Institute for Transportation Research and Education

Highlights from the 2016 TRB Annual Meeting

March 23, 2016

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ITRE researchers Dr. Bastian Schroeder (left) and Dr. Ali Hajbabaie (right) represented their co-authors at the 2016 TRB Annual Meeting to receive the Best Paper Award from the Work Zone Traffic Control committee. Wesley Zech of Auburn University (center) organized the panel that chose the ITRE research paper as the best of 28 papers submitted

ITRE research staff and students joined NC State University civil engineering faculty at the 95th annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting held January 10-14, 2016 in Washington, DC. A seminal event for transportation practitioners in the U.S. and around the world, the TRB Annual Meeting brings together leaders in research and innovation to exchange information for improving transportation across multiple modes and disciplines. This year’s meeting attracted more than 14,000 participants and disseminated over 5,600 research papers through nearly 900 sessions and workshops.

More than twenty ITRE staff, students, and affiliated faculty from the NC State Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE) were invited to attend the annual meeting and present sixteen papers and posters. These were among a total of 33 papers presented at TRB this year by NC State researchers. Thirteen of the 33 papers were identified by TRB as “practice-ready,” a special designation given only to papers for “which the research results presented and discussed make a contribution to the solution of current or future transportation problems or issues for practitioners.” This prestigious designation demonstrates the relevance and value of NC State’s transportation research being conducted by ITRE and CCEE.

For the fourth consecutive year at TRB, a Best Paper award was earned by ITRE researchers. The Work Zone Traffic Control committee’s 2016 best paper award went to “Innovative Work Zone Capacity Models from Nationwide Field and Archival Sources” co-authored by Dr. Chunho Yeom, Dr. Ali Hajbabaie, Dr. Bastian Schroeder, Chris Vaughan, Xingyu Xuan, and Dr. Nagui Rouphail.

As is the tradition at the TRB Annual Meeting, ITRE, CCEE and the NC State Engineering Foundation co-hosted a networking reception for alumni and friends of the civil engineering program. Held on January 12 and attended by more than 200 persons including ITRE Advisory Council members, the annual reception provides an opportunity for staff, faculty and students to say “thank you” to the supporters of ITRE and CCEE’s integrated education and research mission.
The 2016 NC State reception at the TRB Annual Meeting was sponsored by these generous organizations:

Photos from the event were contributed by ITRE staff and students Ishtiak Ahmed, Tracy Anderson, Tim Baughman, Sangkey Kim, Sarah O’Brien, Briana Phillips, Mary Rawls, Nagui Rouphail, Andy Wagner, and Elizabeth Williams. Thank you to everyone who represented and supported ITRE at this year’s TRB event.