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Fall 2022 Newsletter

Meet the NCST 2022 Undergraduate Summer Research Fellows! 

Congratulations to our nine UC Davis Summer 2022 Undergraduate Research Fellows who just wrapped up their twelve-week research internships! Our fellowship program provides undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with UC Davis faculty, professional researchers, and graduate students on sustainable transportation research projects. Fellows worked on a variety of research projects with topics including transit-oriented development, electric vehicle purchase behavior, the impact of road infrastructure on wildlife, the impact of bicycle theft on riding behavior, and many more.

Read more about their projects!

Congratulations to our NCST Dissertation Awardees

Congratulations to our UC Davis, UC Riverside, and Georgia Institute of Technology dissertation grant awardees! Our recent awardees are contributing to research on electric vehicle charging behavior, the supply chain and recycling of lithium-ion batteries, traffic congestion, the safety of both connected and automated vehicles, assessment of electric vehicle adoption and more!

Zenghao Hou

UC Davis

Hossain Mohiuddin

UC Davis

Margaret Slattery

UC Davis

Ran Sun

UC Davis

Jacqueline Garrido

UC Riverside

David Oswald

UC Riverside

Abdullah Fuad Un-Noor

UC Riverside

Zhensong Wei

UC Riverside

Zhouqiao Zhao

UC Riverside

Ziyi Dai 

Georgia Institute of Technology

Huiying Fan 

Georgia Institute of Technology

William Reichard 

Georgia Institute of Technology

Kartik Sastry  

Georgia Institute of Technology

Read more about their projects!

Upcoming Events

International Conference on Ecology and Transportation 2023

June 4-8, 2023 | Burlington, Vermont + Virtual programming and training

ICOET is the foremost interdisciplinary, inter-agency supported conference addressing the broad range of ecological issues related to transportation systems in all modes. It provides a venue for sharing information and for training across multiple disciplines related to transportation and ecology. The conference is organized by the UC Davis Road Ecology Center, with assistance from the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and the National Center for Sustainable Transportation.

Stay tuned for more info!

Webinar Recordings

Understanding the Biofuels Market from 2010 to Present, and Looking Forward to 2030

Dr. Julie Witcover | Assistant Project Scientist at the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy


Low-carbon biofuels are projected to play a critical role in the early and middle stages of a transition away from petroleum fuels, and they will likely have a longer-term role in uses like aviation and maritime transportation that require energy-dense fuels in high volumes. Policies over the last decade encouraged the production of conventional biofuels such as crop-based ethanol, but cellulosic fuels with a significantly lower carbon footprint failed to materialize at a commercial scale. This webinar looked back at the past decade to understand why this happened and will consider the likelihood that current policies will deliver low-carbon biofuels at the scales needed for hard-to-decarbonize sectors by 2030.

Watch the recording here

CARB Webinar: Real-World Tire and Brake Wear Emissions

Dr. Heejung Jung | Professor at UC Riverside

Exhaust emissions have steadily decreased due to legislative efforts and advancements in engine and control technologies. Further reduction of tailpipe emissions is expected by implementing a California Governor’s executive order (N-79-20) that, by 2035, new gasoline-powered cars and passenger trucks will not be sold in California. Meanwhile, brake and tire-wear will become dominant sources of vehicular PM2.5 and PM10 emissions. It is critical to understand their physical and chemical characteristics in examining near-road community exposure and potential adverse health effects. This webinar highlighted the University of California Riverside’s research that measured brake and tire-wear emissions collected near two major highways: I-70 at Long Beach and I-5 at Anaheim, and characterized their roadside PM contributions, particle size distributions, and chemical compositions. 

Watch the recording here

Featured Project

Real World Brake Activity of Heavy-Duty Vehicles


Researchers at UC Riverside investigated the influence of regenerative brake systems on the brake PM emissions using vehicles which have both battery electric vehicle and internal combustion engine (ICE) versions, or hybrid electric vehicle and ICE versions.

Read the Research Report and Policy Brief

Caltrans Research Workshop: Active Transportation Census

This virtual workshop built a common understanding among Caltrans staff and partner agencies to facilitate the development of a statewide active transportation census program. Major workshop topics included:1) the purpose of and vision for creating a statewide active transportation census program; 2) key considerations for designing and operating an active transportation census program; and 3) integrating the census program with emerging, third-party data sources to provide information across the entire transportation network.

Watch the workshop recordings and find additional resources here
Check out past NCST webinars & keep an eye out for future ones

Education Highlights

Caltrans Sustainable Freight Academy: Fusing System Planning and Sustainability


From late March to early May, the NCST’s Caltrans Sustainable Freight Academy brought participants together to envision Caltrans’ role in contributing to a sustainable freight future. Over the course of 5 weeks, participants developed a more advanced understanding of freight planning, Caltrans’ role in achieving the state’s freight and environmental goals, the technologies supporting sustainable freight and energy systems, project management, and corridor-wide planning.

Read more here

Featured Report

Caltrans Sustainable Freight Academy


The academy consisted of presentations from goods movement professionals and subject matter experts, from state DOTs and public and private organizations, as well as those from international planning agencies. The final group presentations allowed participants to respond to a capstone project using a web-based geospatial presentation platform.

Check out the Presentations & Research Report

New Research Underway

We’ve kicked off 13 new research projects this summer. Our researchers are investigating how changes in the built environment can reduce rural vehicle travel, the environmental implications of exporting second-hand electric vehicles abroad, and how novel paving materials can reduce exposure to extreme heat, among other research questions.

Policy Brief Pop Quiz

The use of ridehailing was found to be higher in areas:

a. Without adequate public transportation systems.

b. With adequate public transportation systems.

c. With destinations that are within walkable distance of individuals’ homes.

d. With destinations that are not within walkable distance of individuals’ homes.

Find the answers in this new policy brief!

It was found that __ of trips taken with Míocar, a rideshare service pilot program in the San Joaquin Valley, would not have occurred without the service.

a. 18%

b. 27%

c. 46%

d. 63%

Find the answers in this new policy brief!

Recently Completed Research

View all of the NCST's publications

Workforce Implications of Transitioning to Zero-Emission Buses in Public Transit

Scott Jakovich and Tyler Reeb | California State University, Long Beach

This white paper provides educational and policy-driven approaches to sustainable transportation workforce development in the transit sector with a focus on knowledge transfer and training strategies for zero-emission bus technologies. The authors draw from a comprehensive survey of national research, interviews with transit leaders, and case studies to identify the most critical technology transfer gaps in the adoption of zero-emission bus technologies.

Read the White Paper

Georgia Express Lane Corridors Vehicle Occupancy and Throughput Study 2018-2020 – Volume I: Vehicle and Person Throughput Analysis Before and After the I-75 Northwest Corridor and I-85 Express Lanes Extension

Randall Guensler, Haobing Liu, Hongyu Lu, Chia-Huai “Chris” Chang, Ziyi Dai, Tian Xia, Zixiu Fu, Diyi Liu, Daejin Kim, Yingping Zhao, and Angshuman Guin | Georgia Institute of Technology

This report summarizes the vehicle and person throughput analysis for the I-75 Northwest Corridor and I-85 Express Lanes in Atlanta, GA. The research team tracked changes in observed vehicle throughput on four managed lane corridors and collected vehicle occupancy (persons per vehicle) data to assess changes in both vehicle throughput and person throughput associated with the opening of new Express Lane facilities.

Read the Research Report

Development and Application of Environmentally Friendly Intelligent Transportation System (ECO-ITS) Freight Strategies

Kanok Boriboonsomsin, Alexander Vu, Peng Hao, Zhensong Wei, Dylan Brown, and Matthew Barth | University of California, Riverside

This research is aimed at developing and evaluating eco-friendly intelligent transportation systems strategies for freight vehicles and traffic, with a focus on strategies that are applicable to the transportation systems in the South Coast Air Basin. Four specific strategies are examined in this research, including: 1) connected eco-driving, 2) truck eco-routing, 3) integrated traffic control, and 4) intelligent parking assist. This report describes the evaluation of each strategy, discusses results, and provides recommendations for future implementation.

Read the Research Report

Examining Market Segmentation to Increase Bike-Share Use: The Case of the Greater Sacramento Region

Hossain Mohiuddin, Dillon Fitch, Susan Handy | University of California, Davis

Bike-share systems are proliferating across the US and could expand opportunities for those most underserved by the transportation system. A deeper understanding of current bike-share users could enable the expansion of these services and their benefits to a larger population. With the aim of deepening this understanding, this project uses data from household and bike-share user surveys in the Sacramento region to perform behavioral modeling and market segmentation.

Read the Research Report
Read the Policy Brief

Updating the Induced Travel Calculator

Jamey Volker and Susan Handy | University of California, Davis

The NCST’s Induced Travel Calculator (Calculator) has generated substantial interest among policymakers and practitioners as a method for estimating induced vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Because Calculator use is increasing, this project updated the Calculator and improved its functionality based on recent data and empirical research. Efforts included adding three more years of baseline VMT and lane mile data to the Calculator (2017, 2018, and 2019), adding ranges to the Calculator’s induced VMT estimates (+/-20%), and providing an updated review of the induced travel literature.

Read the Research Report

New Policy Briefs

Evaluating Pilot Approaches to Increase Rural Mobility

Researchers at the University of California, Davis evaluated three innovative mobility pilot programs in the San Joaquin Valley using survey and service usage data collected from their launch dates in 2019 and 2020 through November 2021 to understand the participant characteristics and outcomes of each pilot.

The Impact of Ridehailing on Other Travel Modes and on Vehicle Dependency

Researchers at UC Davis surveyed California residents about their personal attitudes and preferences, lifestyles, travel patterns, vehicle ownership, adoption and use of new mobility services, and personal and household characteristics, and in this brief summarized the results of multiple studies that have used this dataset to generate insights into the impact of ridehailing services on the use of other travel modes and on car ownership prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advancing Seaport Environmental Sustainability: Case Studies from the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan

This training resource from California State University, Long Beach researchers summarizes case studies of programs implemented under the Clean Air Action Plan for the San Pedro Bay Port Complex. These cases highlight the institutional challenges the ports face while working with a multitude of stakeholders and regulatory bodies to address both environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness. 

Check out all of NCST's two-page policy briefs

NCST in the News

Implementing and Evaluating a Rural Electric Mobility Program

Check out the July edition of the US Department of Transportation’s UTC Spotlight Newsletter to learn how NCST researchers have worked with government and community partners to plan, launch, and evaluate an innovative transportation program for rural residents: a non-profit, electric carsharing service to provide affordable, clean mobility to communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

EV adoption is higher where consumers see more electric vehicles, studies show

Smart Cities Dive article spotlighted NCST research from Debapriya Chakraborty and David Bunch on how exposure to electric vehicle technology can fuel market growth.

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About NCST

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The National Center for Sustainable Transportation is a consortium of leading universities committed to advancing an environmentally sustainable transportation system through cutting-edge research, direct policy engagement, and education of our future leaders. Consortium members: University of California, Davis; University of California, Riverside; University of Southern California; California State University, Long Beach; Georgia Institute of Technology; and the University of Vermont.

Lauren Iacobucci

Senior Program Manager

liacobucci@ucdavis.edu

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