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
October 25, 2024
Purdue University hosted the 4th Annual Conference on Next Generation Transportation Systems (NGTS-4) on September 21st and 22nd at the Purdue Discovery Park District in West Lafayette, Indiana.
October 4, 2024
The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (Oct. 4) ratified the appointment of Satish Ukkusuri as the Hubert and Audrey Kleasen Professor in Civil Engineering
September 19, 2024
Satish V. Ukkusuri, Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering and director of the Urban Mobility Networks and Intelligence (UMNI) Lab at Purdue, has been selected to be part of the summer 2024 class of INFORMS Senior Members.
September 17, 2024
Imagine simply telling your vehicle, “I’m in a hurry” and it automatically takes you on the most efficient route to where you need to be. A Purdue University research team, led by Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering Prof. Ziran Wang, has found that an autonomous vehicle can do this using ChatGPT.
September 11, 2024
Autonomous Motorsports Purdue (AMP), advised by Lyles CCE professor, Samuel Labi, exhibited the club’s autonomous go-kart at the Innovation Paddock, in conjunction with the Autonomous Karting Series (AKS) organization.
September 5, 2024
Researchers from Purdue's Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) and across the globe are employing data analytics, connected technologies and other innovations to help make intersections safer and more efficient.
August 28, 2024
In this recent article published in Nature magazine, Reilly Professor of Civil Engineering Satish Ukkusuri and his research collaborators outline best practices for implementing a comprehensive, strategic approach to combat the adverse effects of climate change on transport systems.
August 16, 2024
Purdue University will host the 4th Annual Conference on Next Generation Transportation Systems (NGTS-4) on Sept 21st and 22nd at the West Lafayette Campus, in a hybrid format (both in-person and virtually).
August 9, 2024
Deepak Benny, CCE doctoral graduate student, was selected to participate in a national panel discussion at the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) "P3s in Transportation" conference held in Washington, DC, July 16-18, 2024.
August 2, 2024
Samuel Labi, Professor of Civil Engineering, and CCE student Jelin Sabu teamed up with members of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute to represent Purdue at the 1st Annual Artificial Intelligence Maritime Maneuver Indiana Collegiate Challenge (AIM ICC) held at the Pokagon State Park in Angola, IN, June 25-27, 2024.
August 2, 2024
Professor Samuel Labi joined a distinguished panel of speakers on “Lessons Learned from the Key Bridge Collapse – Enhancing Resilience in Critical Infrastructure Systems” at the University of Maryland (UMD) on May 22, 2024.
August 2, 2024
Professor Samuel Labi, together with CCE students Richard Ajagu and Jelin Sabu and ECE graduate student Sashank Modali, hosted the 2nd Annual AKS competition at the Purdue Grand Prix track in West Lafayette, IN, May 20-23, 2024.
July 24, 2024
Congratulations to the Purdue Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Traffic Bowl Team on winning the 2024 ITE International Collegiate Traffic Bowl Grand Championship! The traffic bowl is an annual competition among ITE student chapter teams, and uses transportation planning and engineering topics for the clues, questions and answers.
July 17, 2024
In honor of Prof. Jon Fricker on the second anniversary of his passing, our transportation and infrastructure systems graduate students unveiled a new fridge and microwave — donated by Prof. Sam Labi — in the grad office.
July 16, 2024
In one of the inaugural posts on Purdue's new research blog, Assistant Professor Ziran Wang discusses his recently published research comparing the centralized and decentralized variants of federated learning and their impacts on the privacy of user data.
June 26, 2024
CE grad student Mohammadhosein Pourgholamali received the Purdue University College of Engineering Outstanding MS Thesis Award for Spring 2024 for his thesis titled, "Robust design of electric charging infrastructure locations under travel demand uncertainty and driving range heterogeneity."
May 30, 2024
Nadia Gkritza, Professor of Civil Engineering and Agricultural and Biological Engineering, will join the 2024 cohort of the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) fellowship program at Drexel University.
May 14, 2024
Congratulations to the Purdue University Student Chapter of Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) for being selected to receive the 2024 Student Chapter Award. The Student Chapter award recognizes a chapter that has provided an exemplary experience for its members with robust programming and outstanding administration.
May 2, 2024
The Indiana Department of Transportation, Cummins, White Construction, and Purdue ceremoniously broke ground May 1 for a highway segment where Purdue engineers will test a system they designed to wirelessly provide power to a heavy-duty electric truck traveling at highway speeds.
April 10, 2024
CE grad student Deepak Benny received honorable mention for best student paper at the 65th international meeting of the Transportation Research Forum conference.
