The sixth annual Region 9 Pacific Southwest Region University Center (PSR-UTC) Congress returned to California this year, with two full days of sessions hosted by the University of Southern California on March 17^th and 18^th. The title of this year’s Congress was Moving Forward: Improving Transportation in Region 9, and featured concurrent sessions across five themes: Improving Mobility, Mobility & Technology, Improving Resiliency, The Intersection of Research and Practice, and Carbon & Air Quality.

Day One began with a Welcome Reception & Luncheon honoring Professor Genevieve Giuliano, the previous director of the METRANS Transportation Consortium and the Margaret and John Ferraro Chair in Effective Local Government at the University of Southern California’s Price School of Public Policy.  Presentation topics during the Congress highlighted the close and direct connection between transportation and the most pressing issues of our time, including climate change, advanced automation technologies, and our ongoing reckoning with the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second day of the Congress began by recognizing the 2022 Pacific Southwest Region UTC Students of the Year. This year’s honorees included:

• Julene Paul - Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Qinhua Jiang - Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering at UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science,
• James Reuter - Master's Degree in Philosophy at California State University, Long Beach,
• Anthony Eschen - Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at Northern Arizona University
• Calvin Bragg, Global Logistics Specialist student from CSULB College of Professional and Continuing Education (CPaCE)

The full program of the 2023 Annual Pacific Southwest Region Congress can be found here.