Morgan’s NTC hosted a symposium on transportation in Maryland in October 2011. Participants discussed the importance of transportation to the state’s economy, provided useful information regarding transportation, explained alternatives for funding transportation infrastructure and engaged stakeholders in a dialogue regarding the future of transportation funding. (Photo Credit—Erica Johnson)
nected vehicles, vehicles that don’t yet exist that would communicate with each other and with the roadway,” says Dr. Farkas. Say you’re going into a blind intersection and can’t see the vehicle barreling into the same intersection from your left. “If you had this technology, that car would tell your car that it’s not stopping, and you or your car would slam on the brakes,” he explains. “We’re not doing the research on the technology, per se, but we are doing research on how people would react to the availability of the technology and what they’re willing to pay for the technology.” A few other examples of the NTC’s recent work include a study of the effects of social networks on alcohol-impaired drivers, analysis of the influence of road engineering on motorcycle crashes, and studies with Morgan’s Patuxent Environmental and Aquatic Research Laboratory (PEARL) on the impact of transportation infrastructure on aquatic ecology and other environmental systems. And then there’s the oyster project, referred to above. “(PEARL) has been working with us to
MSU PEARL
Young-Jae Lee, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Graduate Program Coordinator, Department of Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Studies
use recycled road materials, (such as) concrete that’s broken up and removed from roads (that are) to be resurfaced. Instead of dumping them into landfills when they can’t be recycled into the new road…we’ve been doing research on using them as foundations for oyster beds,” Dr. Farkas explains. “That (research) sets us apart from everyone. No one else is doing that.” He credits the Maryland State Highway Administration for its support of the oyster bed project.
manages the MDOT/MSU Graduate School Internship program — which offers part-time analyst and planner positions to grad students — and the NTC’s undergraduate summer internship at the Maryland State Highway Administration. Through these programs, many students have obtained full-time employment over the years, with government departments of transportation, with planning agencies and with consultants, the NTC reports.
Dr. Farkas notes that the NTC is interdisciplinary, supporting research by students and faculty from Morgan’s School of Business and Management, the School of Architecture and Planning, the Departments of Sociology and Psychology, as well as the Civil Engineering Department and the Department of Transportation and Urban Infrastructure Studies.
Realizing the need to reach female and underrepresented minority students earlier in their education, the NTC also created a Summer Transportation Institute — a free, month-long science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) day program for 10th, 11th and 12th graders — and a Teacher Transportation Institute, a 10-day STEM program for high school teachers. Both institutes are held annually on Morgan’s campus.
The work mentioned here all fits the theme of Morgan’s NTC, which is “Transportation: A Key to Human and Economic Development.” Also fitting is the center’s goal of increasing the numbers of minorities and women entering transportation careers. Toward that end, the NTC has developed and implemented four programs that together form a pipeline to those careers for students from underrepresented groups. In collaboration with the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT), Morgan’s National Transportation Center
The NTC was last required to track the careers of its graduates by the federal government about six years ago, Dr. Farkas says. At that time, “about 85 percent of our students…would go into transportation or graduate school in a transportation discipline. And…the overwhelming majority of our students were minorities and/or women…,” he says. “So we’ve done quite a bit, I think, in support of diversity.” Continued on page 20
MORGAN MAGAZINE VOLUME I 2014
19