The Transportation Research Institute (TRI) forms an umbrella organizational structure that encompasses a large, diverse, and continually changing research, education, and outreach community. A fundamental goal of the Institute is the stimulation of interdisciplinary research on contemporary transportation issues, and their social and environmental consequences.
Faculty members, staff researchers and graduate students from across the campus, take part in TRI's multidisciplinary programs. Affiliated academic departments offer a broad range of graduate and undergraduate courses and seminars in transportation engineering, planning, policy, economics and technology. The TRI also works with the Department of Urban Planning in the School of Architecture, the Policy Research Institute, and other partners.
Research endeavors cover a broad spectrum of transportation issues, with foci on:
- New component and system technologies that advance knowledge of vehicular and transportation systems;
- The development of a new generation of vehicles, with improved energy efficiencies and lowered pollutant emissions, increased safety and durability;
- Planning and development of new tools that can be used to design, model and analyze components, transportation systems and environmental impacts;
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- Analysis and simulation of urban traffic networks;
- Artificial intelligence/expert systems in transportation;
- Transportation/land use interactions, particularly those which encourage alternative modes of travel;<\li>
- Energy and environmental issues, particularly demand for alternative fuels; and
- Growth of automobile use in the U.S. and Western Europe.
The Institute's academic curriculum and involvement as partners in research prepares students with the technical and critical thinking skills they need to contribute to the decision-making process. The Institute's outreach program, in concert with its research and education activities, offers real-world input to the university, and, in turn, provides policymakers and the public with new research and information on emerging transportation technologies and trends.
The Institute has formed partnerships with research centers on and off campus, and with industry, government, and nongovernmental organizations. The Institute serves as a host for visiting scholars from the U.S. and abroad in order to facilitate cooperative research and information exchange; it also sponsors conferences and colloquia to disseminate research results.
