UC Berkeley to Host Volvo Research Center

A team led by Carlos Daganzo, Robert Horonjeff Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has won a $2.4-million, five-year grant from the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations to establish a Center of Excellence in the area of Future Urban Transport. The announcement was made Feb. 27, 2004.

The Berkeley Center for Excellence at the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) will study the mutual interdependence of urban transportation policy and technology with an emphasis on sustainable transportation strategies. As explained in the application, the Center will address this question on three levels: strategic, so that research is guided by a city's vision of its own future; tactical, where "policies are tailored for specific environments"; and operational, where "technologies are developed and the results fed back into tactical-level decisions."

"This is an excellent opportunity to help improve cities around the globe by advancing and testing new ideas in a collaborative research environment involving leading transportation technology and policy thinkers, top-notch students and a network of prominent international partners," said Daganzo.

In addition to Daganzo, the research team includes five other CEE faculty members: Professor Michael Cassidy, Assistant Professor Arpad Horvath, Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) Director Professor Samer Madanat, Assistant Professor Raja Sengupta and Adjunct Professor Alexander Skabardonis, as well as two faculty members from the Department of City and Regional Planning.