METRANS is proud to introduce its newly awarded and funded research center, the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center (PSR UTC), led by the University of Southern California (USC), funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. PSR will lead a region covering California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Island territories, and includes the following partners:

• California State University, Long Beach (CSULB)
• University of California, Davis (UC Davis)
• University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine)
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
• University of Hawaii (UH)
• Northern Arizona University (NAU)
• Pima Community College (PCC)

On April 17, 2017, the partners met to formally launch the center, which aims to address the pressing transportation problems in the region and provide in-depth research solutions for the same. PSR’s research will focus on four main themes:

• Technology to address transportation problems and improve mobility;
• Improving mobility for vulnerable populations;
• Improving resilience and protecting the environment; and
• Managing mobility in high-growth areas.

In addition to research addressing a diverse region, the PSR UTC will also serve to open doors to transportation students with its far-reaching mentor program, practitioner speaker series, field trips, outreach, and transportation news programs.

USC MSCE Shichun Hu, coordinates the METRANS mentor program. “I've worked on the METRANS mentor program for almost 2 years now and have seen so many students, myself included, benefit from it. For instance, USC Master of Planning graduate Vy Phan-Hoang secured her first full-time job, a planning position at Foothill Transit, through the great relationship she made with her mentor. Many more students ended up getting an internship or full time job as well, thanks to the program. We conduct surveys of our participants and continually receive so much positive feedback on how the program helped the students to make career decisions and valuable connections with industry. Now, with the launch of the PSR, the mentor program will expand to include UCLA and UCI, and I am so glad that students on campuses across the region will now benefit.  I am thrilled that the mentor program will be more diversified and broad, as well as provide our students with much more opportunities to get involved with practitioners or researchers.”

METRANS Student Assistant, USC MPL Eric Tunell shared, “What's always impressed me about METRANS is the organization's ability to bring together diverse groups of people to discuss challenging issues in transportation. Now that METRANS will be better connected to universities throughout the Southwest and in Hawaii, I am really excited to see what opportunities for collaboration will come about as a result of this expanded partnership.”

USC undergraduate Griffin Kantz assists with both METRANS administration and research. “I think its fortunate that METRANS is leading the region UTC,” he noted, “as it has a robust focus on student programming including student research seminars and our Lunch with a Practitioner Series.”

Madhurima Bhattacharyya

Madhurima Bhattacharyya is a first year graduate student at the Viterbi School of Engineering. She is currently doing a Master of Science Degree in Engineering Management. After completing her MS degree, she aspires to pursue a career in project management in technology based companies. She can be reached at [email protected].