Pedestrian safety in Chattanooga is set to advance significantly thanks to a $2 million Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Earlier this month, officials from the City of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga were notified that they are among the 34 recipients of a SMART “Planning and Prototyping Grant” from a pool of 321 applicants nationwide.
Wheels on the bus: Multidisciplinary UTC sociologist seeking a broader understanding of transportation accessibility
Without reliable transportation, some low-income people are isolated, socially excluded and forced to adapt by making a choice that further perpetuates their isolation: “I just don’t go nowhere.” Dr. Chandra Ward reports this finding in her paper, “How transportation disadvantage reinforces social exclusion,” published in the June 2023 Journal of Transport Geography.
UTC unveils autonomous vehicle for smarter, safer urban mobility
Researchers at the University of Tennessee of Chattanooga are driving faster—and more safely—into the future of mobility with the recent arrival of the University’s first autonomous vehicle.
UTC, NSF, Amazon Web Services, ITS America join in spurring smart transportation innovation
At this month’s annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), part of the National Academies of Sciences, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was a sponsor of a research data challenge drawing competitors from across the country.
Sartipi honored for advanced energy leadership
Dr. Mina Sartipi was the recipient of the 2023 “Thomas B. Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership Award” presented by the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council.
Federal grant to fund added insight for Chattanooga’s Smart Corridor
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has awarded $1.1 million for research to enhance detection of “vulnerable road users” within the Smart City Corridor overseen by the Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP) at UTC. In addition to the funding awarded through the FHWA “Exploratory Advance Research” program, UTC and research partners will invest $300,000 to enable additional technology along the M.L. King Boulevard site to detect “vulnerable road users”—essentially, anyone not traveling inside an enclosed vehicle.
Micromanagement: Research aims to find, remove plastic particles in Chattanooga’s water
Dr. Jejal-Reddy Bathi and a team of other faculty members and graduate and undergraduate students are researching ways to determine the exact amounts and types of microplastics—plastics broken down to their smallest state—in the water of the Chattanooga metro area. The research also explores ways to filter out microplastics, which are usually carried into water supplies through stormwater drainage.
Dr. Chandra Ward named CUIP director of community engagement
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Assistant Professor of Sociology Chandra Ward has taken on the added role of director of community engagement for the University’s Center for Urban Informatics and Progress (CUIP).
Smart City changemaker
From University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Magazine: When Dr. Mina Sartipi was in the second grade, she began tutoring other children in her neighborhood and discovered a lifelong passion: The classroom. “Teaching has always been my passion,” she said. “As a university faculty member, I train our students and the next-generation workforce. Our students are the workforce behind every project, result—everything.”
UTC’s Mina Sartipi discusses Smart City research with U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
Dr. Mina Sartipi, executive director of the UTC Research Institute and a Guerry Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, was one of just five distinguished university researchers recently invited to discuss their work with the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and other members of the U.S. Congress.