UNIVERSITY TRANSPORTATION CENTER
(UTC)
ANNUAL REPORT
for
University of Delaware
University Transportation Center
(UDUTC)
Year 4
October 2009 – September 2010
U.S. Department of Transportation
Research and Innovative Technology Administration
October 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. Overview ....................................................................................... 3 Center Theme and Goals.................................................................. 3 Management Structure and Principal Center Staff ................................ 5 Examples of Specific Accomplishments .............................................. 6 Examples of Products Used by Stakeholders ...................................... 16 Funding Sources ............................................................................ 17 Summary ..................................................................................... 19 Page 2 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
I. Overview
The University of Delaware was designated a Tier II University Transportation
Center in the August 2005 Transportation Reauthorization - Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU).
Strategically located astride major national transportation corridors, Delaware is a
critical part of the national transportation network in terms of both freight and
passenger transportation. Specifically, the I-95 corridor, the Northeast Rail corridor,
and the Port of Wilmington are facilities of national significance. This strategic
location also serves as a rich source of examples for classes, as well as for applied
research problems that are consistent with the interests and our expertise of our
faculty in transportation and land use planning, infrastructure, environmental
quality and freight transportation. For these reasons, the University of Delaware
University Transportation Center (UDUTC) selected as our theme resiliency of
transportation corridors.
We draw on our strategic location in a region with all transportation modes that
support economic development and improved quality of life and on corridors that
are of national significance as a testbed for our work. Our region is representative
of many others with significant issues related to congestion, safety, aging
infrastructure, and the competing demands of transporting individual travelers and
freight while protecting the environment.
The center’s strategic plan was approved in May 2007 and projects were initiated in
September 2007. This annual report, our fourth, covers the period October 2009 to
September 2010, and describes the structure of the center and then highlights
some of the year’s activities before summarizing the funding sources. Lists of
projects, products and students are reproduced on the centers website
(http://www.ce.udel.edu/UTC/index.html).
II.
Center Theme and Goals
Our theme is resiliency of transportation corridors. The overall goal of the
UDUTC is to support research, education, and technology transfer that will improve
our ability to plan, design, construct, manage, and maintain an advanced
transportation infrastructure. To date, our work focuses on all surface modes
Resiliency is defined as a system’s ability to absorb, respond to, and recover from
internal and external pressures and disturbances that impact the performance of
the system in both the short and long term. That is, resiliency is a measure of the
persistence and sustainability of systems and their ability to maintain the same
relationships among populations or changing state variables, including land use
patterns, environmental changes, unexpected events, and the ecology of
transportation corridors.
Page 3 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Our concept of a corridor continues to evolve from Gotttman’s 1961 seminal work
Megalopolis. Consistent with Gottman’s work, we view a corridor as a network of
transportation functions connecting activity centers.
Located centrally in the BOSWASH corridor, which now extends to Norfolk, Virginia,
the UDUTC uses the megapolitan regional transportation corridor as the organizing
concept for our research.
Our research concentrates on four areas:

Planning—Understanding and anticipating the relationships among
transportation, land use, and economic development in corridors is essential to
resiliency. We need to develop planning approaches that are based on
understanding the dynamics of transportation systems and corridors in terms of
a model of resiliency. In short, the concept of resiliency makes special demands
on the conventional planning processes, and we must recognize and
accommodate this. Also, the long history of transportation systems in the
BOSTFOLK corridor offers an opportunity to study the historic resiliency of
systems with long functional/engineering lives as a basis for understanding and
modeling contemporary and future behavior and resiliency.

Ecology and the Environment—Corridors not only transport people and goods
but also facilitate the spread of invasive species, concentrate air quality issues,
and impose external pressures on the environment. Also, corridors not only
break up ecological zones and habitats but create their own linear ecological
environments, which are poorly understood. Linking planning, design,
operating, and maintenance strategies to enhance the ecological and
environmental quality of transportation corridors is a challenging problem.

Infrastructure Renewal—Planning for and executing infrastructure renewal
projects and strategies are key to the proper functioning of transportation
corridors. Asset management strategies, innovative repair and replacement
techniques, and new materials and contracting practices require additional
research to be effective for corridor applications.

Operations and Management—Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have
had a significant impact on the operation and management of our transportation
systems, particularly corridors. However, in the areas of congestion mitigation
and management and emergency preparedness and response, corridors play a
unique role as critical links and bottlenecks to mobility and accessibility.
Research on how to better leverage our knowledge of the corridor is key to
preparedness and response to unanticipated events.
Page 4 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
III.
Management Structure and Principal
Center Staff
The UTC is an operational unit under the Delaware Center for Transportation (DCT),
which in turn is an operational unit under the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Delaware. The relationship
between UTC and DCT is shown in Figure 1.
DCT
Projects
Director – Faghri
Policy Council
Assoc Director –
Lewis
Research Comm
T2 Center /
LTAP
UTC
Figure 1. DCT Organizational Structure
The structure of the UDUTC is shown in Figure 2. Sue McNeil, Professor of Civil and
Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware, serves as the Director of
the UDUTC. Ellen Pletz serves as the account manager for the UD-UTC. She
manages and reconciles the accounts. Marikka Beach provides clerical and
administrative assistance, including event and meeting scheduling, and web
support.
Figure 2. UTC Organizational Chart
UTC
Director
Assoc Director
Research –
Projects
Fellowship
Students
Education
Advisory Council
Project Selection/
Committee
Outreach
In addition, two committees support the center’s operation:
Page 5 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
 The UDUTC Project Selection Committee, which consists of representatives from
the University and various transportation-related agencies, evaluates and selects
research projects for the annual UDUTC. Members are
 Sue McNeil, UTC Director
 Dennis R. Mertz, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
 Jerome Lewis, School of Urban Affairs & Public Policy
 James Corbett, College of Marine and Earth Studies
 Patrick Kennedy, FHWA (Delmar Division)
 Michael Strange, Director of Research, DelDOT
 Henry Nejako, Federal Transit Administration
 Ralph Reeb, Director of Planning, DelDOT
 Reza Taromi, UD-CEE graduate student
 The UDUTC Advisory Committee advises Center administration on research
direction, curriculum, and technology transfer activities. Members are
 Arde Faghri, Director Delaware Center for Transportation
 Dennis R. Mertz, Director of the Center for Innovative Bridge
Research
 Jerome Lewis, Director of the Institute for Public Administration
 James J. Corbett, Associate Professor, College of Marine and Earth
Studies
 Larry Klepner, Director Technology Transfer Center (through
January 31, 2010, and Earl (Rusty) Lee beginning February 1,
2010.
 Sue McNeil, UTC Director
 Reza Taromi, Graduate Assistant, Civil and Environmental
Engineering
The Advisory Committee meets on an “as needed” basis. This is usually two to
three times per semester. The committee selects students for undergraduate
research, select the students of the year, select fellowship recipients, suggest
distinguished lectures and discuss budget revisions.
IV.
Examples of Specific Accomplishments
During our fourth year of the grant, some of the less tangible activities related to
the grant are beginning to produce results as our students graduate and are sought
after by a variety of firms, their work is cited and new students apply to graduate
school.
In 2010 UDUTC received 10 proposals from 11 researchers representing five
different colleges (Agriculture; Arts and Sciences; Human Services, Education and
Policy; Engineering; and Marine Studies). Each proposal was reviewed by two or
three external reviewers and the members of the review committee. Five research
proposals involving four different colleges were funded. One proposal received
partial support in the form of graduate student support for a continuing student.
Page 6 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Each researcher received copies of all external reviews and selection committee
reviews for their proposal, as well as a summary of the comments from the
selection meeting.
One project involves continuation funding from the prior year. Another project is a
continuation of an education and outreach effort engaging elementary and middleschool students in transportation through dance.
One project, funded by the US Chamber Foundation, was launched and is supported
by matching funds. Similarly projects on infrastructure security and asset
management are supported by DelDOT.
Three of the five projects initiated in year 1 have submitted final reports (including
one dissertation and one thesis). Two of the five projects initiated with year two
funding have submitted final reports (including one thesis). Two year 3 projects
received continuation funding in year 4. Three other projects were initiated in
September 2010. More importantly several conference presentations stemming
from UTC related projects were made and papers have been submitted to archival
journals. Reports and dissertations are listed in Table 1. Presentations and papers
are summarized in Table 2.
The outreach/ education project, initiated in the spring, involves introducing
elementary students to transportation through dance and their social studies
curriculum. The project, lead by Professor Lynnette Overby (Department of
Theater) is in partnership with elementary schools and includes three
undergraduate students who are education majors and dance minors. Michelle
Oswald a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a UDUTC Fellow
serves as the project mentor. This project has engaged over 200 students and 20
teachers in introducing elementary and middle school students to transportation
through dance. The UD ArtsBridge homepage http://artsbridge.urel.udel.edu/
features the transportation project and some of the scholars supported through the
University of Delaware University Transportation Center.
Two graduate students were awarded UTC fellowships for 2010-2011 :
 Peter Seymour, a second year Master of Civil Engineering student in Civil and
Environmental Engineering focusing on Civil Infrastructure Systems, and
 Todd O’Boyle, a second year PhD student in Urban Affairs and Public Policy
focusing on transportation planning.
Our partnership with the Disaster Research Center’s Research Experiences for
Undergraduates (REU) program, which is sponsored by the National Science
Foundation, entered its final year during the summer of 2010. Geoff Dilg and Elisa
Kropat, both rising seniors in Civil and Environmental Engineering, worked on
modeling hurricanes and modeling landslides respectively. Jonathan Calhoun (a
rising sophomore in Civil Engineering) also participated in undergraduate research.
Page 7 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Figure 3 Lynnette Overby works with faculty, staff and students to explore
transportation through dance
All graduate students serving as research assistants or fellowship students on
UDUTC projects are required to take the graduate-level transportation course CIEG
650 Urban Transportation Systems or an equivalent course, unless they had
previously done so.
Professors McNeil and Lee taught CIEG 650 Urban Transportation Systems in Fall
2009. Thirteen students from three different colleges were enrolled in the class.
These students included four undergraduates. The class again featured several
guest lecturers including:
 Alain Kornhauser, Princeton University
 Wolfgang Scherr, PTV
 Jim Corbett, CEMS, UD
 Dan Blevins, WILMAPCO
The center also sponsored or co-sponsored several events as shown in Table 3. Six
distinguished lectures and three brown bag discussions provided opportunities for
researchers and practitioners to get together to learn about new developments and
discuss ongoing research. UTC faculty, staff and students enjoyed a brown bag
with a difference when they participated in interpreting transportation problems
though dance.
Page 8 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Twenty five students (including one undergraduate) attended the Transportation
Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington DC in January 2010 and all ongoing
projects presented posters at the Research Showcase in Dover, DE in May 2010.
In June 2010, the University Transportation Center hosted the first ever
Infrastructure Management Bootcamp and the 6th Annual Interuniversity
Symposium on Infrastructure Management. Bootcamp, or more formally, the
Advanced Infrastructure Systems course, was an intensive two week course team
taught by faculty from University of Waterloo, University of Texas at Austin, Virginia
Teach and University of Iowa. The class provided an immersion experience for 17
students from eight different universities in the US and Canada. AISIM, the Annual
Interuniversity Symposium on Infrastructure Management, is organized by and for
graduate students to showcase their work and provide an opportunity to build
professional networks. Over 20 students from eight different universities presented
their work. The support of the University Transportation Center was appreciated by
the bootcamp participants and AISIM attendees.
Figure 4. Mohammadsaied Dehghani (Virginia Tech) makes a point during the
Infrastructure Management Bootcamp Project Presentations while Jamie
Montague Fischer (Georgia Tech) looks on
Six graduate students who have worked on UTC related projects have completed
degrees this year. Laura Black completed an MA in Urban Planning and Public
Affairs. Anne Lucey completed an MS in Plant and Soil Sciences. Silvana Croope
completed her PhD in Civil Engineering. Houston Brown, Sekine Rahimian and Leslie
Mills completed MCE degrees. Anne is working as an independent landscape
gardener, Silvana is working for DelDOT, Houston is working for industry, and
Laura, Leslie and Sekine are continuing for a PhD. Their analytical paper,
dissertation and theses are posted on the UTC website
(http://www.ce.udel.edu/UTC/Publications.html) and listed in Table 1.
Page 9 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Several undergraduates who have worked on UTC projects also graduated. Kelly
Ambrose, Cory Castelluco, Sarah Dalton, Chance Malkin, Scott Stable and Melissa
Steward all completed Bachelors in Civil Engineering.
Students receiving awards this year are:
 Michelle Oswald (Civil Engineering) –
o Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship
o Best Presentation - Annual Interuniversity Symposium on
Infrastructure Management - Newark, DE
o USA Funds Access to Education Scholarship
o Society of Women Engineers Collegiate Member Award
o Institute of Transportation Engineers - Transoft Solutions Ahead of the
Curve Scholarship for Graduate Study in Transportation Engineering
o ENO Transportation Leadership Conference Fellow- Dr. Thomas D.
Larson Fellowship
 Laura Black -School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy Director’s Citation
 Geoffrey Edwards – UTC Student of the Year
 Anne Lucey - Plant and Soil Sciences graduate student symposium May 5th
- 2nd place for outstanding presentation of research
Figure 5 UTC Graduate Students Charlie Mitchell and Laura Black Participate in
Infrastructure Management Bootcamp
Page 10 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Figure 6 New Graduates Sarah Dalton, Melissa Stewart and Kelly Ambrose
Page 11 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Table 1. UTC Reports, Dissertations, and Theses.
October
2009
October
2009
Edwards, Geoff, Delaware's Transportation Agenda in the Northeast Corridor, Final Report, University of Delaware
University Transportation Center and Institute for Public Administration.
Hayes, Matthew and Dennis Mertz, “Assessing the Vulnerability of Delaware's Coastal Bridges to Hurricane
Forces,” Final Report, University of Delaware University Transportation Center
January
2010
April 2010
Brown, Houston, "Evaluation of Missing Member Analyses for Progressive Collapse Design and Steel Buildings
and Girder Bridges", Master's Thesis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware.
McNeil, Sue, Qiang Li and Michelle Oswald, "Developing an Infrastructure Index - Phase I," Final Report,
University Transportation Center, University of Delaware
Croope, Silvana, "Managing Critical Civil Infrastructure Systems: Improving Resilience to Disasters ", PhD
Dissertation, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware.
Black, Laura, "Evacuation of Carless Populations", Analytical Paper, Master of Arts, Urban Affairs and Public Policy,
University of Delaware.
Rahimiam, Sekine, "Selecting Asset Protection Strategies: A Comparison of Optimization and Ranking", Master of
Civil Engineering, University of Delaware.
Mills, Leslie, "Pavement Performance Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Simulation," Master’s Thesis, Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware.
Croope, Silvana, Sue McNeil, Tracy Deliberty and Joanne Nigg, “Resiliency of Transportation Corridors Before,
During, and After Catastrophic Natural Hazards” Final Report, University of Delaware University Transportation
Center
Lucey, Anne, “Influencing public perception of sustainable roadside vegetation management strategies,” Master’s
Thesis, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware.
Lucey, Anne, Susan Barton and Jules Bruck, “Public Perception and Attitudes About Roadside Vegetation: Pre- and
Post-Environmental Education,” Final Report, University of Delaware University Transportation Center
May 2010
May 2010
May 2010
May 2010
June 2010
August
2010
September
2010
Page 12 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Table 2. Presentations and Papers Related to UTC Projects
Event/ Location
Date
Speaker/ Author
Title
Learning through the
Arts, Annual
Conference, Salisbury
State University
Transportation Research
Board Annual Meeting,
Washington, DC.
November 2009
Lynette Overby
Interdisciplinary Learning through Dance.
January 2010
Colin Murphy, James Winebrake, James Corbett,
Karl Korfmacher and Scott Hawker
Haifeng Wang, Chengfeng Wang, Lei Zhang
Simplifying the Estimation of Health Impacts from Freight
Activity in an Urban Environment,
Evaluating Economic Reasons Behind China’s Stance in ShipBased Greenhouse Gas Reduction Negotiations
Comparisons of Speed Reduction with Other Policy
Instruments in Greenhouse Gas Mitigation from
Containerships
Short-Term and Long-Term Cost Reduction Strategies for the
International Shipping Industry
Haifeng Wang
Haifeng Wang
Kelly Hannum
Michelle Oswald
Sustainable Air Bases
Evaluating Current Status of Boston-Washington
Transportation Corridor and Indicators of Resiliency
Implementation of Decision Support System for Transportation
Adaptation Practices in Response to Climate Change
Exploration of Matter-Element Analysis for Pavement
Preventive Maintenance Optimal Timing Determination and
Treatment Selection
Integrating GIS Functionality into Transportation
Infrastructure Decision Support Systems: A Case Study
Student Engagement through Dance.
Michelle Oswald
Qiang Li
Delaware GIS
Conference
National Dance
Association, Annual
Conference,
Indianapolis, IN
American Association of
Geographers
Conference, Washington
DC
February 2010
Croope, Silvana
March 2010
Lynette Overby
April 2010
Geoffrey Edwards
Engagement in Economic Development by Transportation
Planning and Operating Agencies within the Northeast
Corridor.
Page 13 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
Event/ Location
Date
Speaker/ Author
University of Delaware
Title
ArtsBridge America
Annual Conference, UC
Irvine
Maryland Campus
Compact Annual
Conference, Towson,
MD.
Plant and Soil Sciences
graduate student
symposium.
6th Annual
Interuniversity
Symposium on
Infrastructure
Management, University
of Delaware, Newark
The International
Environmental Modeling
and Software Society
(iEMSs) 2010, Ottawa,
Canada
University of Delaware
Undergraduate
Research Symposium
April 2010
Lynette Overby and Sarah Kim Vennard
Arts Integration
April 2010
Lynette Overby, Sarah Kim Vennard and
Kimberly Schroder
Student Engagement through the Arts.
May 2010
Anne Lucey
Whether an awareness of benefits positively influences public
perception of sustainable roadside vegetation strategies,
June 2010
Leslie Mills
Analysis of Ground-Penetrating Radar Data Using Markov
Chain Monte Carlo Simulation
“Methodology for Developing a National Infrastructure Index
using Analytic Hierarchy Process
Michelle Oswald
July 2010
Hawker, J. S.; Comer, B.; Corbett, J. J.; Ghosh,
A.; Korfmacher, K.; Lee, E. E.; Li, B.; Prokop,
C.; Winebrake, J. J.
An Integrated Model to Study Environmental, Economic, and
Energy Trade-offs in Intermodal Freight Transportation
August 2010
ArtBridge Scholars
In View presentations, Summer Undergraduate Research
Symposium, University of Delaware.
Transportation Research
Record, No 2093.
2009
Rachel Nathman, Sue McNeil and Thomas
VanDam
Integrating Environmental Perspectives into Pavement
Management: Adding PaLATE to the Decision Making Toolbox
Journal of Urban
planning and
Development,
September
2010.
Oswald, Michelle and Sue McNeil
“Rating Sustainability: Transportation Investments in
Urban Corridors as a Case Study,”
Page 14 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
Table 3. UTC Speakers and Events
Event/ Location
Brownbag Webinar Date
11/6/2009 11/4/2009 Distinguished Lecture 10/23/2009 Distinguished Lecture 10/30/2009 Brownbag 2/17/2010 Speaker/ Organizer
Tricia Wachtendorf and Ben Johnson
TRB, DelDOT and DRC
Linda Nozik, Cornell University
Topic
Resiliency of Transportation Corridors During Disasters
Costing Asset Protection: An All Hazards Guide for Transportation Agencies Optimizing Facility Use Restrictions for the Movement of Hazardous Materials Motorcoach Transportation and Accident Analysis
Dance and Transportation
Distinguished Lecture 3/18/2010 Distinguished Lecture 3/13/2010 Distinguished Lecture 3/25/2010 Robert Kadlec
Lynette Overby, Carrie Winiker, Pamela Oppenheimer and SarahKim Vennard Richard Layman
Tom Vanderbilt
Adie Tomer
Distinguished Lecture 4/22/2010 David Axe
Poster Session 5/5/2010 All Projects
Graduate Course 6/14/ ‐ 6/25/2010 2009‐2010 Sue McNeil, Susan Tighe, Zhanmin Zhang, Gerardo Flintsch, David Lee Lynnette Overby and students
K – 12 students exposed to curriculum
2009‐2010 Lynnette Overby and students
Pre‐K through Higher Education Teacher Educators
9/22/10 Dr. Rusty Lee, Dzung Ngo
The Impact of Disruptions along the I‐95 Corridor on Congestion and Air Quality Thurgood Marshall Elementary School 2nd Grade, The College School, and students involved in the New Orleans summer program Teachers exposed to curriculum Brown Bag Seminar Planning, Scale & the Mobilityshed
Objects In The Mirror are More Complicated Than They Appear
Delaware’s relationship with transportation flow and infrastructure in the Northeast Corridor region Logistics underpins America’s ability to deploy forces all over the world, on short notice‐ and by Extension America’s power in the world Transportation Showcase
Advanced Infrastructure Management (“Bootcamp”)
Page 15 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
V.
University of Delaware
Examples of Products Used by Stakeholders
The following examples illustrate interactions and follow-up projects that
leverage the UTC projects:
 Worked with DelDOT and FEMA to better integrate GIS into disaster
preparedness using tools developed from Silvana Croope’s PhD dissertation
(UTC project).
 Met with FHWA’s Office of Pavement Technology, FHWA’s Our Office of
Environment, Planning and Realty, and Maryland State Highway Agency
personnel to provide detailed concepts related to sustainable corridors based
on Michelle Oswald’s MCE thesis (UTC project).
 Building on two UTC funded projects (Delaware regional freight data for
Geographic Intermodal Freight Transportation (GIFT) and Application of
freight transportation and decision models to scope and compare freight
infrastructure investment) Professors Corbett and Lee (along with
collaborators at Rochester Institute of Technology) have developed research
collaborations with California Air Resources Board, US DOT Maritime
Administration and Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute. The products
include:
 The Geospatial Intermodal Freight Transportation (GIFT) Model
is a desktop software system that provides decision makers the
ability to evaluate the energy and environmental impacts of
different freight decisions. GIFT has been used by major
partners in the intermodal freight system, including planners
and policy makers, regulators, ports, vessel carriers (domestic
and international), and intermodal rail and truck experts. The
GIFT platform has been used collaboratively in “table-top”
workshops to jointly explore how freight modes, terminals, and
infrastructure systems work together to meet economic and
environmental goals in goods movement. The GIFT work
supported by US DOT has been leveraged to support states,
other federal agencies, and has drawn interest from
stakeholders at industry conferences.
 The Web-Based Multi-Modal Energy and Emissions Calculator
provides maximum flexibility to users wishing to evaluate
emissions from various forms of freight transportation (rail,
truck, and ship). Importantly, the calculator gives users options
to change everything from fuel characteristics (energy content,
carbon content, etc.) to modal and load characteristics (engine
parameters, load attributes), to emissions control devices. The
calculator is currently focused on container transport because its
functionality was adapted from the integrated calculations in the
GIFT model; therefore, the calculator generates emissions and
energy use in a per TEU-mile basis (with expectations to move
to per ton-miles in the near future). With these values, users
can generate values that can be multiplied by TEUs shipped
Page 16 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4

University of Delaware
and/or miles traveled in order to generate energy use and
emissions for a given trip. In addition, the calculator allows
users to build a “library” of different trucks, trains, and ships
that the user can return to for comparative scenario analyses.
Web-GIFT is under development to move GIFT to the Web to
make the fundamental features and power of gift more widely
available to facilitate greater collaboration with the Marine
Highway Initiative, across US DOT, and among major
stakeholders in goods movement sustainability. This would be
the first ever web-based intermodal network system that
simultaneously allows users to optimize routes based on time,
distance, and various environmental factors (e.g., carbon, PM,
etc.).
VI. Funding Sources
Between 10/1/09 and 09/30/10, $456,279 of the UTC grant was expended. The
grant is matched by University, Delaware Department of Transportation and
industry funds that are tracked using a matching identification numbers. This
expenditure is less than budgeted amounts as PIs for individual projects continue to
leverage funds and extending graduate support over two years. All elements of the
strategic plan are currently funded. Table 4 shows expenditures over all four years
of the grant to date.
Table 4. Expenditures to Date
Source
Federal
Grant
Year 1
$110,225
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Total
$267,783
$328,432 $456,279
$1,162,719
The sources of funds are also shown in Figure 7, which shows a significant increase
in matching funds from industry (largely from the project funded by the US
Chamber Foundation) and a smaller proportion of funds (2% versus 20%) coming
from the state DOT than originally projected in the budget. The smaller proportion
of state DOT funding is related to the ease with which University funds can be
tracked and fiscal constraints at Delaware Department of Transportation.
Figure 8 shows expenditures in terms of administration, research, education and
technology transfer. Anticipated expenditures for education and technology
transfer are particularly low. Changes in leadership at the T2 center, and cash flow
issues meant that there was less involvement of the T2 Center than expected. In
reality the technology transfer function has been integrated into existing faculty
roles and ongoing Delaware Center for Transportation activities.
The proportion of funds devoted to administration continues to be significantly less
than the budget allowing us to commit to additional student support.
Page 17 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
University of Delaware
UD UTC FUNDING SOURCES
10/1/09 ‐ 9/30/10
33%
University
50%
State DOT
Industry
Federal 2%
15%
Figure 7. Funding Sources
UD UTC EXPENDITURES
10/1/09 ‐ 9/30/10
1%
0%
19%
Administration
Research
Education
Technology Transfer
80%
Figure 8. Expenditures by Category
Page 18 of 19
UTC Annual Report – Year 4
VII.
University of Delaware
Summary
During the 2009-2010 grant year UD-UTC students, staff and faculty were actively
engaged in research related to the Resiliency of Transportation Corridors. Much of
our grant supports students and student activities. Our graduate and
undergraduate students are vital members of our research community. They have
successfully completed degrees, published papers, presented at conferences and
won awards.
Our community came together with other transportation professionals in the
Delaware region and beyond to listen to Distinguished Lectures, participate in
brown bag discussions and engage in workshops and conferences. The
transportation courses offered as part of our UTC emphasize the multi-disciplinary
nature of transportation and we have encouraged our students and faculty to think
beyond their traditional disciplines.
Our researchers shared the products of their research at conferences and meetings
and also initiated and enhanced collaborations with Delaware Department of
Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Maritime Administration
drawing on knowledge gained as part of UTC funded projects.
Page 19 of 19