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About the Center:
Introduction
Key Personnel Affiliated Faculty & Researchers Annual Reports & Strategic Plan Sponsors Advisory Board Awards and Recognitions Contact Us Accessibility |
Introduction
METRANS is the first and largest UTC in Southern California, home to nearly 2/3 of the state's population. The Los Angeles region is also the most congested metropolitan area in the U.S. and the only one in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s "extreme" non-attainment category for ozone. The region is a center for international trade: the Los Angeles/ Long Beach port complex is the largest container port in the U.S., and LAX is the 5th largest air freight center in the United States. As a center of both international trade and immigration, it is home to extreme wealth as well as extreme poverty, and has one of the largest transit-dependent populations in the country. METRANS is committed to addressing the transportation challenges of regions such as Los Angeles. METRANS' mission is to solve transportation problems of large metropolitan regions through interdisciplinary research, education and outreach. The University Transportation Center program has three objectives:
METRANS accomplishes these objectives through a comprehensive and collaborative program of research, education, information dissemination, and technology transfer organized around four topical focus areas:
The partnership of USC and CSULB brings together two large urban universities -- a combined student body of about 70,000 -- with complementary strengths. USC is among the nation's leading research universities, and CSULB is one of the largest teaching universities in California. The two universities together offer a full spectrum of education and training, from PhD to undergraduate and including professional training and certificate programs. Dissemination and technology transfer is accomplished via conferences, workshops, publications, and website. USC offers PhD and masters programs with transportation specialization in engineering, urban planning, public policy, and public administration. CSULB offers an interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Global Logistics. Professional development programs are offered through its Center for International Trade and Transportation at the College of Continuing and Professional Education. From its small core group of ten founding faculty, METRANS now includes over 100 faculty affiliates representing several fields of engineering, as well as urban planning, public policy, economics, and business. METRANS is the first university center to develop education and outreach programs for longshore labor. It is nationally recognized for its town hall events, which bring together stakeholders from throughout the international trade supply chain. METRANS has leveraged its core funding to develop major research programs at both universities, and, through its National Urban Freight Conference, helped to establish urban freight as a new specialization in transportation research. |
The METRANS Transportation Center is a US DOT University Transportation Center (UTC). Established in 1998 through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), METRANS is a joint partnership of the University of Southern California and California State University, Long Beach.