Current Research

METRANS funds research that addresses transportation issues within large metropolitan areas and contributes to our knowledge base through the development of improved technology, policies, operations, or management practices. METRANS encourages an integrated approach that blends engineering, policy, planning, business administration, and public administration expertise. Regular tenure track full-time faculty members and research faculty at the University of Southern California and California State University, Long Beach, are eligible to serve as Principal Investigators. Proposals may also include as Co-Principal Investigators research or non-tenure track USC and CSULB faculty, as well as regular tenure track full-time faculty members from other California universities. There have been 113 faculty members who have received funding for their research from METRANS through 2011.

METRANS issues requests-for-proposals (RFPs) on an annual basis to support its research program. METRANS follows a peer-reviewed proposal selection process in which each proposal is submitted to a minimum of five reviewers from universities, public agencies, and private firms. USC and CSULB faculty do not participate in the proposal review process. Selection for funding depends on a number of criteria, including relevance to the METRANS mission, intellectual merit, and student support. All research is expected to result in publications in refereed journals.

METRANS funds proposals in four broadly defined thematic areas:

• Goods movement and international trade
• Mobility of urban populations
• Infrastructure
• Safety, security and vulnerability

Through 2011, more than 150 proposals have been funded in these four topic areas. Nearly half have been in the area of goods movement.

The METRANS RFP is issued each spring. For information, please contact

Vicki Valentine, METRANS Administrator
METRANS
School of Policy, Planning, and Development
University of Southern California
650 Childs Way
RGL 238
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0626

 

Filter by: All Years 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 Current Archived All

Area	Proj.#	P.I. Names	Research Project
Goods Movement & International Trade	11-26	Tang-Hung Nguyen	Noise Mapping of Container Terminals at the Port of Los Angeles
Infrastructure	11-25	Tariq Shehab-Eldeen	Cost Estimating Model for Sustainable Rehabilitation of Road Projects
Goods Movement & International Trade	11-24		Computer-Aided Container Handling Assistance for Ergonomic Crane Operation
Infrastructure	11-21	Shadi Saadeh	Investigation of Fracture Properties of California Asphalt Concrete Mixtures
Goods Movement & International Trade	11-20		The Impact of the Economic Recession on Truck Traffic in Los Angeles
Goods Movement & International Trade	11-19	Xiaolong Wu	Multimodal Biometric Models for Improving the Productivity and Security of the Terminal Gates
Infrastructure	11-14	Petros Ioannou	Dynamic Variable Speed Limit Control: Design, Analysis and Benefits
Mobility of Urban Population	11-12	Tom O'Brien	Changing Workforce Development Needs for Regional Transit and Transportation Planning Agencies in California
Goods Movement & International Trade	11-10	Fernando Ordonez	A New Approach for Routing Courier Delivery Services
Mobility of Urban Population	11-08	Christian Redfearn	Reconsidering the Impact of Access to Transit on Local Land Markets
Mobility of Urban Population	11-06	Genevieve Giuliano	Accessibility, Location and Employment Center Growth
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	11-05	Martin Krieger	Application Development of Urban Tomography for Transportation Security at a major Los Angeles Transportation Hub (LATH)
Mobility of Urban Population	11-04	Jenny Schuetz	Does Rail Transit Investment Encourage Retail Activity?
Goods Movement & International Trade	11-03	Peter Gordon	Freight Shipments, Greenhouse Gases and Polluting Emissions: Implications for California and the U.S.
Goods Movement & International Trade	10-26	Burkhard Englert	The Impact of Truck Repositioning on Congestion and Pollution in the LA Basin
Mobility of Urban Population	10-25	Fei Wang	Optimize Pollutant Emissions through Adaptive Highway Management
Infrastructure	10-24	Shadi Saadeh	Development of Quality Control Test Procedure for Characterizing Fracture
Goods Movement & International Trade	10-20	Hamid Rahai	The Effects of Distortion on Trajectory of Diesel Particulate Matter (PM) from Mobile Sources
Goods Movement & International Trade	10-16	Viktor Prasanna	Workflow Synthesis and Management for Integrated Traffic Simulation Experiments
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	10-14	Chin Chang	Development of Fiber Optic Sensor Networks for Transportation Infrastructure Monitoring
Mobility of Urban Population	10-13	Cyrus Shahabi	Stream Traffic Data Archival, Querying, and Analysis with TransDec
Goods Movement & International Trade	10-08	Maged Dessouky	Dynamic Scheduling of Trains in Densely Populated Congested Areas
Mobility of Urban Population	10-07	Constantinos Sioutas	Measurement and Toxicological Assessment of Population Exposures to Airborne Particulate Matter (PM) in Subways and Light Rail Trains
Goods Movement & International Trade	10-06	Josh Newell	Moving Containers Efficiently with Less Impact: Dynamic Modeling and Decision-Support Architecture for Clean Port Technologies
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	10-05	Konstantinos Psounis	End-to-End Performance in Vehicular Networks With an Emphasis on Safety and Security Applications
Mobility of Urban Population	10-03	Peter Gordon	Towards Peak-Load Pricing in Metropolitan Areas: Modeling Network Activity
Mobility of Urban Population	09-30	Gary Painter	Spatial Mismatch and Transit Choice among Immigrants
Goods Movement & International Trade	09-29	Jean-Pierre Bardet	Risks and Recoveries from Extreme Disruptions in Freight Transportation System in a Megacity: Case Study for the Greater Los Angeles Area
Infrastructure	09-26	Cyrus Shahabi	A Geospatial Framework for Dynamic Route Planning Using Congestion Prediction in Transportation Systems
Mobility of Urban Population	09-23	Kristen Monaco	Transportation Forecast for Southern California
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	09-21	Lisa Schweitzer	No-Notice Evacuations, Urban Form, and Environmental Injustice: An Exploratory Study
Mobility of Urban Population	09-19	Sven Koenig	Using Auctions to Allocate Transportation Requests for Demand Responsive Transit Systems
Infrastructure	09-17	Suya YouUlrich Neumann	Rapid Extraction and Updating Road Network to Caltrans Database
Mobility of Urban Population	09-15	Ali R. Nowroozi	A Framework for Continuous Project Delivery Improvement at the State Transit Agency
Infrastructure	09-13	Chin Chang	Fiber-Optic Smart Structures for Monitoring and Managing the Health of Transportation Infrastructures
Mobility of Urban Population	09-11	Fei Wang	Microscopic Model of Road Capacity and Risk for Highway Systems in Port Based Metropolitan Areas
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	09-09	I-Hung Khoo	Study of the Noise Pollution at Container Terminals and the Surroundings
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	09-07	Katharine MooreAndrea Polidori	Toxicological Assessment of Particulate Emissions From the Exhaust of Old and New Model Heavy- and Light-Duty Vehicles
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	09-05	Martin KriegerRamesh Govindan	Thousand Eyes on California’s Streets, Roads, and Infrastructures
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	09-01	Seiji S. C. SteimetzGuy YamashiroSteven Yamarik	Accident Rates and Safety Policies for Trucks Serving the San Pedro Bay Ports
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	08-23	Grace Reynolds	Safety Concerns Associated with Drug-Using Drivers with Suspended or Revoked Driving Licenses
Goods Movement & International Trade	08-22	Hamid RahaiBei Lu	Development of a Portable Remote Sensing System for Measurement of Diesel Emissions from Passing Diesel Trucks
Infrastructure	08-19	Sami MasriRoger Ghanem	Identification and Evaluation of Major Issues Involving the Impact of Global Climate Change on Transportation Systems
Goods Movement & International Trade	08-17	Kristen Monaco	Labor Markets in Good Movement Occupations in Southern California
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	08-13	Darin Goldstein	Emergency Traffic Management Tool for the Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor Area
Mobility of Urban Population	08-12	Konstantinos Psounis	Efficient Routing for Safety Applications in Vehicular Networks
Goods Movement & International Trade	08-11	Burkhard Englert	XML Based Supply Chain Integration at the LA / LB Ports
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	08-10	Detlof Von WinterfeldtGarrett Asay	Estimating Behavioral Changes for Transportation Modes after Terorist Attacks in London, Madrid and Tokyo
Mobility of Urban Population	08-08	Bhaskar Krishnamachari	Efficient Wireless Communication in Vehicular Environments
Mobility of Urban Population	08-07	Christian Redfearn	Revisiting the Empirical Foundations for Measuring the Capitalization of Access to Transit
Goods Movement & International Trade	08-06	Genevieve Giuliano	Regulation and Response in the San Pedro Bay Ports
Goods Movement & International Trade	08-04	Viktor Prasanna	Integrated Modeling and Simulation Framework for Freight Transportation in Metropolitan Areas
Mobility of Urban Population	08-03	David SloaneLaVonna Lewis	(Im)Mobility and Health Disparities: Assessing the Accessibility of Nutrition and Physical Activity Options in an Urban Neighborhood
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	08-02	Hossein Hashemi	Low-Cost Object Detection RF CMOS Sensor Development for Active Safety Systems
Goods Movement & International Trade	08-01	Fokion EgolfopoulosTheodore Tsotsis	Combustion and Emission Characteristics of Biofuels Used for Transportation
Monitoring the Ports	AR 07-13	Ken James	Evaluating the Feasibility of Electrified Rail
Monitoring the Ports	AR 07-10	Tracy Bradley Maples	Wireless Ad Hoc Sensor Networks: Applications, Evaluation and Security
Monitoring the Ports	AR 07-08	Robert Friis	Health Effects Associated with Goods Movement in the Los Angeles Basin
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	AR 07-05	Hamid Rahai	Assessment of Ring Injectors for Reducing NOx and PM Emissions of Diesel Engines
Infrastructure	07-24	Maria TodorovskaMihailo Trifunac	Selection of Comprehensive Design Criteria for Highway Bridges in the Vicinity of and Crossing Active Faults
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	07-21	Tridib Banerjee	Pedestrian Safety of School Children: Toward Improving Walkability of Inner City Neighborhoods
Goods Movement & International Trade	07-20	Paul RonneyMartin Gundersen	Transient Plasma Ignition for Clean, Fuel-Efficient Transportation Vehicle Engines
Goods Movement & International Trade	07-19	Harry Richardson	Adding a Freight Network to an Interstate Input - Output Model: Implications for California
Mobility of Urban Population	07-17	Dowell Myers	Impact of Immigration and Assimilation on Public Transit Ridership and Single-Vehicle Commuting to Work
Goods Movement & International Trade	07-09	Alice Parker	Solving Metropolitan Transportation Problems Using Autonomous Ground Vehicles with Computer Vision
Goods Movement & International Trade	07-08	Hanh Dam Le GriffinTom O'Brien	Impact of Streamlined Chassis Movements and Extended Hours of Operation on Terminal Capacity and Source-Specific Emissions Reduction
Goods Movement & International Trade	07-04	John Heidemann	Sensornets for Remote Vehicle Classification (SRVC)
Mobility of Urban Population	07-03	Reza Toossi	Efficiency Improvements by Passive Control and Optimization of the Combustion Process and Engine Cooling
Mobility of Urban Population	07-01	Mansour Rahimi	Integrating Inland Ports into the Intermodal Goods Movement System for Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach
Goods Movement & International Trade	SP 06-02	Anastasios Chassiakos	Terminal Simulation Test-Bed and Design Tool
Goods Movement & International Trade	SP 06-01	Wade Martin	A Computable General Equilibrium Model of the Southern California Economy
Monitoring the Ports	AR 05-04	Suzanne Wechsler	Development of a LIDAR Derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM) as Input to a METRANS Geographic Information System (GIS)
Monitoring the Ports	AR 05-02	Christopher Lee	Feature Extraction from High Resolution Satellite Imagery
Goods Movement & International Trade	05-17	Niraj Verma	Insititutional Considerations in Freight Movement in Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach
Mobility of Urban Population	05-06	Mohammed ForouzeshRobert Friis	Cambodian Access to Transportation: Impact on Senior Nutrition and Congregate Meal Service Programs
Safety, Security, & Vulnerability	05-01	Karl-Heinrich Grote	Validation of Sensory Systems for Intelligent Vehicles
Mobility of Urban Population	03-25	Emelinda Parentela	Development of An Artificial Intelligence Based Traffic Simulation Model Using The Discrete Element Method
Infrastructure	03-17	Erik Johnson	Innovative Bridge Structural Health Monitoring Using Variable Stiffness and Damping Devices