Transportation and Infrastructure Systems Engineering
As a branch of civil engineering, transportation engineering has a history that is long and illustrious and a future that is full of promise. The National Academy of Engineering has identified restoring urban infrastructure and implementing smart mobility as grand challenges. We need coordinated approaches to tackle transportation issues by integrating car, rail, bus, truck, walking and bicycling to meet sustainability goals. Currently, we see how smartphones have enabled ride sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, while taxis and GPS-equipped cars and trucks are providing massive amounts of data that was unimaginable a few years back. Before long, it may be common to have vehicles are talking to infrastructure (V2I) and vehicles talking to each other (V2V). Traffic flow with automated vehicles is expected to be much safer and more efficient than with human drivers.
The journey to that future will be fascinating and challenging. The safe and efficient movement of people and goods relies on infrastructure. Highways, airports, railroads, waterways and pipelines need to be planned, designed, operated, and maintained. Purdue's Transportation and Infrastructure Systems Engineering faculty offer a wide range of classes, research facilities, and experiences. Their efforts will have noticeable impacts on challenges such as:
- Asset management
- Data acquisition and analytics
- Emergency response
- Energy
- Freight Transportation and Logistics
- Environment
- Smart Mobility
- Sustainability
- Urban infrastructure
The award-winning Purdue Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers introduces students to the transportation profession and fosters a close association of students with practicing engineers, educators from other institutions, and local and national chapters of ITE.
Spotlights
December 13, 2016
On December 2nd, JTRP hosted FHWA Indiana Division Administrator Mayela Sosa and her colleagues, Jermaine Hannon, Keith Hoernschemeyer, Jose Ortiz, and Karen Stippich. Highlights of the visit included tours of the Bowen Laboratory, CAI/S-BRITE Center, and Hampton Hall with displayed posters and demonstrations by JTRP researchers.
November 18, 2016
The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) awarded the 2016 Innovation Award for the Peer-to-Peer Adaptive Signal Control System in Moab, Utah. Purdue's Lucy Richardson, Chris Day, and Professor Darcy Bullock worked with UDOT colleagues Mark Taylor and Matthew Luker to evaluate this system.
November 2, 2016
Xianyuan Zhan, a graduate student in Lyles School of Civil Engineering, was awarded the prestigious JSMF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Complex Systems this year. The James S. McDonnell Foundation was established in 1950 by aerospace pioneer James S. McDonnell to "improve the quality of life," and does so by contributing to the generation of new knowledge through its support of research and scholarship.
September 12, 2016
Tariq Usman Saeed, a graduate student in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, has been awarded a one semester sponsorship by Fulbright to attend MIT's Advanced Study Program (ASP) for Fall 2016.
August 26, 2016
Dr. Kumares Sinha, the Edgar B. and Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, received the inaugural MAIREPAV Lifetime Achievement Award at the 8th International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Pavements in Singapore.
August 16, 2016
Congratulations to our Purdue Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Traffic Bowl Team on winning the national ITE Traffic Bowl competition in Anaheim! This is an annual competition among ITE student chapter teams, and uses transportation planning and engineering topics for the clues, questions and answers.
August 4, 2016
A team of researchers led by Satish Ukkusuri, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been selected to receive a $2.48 million National Science Foundation CRISP grant to address our nation's critical need for more resilient infrastructure and enhanced services.
August 4, 2016
Satish Ukkusuri, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been selected as an honorary professor of Tsinghua University for 2016-2019.
July 9, 2016
Thomas Hall, a PhD candidate in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, has been selected to receive an Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year. The Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship is administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Universities and Grants Program and awards competitive fellowships to students in transportation-related disciplines.
June 30, 2016
CE students Michelle Mekker and Margaret McNamara placed first in the poster contest of the Midwestern + Great Lakes ITE conference held this week in Chicago.
June 28, 2016
Congratulations to the Purdue Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Traffic Bowl Team on winning the Great Lakes district competition! This annual competition among ITE student chapter teams uses transportation planning and engineering topics for the clues, questions and answers.
May 25, 2016
On May 9, nineteen students from Civil, Mechanical, Industrial and Construction Engineering embarked on a 12-day trip led by Professor Darcy Bullock to study 21st Century European multi-modal Transportation Infrastructure in London, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
May 13, 2016
Darcy Bullock, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been given the Faculty Engagement Fellow Award from Purdue University's Office of Engagement. Prof. Bullock is recognized for his work with the Indiana Department of Transportation, specifically for his efforts to help engineers identify critical research problems and produce solutions.
May 13, 2016
Arif Mohaimin Sadri, a doctoral candidate in the transportation area advised by Prof. Satish Ukkusuri, is the recipient of the 2016 Excellence in Research Award from the Office of Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs, Purdue University for his successful interdisciplinary project titled as "The Role of Social Capital, Personal Networks, & Early Responders in Post-disaster Recovery."
April 25, 2016
Tariq U. Saeed, a graduate student of Transportation Engineering working in the research group of Professor Samuel Labi, has been chosen to receive a spring 2016 PCCRC graduate student travel grant.
April 20, 2016
On Wednesday, April 13th, the Lyles School of Civil Engineering hosted the German America Chamber of Commerce for a seminar on the innovation of energy efficiency in transportation systems. The event kick-off was a poster session in the Woods Commons to highlight some active research projects and give students an opportunity to engage with German transportation specialists.
April 12, 2016
Lisa Lorena Losada Rojas, an undergraduate student from Colombia who was hosted here at Purdue last year through the Purdue-Colombia Institute, has been recognized for having the best thesis in her field at the National University of Colombia.
April 12, 2016
Nadia Gkritza, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering and Agricultural and Biological Engineering, was presented with the Jane F. Garvey/UMass ITE Transportation Leadership Award for her demonstrated leadership and outstanding skill in the field of transportation.
March 21, 2016
The 102nd Purdue Road School Transportation Conference and Expo broke another record with over 2,600 attendees.
March 8, 2016
Tariq Usman Saeed, a Ph.D. student in transportation systems engineering, has been awarded a 3-month paid fellowship to carry out research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich.
