US DOT Volpe Center: Advancing Transportation Innovation for the Public Good

Highlights of 2016 Transportation Research and Thought Leadership

U.S. DOT Volpe Center sent this bulletin at 02/02/2017 08:08 AM EST

Volpe, The National Transportation Systems Center

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

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Volpe The National Transportation Systems Center

U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

January 31, 2017

Volpe's 2016 Reports

Volpe published more than 75 reports and conference papers in 2016 spanning a myriad of transportation research topics. Check out our work on vehicle-to-vehicle technology, bicyclist and pedestrian safety, rail safety, technology transfer, and much more.

Events

Our Shared Transportation Future

Monday, February 6, 2017
12:00 - 12:45 p.m.

The next 15 years will look different than the last 15 years. What will we do with that knowledge? In this talk, General Darren McDew will discuss coming challenges and opportunities.

Learn more and register to attend via webinar.

A Look Back on 2016 with Volpe’s Annual Accomplishments

Each year, Volpe collaborates on hundreds of projects that shape how people and goods move throughout the U.S. and abroad. Our Annual Accomplishments report highlights some of Volpe's best work from 2016. Read the full story.

Meet Gregory Joyner, Our Newest Technical Center Director

Volpe is pleased to announce that Greg Joyner has joined us as director of Air Traffic Systems and Operations. Joyner comes to Volpe from the FAA and brings more than four decades’ experience in executive leadership, program management, and multidisciplinary engineering research and development. Read the full story.

New Patent Shows Potential for Eye-Tracking Technology in Transportation Safety

What do aeronautical charts have to do with safe driving? Volpe’s chief of Aviation Human Factors, Maura Lohrenz, used aeronautical charts to help develop a patent that analyzes where and how we focus our attention to visual stimuli, with potential safety impacts for all transportation modes. Read the full story.

Exploring the Landscape for Hyperloop Travel

Riders in a conceptual hyperloop pod could cover the 400 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles in about half an hour. Yet for all the time-saving promise of hyperloop, there remain questions about passenger comfort, costs, land use, and safety. A recent Volpe report for NASA explores the feasibility of hyperloop travel. Read the full story.

Volpe Property Redevelopment Agreement Signed with MIT

The U.S. General Services Administration has signed a $750 million exchange agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, paving the way for the redevelopment of Volpe’s 14 acres of federally owned land in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Read the full story.

Interactive Report Out Now on The Future of Transportation

Volpe’s 2016 thought leadership speaker series The Future of Transportation advanced the national dialogue on challenges and opportunities for the U.S. transportation system and addressed three main themes: safety, opportunity, and innovation. Read the full story.

Volpe Staff at U.S. and International Events

Volpe staff were featured at the following events in January:

The transportation community gathered to learn about new research and share ideas at the 96th Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, held January 8-12 in Washington, D.C. Volpe staff from across the organization presided over sessions and presented papers on a diverse array of transportation topics. Learn more about these TRB activities.
Anne Aylward, Stephen Popkin, Maura Lohrenz, and Don Fisher presented “Fighting Operator Impairment: Creating a Collaborative Research, Learning, and Technology Hub” to NHTSA senior managers on January 5. The group strategized how to tackle transportation operator impairment—such as distraction, drugs and alcohol, and fatigue—as a cross-modal safety issue.