Auburn University Transportation Research Institute with strong showing at 2024 TRB Conference
Published: Jan 25, 2024 8:45 AM
By Dustin Duncan
The breadth and depth of Auburn University’s Transportation Research Institute (AUTRI) faculty, staff and students were on display at the 103rd annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) conference held Jan. 7-11 in Washington, D.C.
The TRB conference is the largest transportation conference in the United States, with more than 12,000 attendees, and draws in top industry and government professionals including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
"Faculty, staff and students affiliated with AUTRI are well represented at TRB in that this year they had more than 50 presentations," said AUTRI director Larry Rilett, who delivered two presentations with AUTRI assistant research professor Ernest Tufuor. "This really demonstrates the significant, sustained and internationally important transportation research program that exists at our university."
AUTRI faculty, staff and students participated in 19 lecture sessions, 25 poster sessions, four workshops and one spotlight theme session on topics related to transportation infrastructure, long-distance travel, advanced concrete materials and hydraulics.
John M. Mason Jr., Auburn University's former vice president for Research and Economic Development, received the TRB W. N. Carey, Jr., Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes individuals who have given leadership and distinguished service to TRB but are not active in transportation research.
AUTRI graduate research assistants Md Mahmud Hossain and Mohammad Reza Abbaszadeh Lima won the Best Graduate Student Poster from the TRB Standing Committee on Performance Effects of Geometric Design. Their poster was titled "Understanding the Potential Impacts of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles on Controlling Criteria for Road Geometric Design: A Review.”
Auburn also took home more hardware by winning second place in the 2024 Traffic Control Device (TCD) Student Challenge. The TCD challenge is hosted by the American Traffic Safety Services Association in partnership with the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board.
Auburn’s second-place team consisted of team leader Fangjian Yang, Ernest Nsong Asiedu, Tonghui Li and Alex Zhao. They are members of the Auburn Student Institute of Transportation Engineers, coordinated by Huaguo Zhou, Elton Z. and Lois G. Huff professor in civil engineering.
“I am very pleased that our team came in second place in the national TCD challenge,” Zhou said. “Our students were able to develop innovative solutions to the TCD Challenge topic of enhancing the visibility of traffic control devices at nighttime. It speaks well of the quality of our transportation students that they were able to represent Auburn University so successfully at this national competition and I am very proud of them.”
The TCD Student Challenge is open to high school, junior college, four-year college and university students or teams of students interested in transportation and understanding traffic control devices.
Entries were judged on the ability of the idea to address the problem, the applicability of the idea and its transferability to various environments and roadways and the feasibility of implementation.
"In terms of innovative transportation research, education and technology transfer initiatives, the work we do at AUTRI has been on the map for decades," Rilett said. "The students, staff and faculty within our institute always have a significant presence at the TRB conference, and we are proud of the great work being done.”
A complete list of Auburn participants and details related to their presentations can be downloaded here.
Established in 2021, the Auburn University Transportation Research Institute provides a unified presence and strategic direction for promoting the renowned transportation-related research conducted within the academic departments and research centers in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
Thanks to the reputation of the units under the Institute’s umbrella — the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) and its affiliated asphalt test track, the Highway Research Center (HRC), the Alabama Transportation Assistance Program (ATAP) and the GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory (GAVLAB) — extramural funding for transportation is greater than any other single topic within Auburn University’s research footprint.
Media Contact: , dzd0065@auburn.edu, 334-844-2326
Auburn took home hardware by winning second place in the 2024 Traffic Control Device (TCD) Student Challenge. Auburn’s second-place team consisted of team leader Fangjian Yang, Ernest Nsong Asiedu, Tonghui Li and Alex Zhao. They are members of the Auburn Student Institute of Transportation Engineers, coordinated by Huaguo Zhou, Elton Z. and Lois G. Huff professor in civil engineering. Auburn graduate research assistants Md Mahmud Hossain and Mohammad Reza Abbaszadeh Lima also won the Best Graduate Student Poster from the TRB Standing Committee on Performance Effects of Geometric Design.
