News
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 31, 2017
By Rabi Abonour, UCLA Master of Urban and Regional Planning, 2018 Photo by Rabi Abonour If you build it, they will come. So hope the team behind the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC), a $184 million transportation hub along the Santa Ana River. On March 24th, a group of METRANS students toured the facility with John Lower, Associate Vice President at Iteris, Inc. and former Traffic and Transportation Manager for the City of Anaheim; Mengzhao Hu, Senior ...
METRANS UTC
Sunday, March 26, 2017
Shichun Hu Welcome back to the Electric Vehicles series! During part 1 , we talked a bit about the history of electric vehicles and together we found out that it can trace back as early as gasoline powered vehicles. In part 2, we will look at the state of electric vehicles today. With many different models of electric vehicles on the market or planned for release within the next 5 years, people are surrounded by news of electric vehicles. But is the EV market really taking off? Table ...
METRANS UTC
Saturday, March 25, 2017
There is much research on the topic of housing affordability in Transit-oriented developments (TODs), and the literature varies in its use of methodological approaches, data, geography, and normative motivations. To summarize the current literature and synthesize the findings from the various approaches, cities, and data sets to establish stylized facts, METRANS researchers Professor Marlon Boarnet and Professor Rapheal Bostic recently released a white paper titled “Building Affordable Housing ...
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Saturday, March 25, 2017
By Nicole Guo, MSCE 2017 Photo by Janell Goddard METRANS is proud to announce that Janell Goddard was recently hired by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (commonly known as LA Metro, or Metro) as a transportation associate. Goddard began attending METRANS events in Spring 2016 and has since earned her bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Biola University. Goddard’s interests include multi-model transportation systems and sustainable ...
METRANS UTC
Saturday, March 25, 2017
By Jimmy Mai, MSCE ‘17 After months of anticipation and planning, USC hosted the ITE Southern California Student Chapter Traffic Bowl 2017 on February 25 th . The Traffic Bowl is a “Jeopardy”-style competition that tests participating students’ knowledge of transportation planning and engineering topics. Participating schools included USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, CSU - Fullerton, Cal Poly – Pomona, and CSU – Long Beach. Each school sent three of its best and brightest ...
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Saturday, March 18, 2017
Photo by Yang Deng Students interested in working in transportation at the federal level may find the process of getting involved daunting. With many different departments, agencies, and competing priorities--not to mention the changing whims of politics – it can be difficult to know where to start. To help students embark on the federal process, Eric Plosky, Chief of Transportation Planning at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 17, 2017
Source: Draft Paper "Spatial Dynamics of Warehousing and Distribution in California" by Genevieve Giuliano and Sanggyun Kang California’s large and dynamic economy—together with its role as a major international trade gateway of the United States—generates large volumes of freight flows and an active warehousing and distribution (W&D) sector. The location of W&D activities has significant implications for freight demand and flows, and thus is a critical element in statewide transportation ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 17, 2017
Moderator: Dan Beal Panelists: Kate Amissah, Fred Chang, Emily Finkel, and Caitlin Shankle On Wednesday, March 1, transportation consultant Dan Beal moderated a panel of young transportation professionals on the USC main campus as part of the METRANS Spring 2017 Lunch with a Practitioner Speaker Series. Panelist Kate Amissah holds a Master’s in Civil Engineering from USC and is a Principal Transportation Planner at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). ...
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Sunday, March 12, 2017
In my last column, we discussed the Modifiable Unit Area Problem, and how it can affect analysis of spatial data. This column discusses the related issue of spatial autocorrelation, which can have similarly negative effects on decision making if ignored. We will give examples of spatial autocorrelation, discuss how to test for it, and examine its effects. What is Spatial Autocorrelation? When analyzing data statistically, we are used to the assumption of independence between measurements. ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 10, 2017
Photo by Sona Sehat On February 22 nd , WTS Los Angeles Chapter welcomed LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel to speak to an audience of both their members and guests. Four USC transportation students - MSCE student Sona Sehat and MPL students Rui Zhang, Yilin Zhang, and Biying Zhao - were sponsored by Emilie Gino, James Moore, Alexandra Spencer, and METRANS to attend. “I know in congress we deal with huge issues that really matter to our country ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 10, 2017
Photo by Yang Deng On February 23rd, Steven Mateer, Transportation Planning Manager with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LA Metro, or Metro) shared his insights on transportation planning in Los Angeles County as part of METRANS Practitioner Speaker series. Mateer began his presentation with an overview of how the essential role LA Metro plays in Los Angeles County transportation. He explained the funding structure for the Metro, divided into three different layers ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 10, 2017
We are pleased to introduce you to Student Assistant Gayatri Vilas Nilengekar, who joined METRANS in February. Ms. Nilengekar was born and raised in Aurangabad, India, where she completed her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the Government College of Engineering. She worked as a Quality Senior Engineer at Bajaj Motors, a System Management Intern at Generosity Water, and as a Industrial Engineering Intern at American International Industries and Operations Information System ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 3, 2017
Yilin Zhang, MPL 2018 On Wednesday, February 1st, METRANS held its second transportation research seminar of the spring semester featuring Dr. Gary Painter, Professor in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, sharing his METRANS funded research, “Inter-Urban Migration and Public Transit,” which explored how inter-urban migration of recent immigrants affect public transit ridership. Photo by Deng Yang Professor Painter began the seminar with an introduction to the ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 3, 2017
We would like to introduce you to METRANS Student Assistant Anusha Ramakrishnan. Born and raised in Delhi, India, Anusha attended Mater Dei School, a Catholic convent, through high school. Reflecting on her experiences there she said, “At Master Dei, I found my love for English and its nuances and had my first brush with the field of computer science.” She went on to earn a Bachelors of Technology at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, a popular university in Delhi, where she ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, March 3, 2017
For centuries, transportation in the United States has paved a way for people to connect with one another, achieve their goals, and fulfill their dreams. Whether taking a plane during the winter holidays to visit loved ones, driving to get to work, or launching a rocket to explore the moon, we are indebted to the amazing technological and mechanical feats of innovation in the transportation field. But this innovation doesn’t just happen. It is the result of numerous experiments built on ...
