^{Image courtesy of Lisa Kay Schweyer} 

METRANS researchers highlighted the dynamic industry and community partnerships university transportation centers (UTCs) bring to their regional communities at the Fourth Annual National Mobility Summit of USDOT Centers sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University. The March Summit, held in Washington DC had as its theme “UTC Innovations and Impacts: Advancing Mobility for All.”  Dr. Genevieve Giuliano discussed the role played by METRANS researchers in addressing some of the most important sustainable transportation hurdles facing California, while Dr. Tom O’Brien conducted a presentation on the unique contributions that university transportation centers (UTCs) make as workforce development partners.

Giuliano, Margaret and John Ferraro Chair in Effective Local Government and Distinguished Professor at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy, discussed the research partnerships METRANS has facilitated with Caltrans, the California Air Resources Board, the California Trucking Association, and the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Oakland (among others). These efforts have allowed for the study of a broad range of urgent sustainability questions for communities and businesses in the state, such as:

• What is the market for zero emission heavy duty trucks?
• What would be the economic impacts of full electrification of cargo handling equipment at California seaports?
• How are California’s policies to reduce freight-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) affecting economic competitiveness in the freight sector?

O’Brien, Executive Director of the Center for International Trade & Transportation (CITT) and Deputy Director of the METRANS Transportation Consortium, highlighted CITT’s partnership with the Port of Long Beach via its Academy of Global Logistics (AGL). Housed at Cabrillo High School on the Westside of Long Beach, the AGL is a four-year career pathway program that features rigorous academics and demanding technical education with job shadows, internships, and integrated student support.