWUTC key researcher Dr. Zhanmin Zhang, and two of his SWUTC supported transportation graduate students, Epigmenio Gonzalez and Wenxing Liu, was selected to receive the Best Paper Award by the 8th International Conference on Managing Pavements Assets (ICMPA). An award plaque for their paper based on their SWUTC research work  “A […]

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