Connected Vehicle Infrastructure University Transportation Center
AISIM10 Participants on the Virginia Tech Smart Road
Virginia Tech hosted the 10th Annual Inter-University Symposium on Infrastructure Management (AISIM10) and the 3rd Advanced Infrastructure Management Bootcamp.
AISIM10 is a student-run symposium to advance the infrastructure management body of knowledge and applications by providing a forum for information exchange and for professional conversations about ongoing research. In the years since its inception in 2005, the AISIM has carved out a critical role in graduate education pertaining to infrastructure management. Not only has it been an avenue for students to network with their peers (internationally), but it has provided an opportunity for students to interact with global leaders in infrastructure management.
The 3rd Advanced Infrastructure Management “Bootcamp” was held at Virginia Tech from June 16 to June 27, 2014. This course was offered to students for academic credit and to practitioners for continuing education. Dr. Gerardo Flintsch, Director of the Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure at VTTI, with assistance from James Bryce, a PhD student, organized and led the class. The two-week long intensive course brought together 14 students and 9 instructors, hailing from Georgia Tech, Purdue University, Texas A & M, Virginia Tech, University of Texas El Paso, University of Delaware, University of Iowa, and University of Waterloo as well as three international students from Chile, Japan and Portugal. The course covered performance and asset management, sensors and instrumentation, deterioration modeling, data management, sustainability, risk and reliability, asset valuation, public private partnership, optimization, and research methods. Students participated in lectures, completed homework and a final project.
The course has been offered previously at the University of Delaware in 2010, and at Georgia Tech in 2012.
Support for the 3rd Advanced Infrastructure Management Bootcamp came from the Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.
On April 10, 2014, more than 400 students, grades K-12, toured VTTI’s Blacksburg campus facilities, including the Smart Road Control Room, the Simulation Bay, and the Smart Road. The latter included a demonstration of the road’s active weather towers that are capable of producing rain, snow, and fog. CVI-UTC researchers also discussed future safety technologies for which they are leading testing and development efforts.
CVI-UTC participated in the Kids’ Tech University (KTU) event on March 22, 2014. This event included a live demonstration of one of VTTI’s connected vehicles and an informational booth – “VTTI Hightlights V2V Technology” – at Cassell Coliseum on the campus of Virginia Tech. VTTI was among several exhibitors highlighting science and technology.
Kids’ Tech University is a program at Virginia Tech with one primary goal: creating the future workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by sparking kids’ interest in these fields. To learn more about Kids’ Tech University, upcoming events, or past programs, read the Kids’ Tech University blog!
The mission statement of the Connected Vehicle/Infrastructure University Transportation Center (CVI-UTC) is to conduct research that will advance surface transportation through the application of innovative research and using connected-vehicle and infrastructure technologies to improve safety, state of good repair, economic competitiveness, livable communities, and environmental sustainability.
Dr. Thomas A. Dingus serves as the director for the CVI-UTC, as well as the director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and the National Surface Transportation Safety Center for Excellence (NSTSCE). Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Dr. Dingus was founding director of the National Center for Transportation Technology at the University of Idaho and was an associate director of the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa. Dr. Dingus has more than 220 technical publications and has managed approximately $300 million in research funding to date ($130 million as principal investigator).
