CAMMSE: USDOT University Transportation Center
Director, Center for Advanced Multimodal Mobility Solutions and Education (CAMMSE), 2016–2024
I served as Director of the Center for Advanced Multimodal Mobility Solutions and Education (CAMMSE), a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) FAST Act Tier I University Transportation Center led by UNC Charlotte from 2016 to 2024. CAMMSE was an eight-year, multi-university transportation research and education center funded by $8.5 million from USDOT, with $12.75 million including cost sharing, and focused on the FAST Act priority area of “Improving Mobility of People and Goods.”
CAMMSE was a consortium of five universities: UNC Charlotte, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Connecticut, Washington State University, and Texas Southern University. The Center advanced research, education, workforce development, and technology transfer across a broad range of multimodal transportation areas, including highway, public transportation, rail, freight, aviation, bicycle and pedestrian transportation, and emerging transportation technologies.
Research Leadership and Program Development
As Director, I provided overall leadership for the Center's research program, education and workforce development, university partnerships, stakeholder engagement, and technology-transfer activities. I coordinated a multi-university research portfolio involving approximately 30 faculty/staff members and 35 external collaborators and helped develop and manage a broad portfolio of federally and externally supported transportation research.
Over the course of the CAMMSE program, the Center supported:
87 research projects, including 21 projects led by UNC Charlotte;
219 journal publications, including 122 from UNC Charlotte;
Research collaboration among 5 universities and approximately 35 external collaborators;
More than 200 students participating in CAMMSE-supported research and educational activities;
Support for 33 undergraduate, 78 master's, and 134 Ph.D. students;
148 undergraduate and 154 graduate courses taught by CAMMSE-affiliated faculty; and
25 UNC Charlotte student awards, including a USDOT Student of the Year Award and multiple NCSITE scholarships.
Education, Workforce Development, and Technology Transfer
In addition to research, CAMMSE developed a sustained education and workforce-development program that included student research opportunities, summer camps, outreach activities, seminars, and professional-development activities. The Center also organized an annual CAMMSE Research Symposium and seminar series and promoted dissemination of CAMMSE research through the Transportation Research Board (TRB) and other national transportation forums.
Research Areas and Long-Term Impact
CAMMSE provided a platform for interdisciplinary research addressing major transportation challenges through advanced computing, data analytics, emerging technologies, and analytical and modeling methods. Research supported through the Center contributed to areas including transportation safety, multimodal mobility, traffic operations, public transportation, connected and autonomous vehicles, transportation system modeling, and data-driven transportation analysis.
The CAMMSE experience also established a foundation for my subsequent research leadership and collaboration in AI and data analytics for transportation, connected and autonomous vehicles, transportation safety, multimodal mobility, traffic operations, and transportation system modeling and optimization.