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Student Spotlight: Jai Malik
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Meet UC Davis PhD student Jai Malik! Born and raised in Delhi, Jai completed his bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering at Delhi Technological University. Jai moved to Davis in 2017 to pursue graduate studies in transportation. His research has concentrated on changing mobility in the U.S. and other countries in response to emerging transportation technologies. In
the last year, he has also focused on the change in the transportation sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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NCST Student Awarded
Thomas J. Votta Scholarship |
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Congratulations to University of Vermont graduate student Elizabeth Duffy on earning the Thomas J. Votta Scholarship! Elizabeth's work at the Transportation Research Center at UVM focuses on greenhouse gas emissions from long-distance travel, and she hopes to become a professional engineer focusing on sustainability and addressing climate change. |
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International Conference on Ecology and Transportation 2021
September 21-30, 2021 — Virtual
The International Conference on Ecology and Transportation is the foremost interdisciplinary, inter-agency supported conference addressing the broad range of ecological issues related to transportation systems in all modes. The conference is organized by the UC Davis Road Ecology Center, with collaboration from the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and the National Center for Sustainable Transportation at UC Davis. This conference, ICOET will also host the first-ever "Global Congress on Linear Infrastructure and the Environment," which will bring together decision-makers, scientists and technical experts from around the global to discuss the pressing issues associated with developing more sustainable linear infrastructure systems. |
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Dr. Caroline Rodier |
Researcher, University of California, Davis
Creighton Randall (Guest Respondent) | Mobility Development Partners
Abigail Solis (Guest Respondent) | Self-Help Enterprises |
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This webinar highlighted early research evaluating the success of Míocar (a non-profit, electric car-sharing service meant to offer a cost-effective mobility option for residents of rural disadvantaged communities) in achieving its goals and featured perspectives from key partners involved in the pilot. |
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Dr. Meisam Razaviyayn |
Assistant Professor, University of Southern California
Ali Ghafelebashi | PhD Student,
University of Southern California
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This webinar discussed research on developing real-time algorithms to reduce traffic congestion and improve routing efficiency via offering personalized incentives to drivers. The research team proposed to exploit the wide accessibility of smart communication devices and develop a real-time look-ahead incentive-offering mechanism using individuals' routing and aggregate traffic information. |
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Dr. Debapriya Chakraborty |
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Davis
Dr. Scott Hardman | Professional Research Scientist, University of California, Davis |
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This webinar highlighted two new studies on California’s electric vehicle market with implications for the state’s push to reach 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035. The first study presents an innovative approach for calculating electric vehicles’ total cost of ownership for various household types in California. The second study investigates discontinuance of electric vehicles, explores how prevalent this issue is, why buyers abandon electric vehicles, and what might lure them back to the market. |
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UC Davis Transportation &
Climate Blog |
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We Can, and Should, Account for the Consequences of Expanding Highways
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Decades of research have shown the existence of the induced travel effect. This phenomenon can be explained by the basic economic principles of supply and demand. Expanding highway capacity increases average travel speed (at least initially), which reduces the time “cost” of driving. When the cost of driving decreases, the volume of (or “demand” for) driving increases, as is true for most economic goods. Yet transportation agencies continue to propose highway expansion projects with a goal of "congestion relief."
In a new blog post, NCST researcher Jamey Volker discusses the Induced Travel Calculator, a simple tool he and UC Davis colleagues developed to estimate the induced travel effect and understand the true impacts of widening highways on vehicle miles traveled and pollution. The research team applied the calculator to five highway expansion projects approved in California over the last 12 years and found that environmental reviews fail to accurately analyze induced travel from highway expansion projects.
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Discontinuance Among California’s Electric Vehicle Buyers: Why are some consumers abandoning their electric vehicles?
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Recently published NCST research by Scott Hardman and Gil Tal has been featured in a variety of media outlets, such as Vice, Business Insider, and Fox Business. The research |
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focuses on discontinuance among California’s electric vehicle buyers and makes recommendations on how to prevent discontinuance. The researchers also suggest ways to get those that have abandoned plug-in electric vehicles to readopt them in the future. |
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How to Shop Online More Sustainably
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Every package delivered to your door comes with associated emissions. However, as NCST researcher Miguel Jaller explains in a New York Times article, "E-commerce is not the evil. The evil comes from the abuse of e-commerce, because it’s so convenient that we are abusing this opportunity to have a really nice and eco-friendly option that consolidates cargo." Read more about what you (and retailers themselves!) can do to make shopping online more sustainable. |
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What barrier(s) is/are limiting battery-electric heavy-duty trucks' ability to be a practical substitute for diesel drayage trucks in the near term?
a. limited range
b. long charging times
c. high capital costs
d. all of the above |
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When will cost parity between plug-in electric vehicles and conventional vehicles likely be reached?
a. in the next 5 years
b. over a decade from now
c. by 2050
d. Never; conventional vehicles will always be more affordable |
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Congestion Reduction via Personalized Incentives
Ali Ghafelebashi, Meisam Razaviyayn, and Maged Dessouky | University of Southern California |
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This project studied a different approach of offering positive incentives to drivers to take alternative routes. More specifically, an algorithm is proposed to reduce traffic congestion and improve routing efficiency by offering personalized incentives to drivers. The incentives are offered after solving large-scale optimization problems in order to minimize the expected congestion (or minimize the expected carbon emissions).
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Setting Transportation Network Company (TNC) Policies to Increase Sustainability
Sam Fuller, Tatjana Kunz, Austin Brown, and Mollie D’Agostino | University of California, Davis
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Cities and states across the U.S. are assessing fees or taxes on transportation network company (TNC) platforms, such as Uber and Lyft. The goals of these policies include traffic and emissions mitigation, as well as revenue generation, among other objectives. This research aims to assess the goals and effectiveness of these fees in achieving some of these policy objectives, primarily congestion and emissions mitigation.
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Discontinuance Among California’s Electric Vehicle Buyers: Why are some consumers abandoning their electric vehicles?
Scott Hardman and Gil Tal | University of California, Davis
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For the market introduction of electric vehicles to be successful, first-time adopters need to make continual purchases of the vehicles. Discontinuance, the act of abandoning a new technology after once being an adopter, has implications for market growth and could prevent electric vehicles from ever reaching 100% market share. Using results from five surveys of electric vehicle owners, the researchers examine discontinuance among battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle adopters.
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Jesus Hernandez | JCH Research |
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Scott Hardman and Gil Tal | University of California, Davis |
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Seiji Steimetz and Thomas O’Brien | California State University, Long Beach
Marshall Miller and Lewis Fulton | University of California, Davis
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The National Center for Sustainable Transportation is a consortium of leading universities committed to advancing an environmentally sustainable transportation system through cutting-edge research, direct policy engagement, and education of our future leaders. Consortium members: University of California, Davis; University of California, Riverside; University of Southern California; California State University, Long Beach; Georgia Institute of Technology; and the University of Vermont. |
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