Janell Goddard

The Intelligent Transportation Society of California recently held its Annual Conference on September 19-21 in Indian Wells, CA. Six students from the University of Southern California (USC) and Biola University had the pleasure of participating in the conference as volunteers, myself included.

I assisted at the registration table on the first day of the conference, and on the second day, I served as group leader as conference participants toured the City of Palm Springs’ Traffic Management Center. Other volunteers shared in similar tasks, and when our shifts ended, we were free to attend sessions and meet with transportation professionals.

I was fortunate to be able to attend Monday afternoon’s session on Disruptive Technology. This session featured a panel of four individuals working in various aspects of transportation planning and technology. Each panel speaker shared their specific areas of work with the audience, and then discussed the ways their work has helped to integrate new technology into daily traffic management practices.  Innovations as expansive as cloud computing and as microscopic as IBM’s True North chip were presented, and representatives were present from municipal (Los Angeles, Metro) and regional (San Francisco Bay, Metropolitan Transportation Commission) planning offices. I was especially fascinated to hear about the design of the 2014 True North chip, which, we learnt, is modeled after the architecture of the human brain. Among other motion sensing tools, this chip is being used to create apps to assist visually impaired people as they navigate their way through buildings.

This conference fostered a strong sense of community, and a drive to continue designing safe and efficient transportation systems. I noticed this right away as I checked attendees in and spoke with vendors in the exhibit hall.

Nicole Guo, a second year Transportation Engineering student at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, also found the conference valuable.  “The volunteering environment was very friendly, and we really enjoyed working with the organizers,” she remarked.  “One of the sessions I found most interesting was about connected vehicle pilots, where they talked about the benefits, challenges, safety and mobility of the vehicles.”

I was encouraged to see how open and enthusiastic the attendees were in sharing their knowledge and experiences. For me, attending this conference has been one of the best ways to gain exposure to recent breakthroughs in transportation planning and engineering, and I know I speak for all of the student attendees when I express our sincere gratitude to the conference and to METRANS for making this valuable opportunity available to us.

Janell Goddard is a recent graduate of Biola University. She has worked at the City of Whittier to formulate a Climate Action Plan and to sustain progress on a green belting program. Her interests include urban design, transportation, and sustainability planning. She can be reached via email or on LinkedIn.