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
August 2, 2017
Associate Professor, Konstantina (Nadia) Gkritza was awarded a fellowship by the Greek Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to Greece to work with Prof. Eleni Vlahogianni of the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece on collaborative research in smart and shared mobility and mentoring graduate students in transportation planning and engineering.
June 22, 2017
Purdue will host the 13th annual Inter-University Symposium on Infrastructure Management (AISIM) at multiple campus locations Friday (June 23). AISIM is an all-day event featuring information exchange and networking opportunities primarily for graduate students. The symposium often includes researchers and practitioners including infrastructure agencies, consultants and other stakeholders.
June 15, 2017
Tariq U. Saeed, a graduate student in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering was recently named a national Eno Fellow, Class of 2017, a select group of exceptionally promising graduate students who plan to pursue careers in transportation.
June 2, 2017
Samuel Labi, Professor of Civil Engineering, has been elected Vice President of the Transportation Research Forum, a prominent international organization that focuses on transport policy.
June 2, 2017
Kumares Sinha, Edgar B. and Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, has been named a Faculty Fellow of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS) at Texas A&M University. HIAS attracts world-class talent to the University and is driven by nominations of National Academy and Nobel-prize caliber researchers that align with existing strengths and ambitions of the University. The Institute selects its Faculty Fellows from among top scholars in the nation who have distinguished themselves through outstanding professional accomplishments and recognition.
May 31, 2017
Purdue's Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Student Chapter has completed another successful year. They recently won the award for the Best Student Chapter Report in the Great Lakes District and are currently in the running for the ITE International level award for the Best Student Chapter.
May 15, 2017
CE graduate student Seyed Ali Ghahari will attend the Making Academic Change Happen Workshop 2017 on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technlogy, supported by the National Science Foundation as an Emerging Educator.
April 27, 2017
Congratulations to CE grad student Davis Chacon-Hurtado on being awarded the Outstanding Service Scholarship. This scholarship is presented to engineering graduate students who have provided outstanding service to the graduate student community, the School, the College, and/or the University.
April 18, 2017
Congratulations to the Purdue University student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers for being named the ITE Great Lakes District Student Chapter of the Year.
March 16, 2017
The 103rd Purdue Road School Transportation Conference and Expo was the largest Road School on record at 2,709 attendees. This year's event included 155 technical sessions involving 327 speakers and moderators. The program had 164 Professional Development Hours (PDHs) available, including 4 hours of Indiana Statutes and Ethics for Professional Engineers.
March 14, 2017
Purdue Global Ambassador Davis Chacon-Hurtado focuses his research on the civil engineering of transportation systems in city environments. In particular, he is investigating the possible factors that make communities resistant or resilient to disruptions and economic shocks that can affect their quality of life and the role transportation can play in this resiliency.
March 9, 2017
Tariq Usman Saeed, a doctoral student in Transportation & Infrastructure Systems Engineering, has been appointed as a young member to the Standing Committee on Statistical Methods (ABJ80) and the Standing Committee on Bridge Preservation (AHD37) of Transportation Research Board (TRB) of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. He was appointed in recognition of the active roles he continues to play in the functions of these committees.
February 7, 2017
Purdue University will lead research to determine why some communities recover from natural disasters more quickly than others, an effort aimed at addressing the nation's critical need for more resilient infrastructure and to enhance preparedness.
December 13, 2016
Over the past year there has been a strong interest in using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for transportation research. JTRP and Advanced Aviation Analytics Institute for Research (A3IR CORE) have developed a partnership where A3IR CORE was awarded a Certificate of Operating Authority (COA) for operating in Class D airspace adjacent to the Purdue Airport.
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.
