Ed Pultar is one of five students awarded a UC Transportation Center dissertation grant for the Spring 2010 cycle. The $20,000 grants are open to students at any campus of the University of California (except UC Davis, which has a separate UTC), and “the dissertation research must be on topics with direct relevance to U.S. surface transportation, with a focus on systems analysis and policy. Applicants must have advanced to candidacy for their Ph.D. degree prior to the application deadline” (UCTC web site).
In the notification letter to Ed, Robert Cervero, the Director of the UCTC, pointed out that “all 15 submissions for the Spring 2010 award cycle were quite good; thus competition was very strong. UCTC’s budget allowed only 5 of the 15 proposals to be funded. All proposals were reviewed, evaluated, and ranked independently by a former UCTC Dissertation Award grantee and a senior researcher in the field.” Ed’s dissertation title is “The Synergy of Transportation, Social, and Data Networks” (Martin Raubal, advisor), and his abstract is as follows:
“This research examines travel behavior using Internet-based websites that provide free lodging with local inhabitants. Users of such systems utilize an amalgamation of transportation networks, social networks, and communication networks. This research focuses on how the geographical spread of people in a modern Internet-based social network influences the U.S. surface transportation travel choices of each individual in the network. This new subfield of travel will lead to transformative research on modern travel methodologies. This is partly because users are able to make more dynamic, mid-trip decisions due to the ubiquitous availability of the Internet. Also, the inclusion of reference systems and community message boards caters to highly flexible travel decisions. Broader impacts include a means for modern travelers to examine interaction and to facilitate trip planning. There is a need for understanding travel behavior for long distance travel combined with the use of information from a social network. Therefore this project will be a leading indicator of travel decision making of the future. Upon completion of this research innovative contributions will be made for: cost and time budgets, location choice Destination, and travel information using telecommunications and word of mouth in a social network.”
Ed (or Edward or “call me anything but late for dinner”) is on a roll – recently, he also received a continuation of his UCSB President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship (only 6 of these awards were available for all departments on campus – see the article of May 26) and won this year’s Jack and Laura Dangermond Graduate Fellowship. To top it off, Ed has been accepted as a summer intern by Google. According to the material Ed received, “Google Internships are full-time, paid positions. Start and end dates are flexible with regard to academic schedules, but you’ll be expected to commit to at least three months of full-time work. We want to make sure we provide you a valuable learning experience and a deeper understanding of Google’s work environment and culture…Intern Benefits include the following: mentoring and training; tech talks and company meetings; various on-site benefits, including free lunches and snacks; intern social events; and a competitive salary and relocation assistance.” Hat’s off to Ed!
