The U.S. Department of Transportation designated Northeastern University a Beyond Traffic Innovation Center; one of 18 “forward thinking and influential institutions” to lead research aimed at solving transportation challenges such as population growth, climate change, and driverless cars over the next three decades. The Northeastern team will focus specifically on the Northeast, one of 11 megaregions throughout the country, consisting of 11 states and the District of Columbia, and the Atlantic seaboard spanning 450 miles with a host of airports, ports, rail, and urban transportation systems.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Sara Wadia-Fascetti is leading the Center’s efforts with Professor Haris N. Koutsopoulos. The Center will leverage the expertise of a host of faculty across disciplines in areas such as network science, public policy, resilience, and sensors and monitoring systems, as well as work closely with partners in industry, government, and academia. Additionally, the Center will build upon Northeastern’s College of Engineering Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded Roaming Sensors (VOTERS) center, led by Ming Wang, distinguished professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Through research and outreach, Northeastern’s innovation center will harness Big Data to improve decision-making as it particularly relates to traffic, transit, and related infrastructure systems. The project specifically builds upon and combines Northeastern’s research expertise in physical infrastructure and sensing, streamlined services using data analytics, and governance and policy.