The GeoTrans Laboratory (co-directed by Professor Rick Church and Professor Kostas Goulias) is the confluence of two distinct and glorious fields in Transportation Research, each with unique foundations in quantitative geography. One is the logistics and transportation field, which deals with solving problems of spatial optimality through operations research techniques. The other is the travel behavior field, which is concerned with data collection, design of statistical and econometric models, and their use in policy and decision making.
GeoTrans is in its infancy – it was created in mid-2007 and found a physical location in early 2008 – but, already, it can claim some major accomplishments, including:
- A Ph.D. Emphasis in Transportation
- Many graduate students with full time interest in transportation and many more in related fields
- Many Graduate Fellowship awards (Cota Robles, UCTC) and prestigious national awards including The Eisenhower Fellowship and NSF dissertation improvement awards
- An International conference called Transport Science and Technology Prague 2007
- The 2008 University of California Transportation Center conference that attracted more than 150 faculty members and students from all UC campuses with a transportation specialty, as well as students from overseas
- The 2008 International Symposium on Location Decisions (ISOLDE) XI
- Ph.D. graduates that are becoming faculty members in prestigious institutions
- Many papers and presentations at national and international conferences and professional meetings
- A rich repertory of research projects – see The GeoTrans Laboratory web site
(Text courtesy of Kostas Goulias)
