Juan Carlos Muñoz Abogabir received his Ph.D. (2002) in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley. Dr. Muñoz Abogabir made a profound impact on Chilean academics and politics, emerging as a leading figure in public transport, specializing in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Metro systems, Traffic models, Logistics, and Operations research.
Currently serving as Chile's Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications since March 2022, Dr. Muñoz Abogabir has also been appointed as Full Professor in the Department of Transport Engineering and Logistics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile where he served since 198. In that period he founded and led the international BRT Centre of Excellence, the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (Cedeus) and the Institute for Sustainable Development.
As an academic, Dr. Muñoz Abogabir’s has taught a large variety of courses as Sustainability, Queuing Theory, Optimization, Public Transport and many others. He has co-authored over 100 papers in peer reviewed journals and been involved in scientific committees and editorial boards of journals and renowned conferences like CASPT (where he acted as Convenor), ISTTT, and Thredbo.
As a public policy player his contributions to transportation includes roles as member of the board for Metro of Valparaiso and Metro of Santiago. He also had an advisory position for the creation and evolution of Santiago’s integrated public transport system. Dr. Muñoz Abogabir has been pivotal in shaping Chile's transport strategies.
Dr. Muñoz Abogabir's commitment to Berkeley CEE is evident in his consistent contributions to seminars and conferences, fostering academic exchange, and advancing transportation research. He recently gave a fireside chat hosted by the Institute of Transportation Studies on the signing of a significant MOU.