UTC’s Mina Sartipi discusses Smart City research with U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

Dr. Mina Sartipi

Dr. Mina Sartipi’s groundbreaking work in Smart Mobility research, development and applications recently came under a bright spotlight in Washington, D.C.

Sartipi, executive director of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Research Institute and a Guerry Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, was one of just five distinguished university researchers invited to discuss their work with the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and other members of the U.S. Congress.

The presentations were made at last week’s National Science Foundation event, “Strengthening American infrastructure: How NSF research is supporting a resilient and innovative future” at which the experts described the nature and impact of their NSF-funded work via the federal Strengthening American Infrastructure act.

“I briefly described our vision for Chattanooga to be a city-scale testbed for the future of mobility in terms of electrification, connectivity and automation,” Sartipi said of her presentation. “I emphasized the need for such infrastructure as we aim to improve energy efficiency, emissions and safety for all vulnerable road users. The expansion of the Chattanooga testbed onto Highway 27 and making our infrastructure a testbed-as-a-service was funded by NSF CCRI (Computer and Information Science and Engineering Community Research Infrastructure) in October 2021.”

UTC’s Dr. Don Reising and Dr. Dalei Wu, both faculty within the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Dr. Farah Kandah, formerly with UTC and now at Auburn University, are co-investigators on that grant.

NSF describes the very interdisciplinary nature of the research funded to solve infrastructure challenges as representing “all science and engineering disciplines” toward “projects that support climate-resilient infrastructure and extreme weather, cyber infrastructure, safe and secure transportation and the future of the American city.”

Further, notes NSF, “Effective infrastructure can provide a strong foundation for growing the economy, protecting the natural environment and enhancing national security.”