This appointment is a major international success for TU Dresden in the competition for the best researchers worldwide: the US-Australian and transport visionary Prof. Dr. S. Travis Waller (48) took over the leadership of the new Lighthouse Professorship "Transport Modelling and Simulation" at the "Friedrich List” Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences at TU Dresden (TUD) on 1 April 2022. "The establishment of this new professorship and the subsequent appointment is an important milestone for the Faculty on its way to being a national leader and internationally recognised in transport research and teaching by 2030." Prof. Waller and his future team are to play a significant role in the development of the potential area of "Automated and Networked Mobility" at the University of Excellence TU Dresden.

An international search committee appointed by the Rector, consisting of renowned transport scientists (head: Prof. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen, ETH Zurich), had been looking internationally last year for suitable candidates to fill the professorship in an outstanding way. The choice finally fell on S. Travis Waller, professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney (Australia) since 2011 and head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering as well as founder of the Research Center for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI) there.

Mathematical representations and modelling of innovative transport systems

Engineer S. Travis Waller is a world-class researcher in the field of simulation and modelling of innovative transport systems. His work has supported stakeholders worldwide in the planning and design of mobility and infrastructure for more than 20 years. A central theme of his current research is the development of quantified methods for transport system modelling with consideration of equity, fairness, environmental impacts and other ethics-related impacts of transport.

He was not actively looking for a new challenge, says Prof. Waller. "But the approach of such a highly decorated search committee and the offer to contribute to the development of the potential area of ‘Automated and Networked Mobility’ in the heart of Europe really appealed to me. I am also excited by the breadth and depth of research at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences – from researchers in engineering disciplines such as transport, electrical engineering or mechanical engineering, to computer science, transport ecology and transport economics, to transport psychology, everything is here. This already enables very interdisciplinary work in-house and is very exciting for me and my research." In addition, the move to Dresden will bring him "a little closer" to his family in the north-east of the USA, says S. Travis Waller with a twinkle in his eye.

Appointment is boost for transport and traffic science research at TU Dresden

"Bringing S. Travis Waller to TU Dresden is a great success for us and at the same time stands for the good reputation and the attraction of our university of excellence worldwide," says Prof. Ursula M. Staudinger, Rector of TU Dresden. "With Prof. Waller, research in transport and traffic sciences at TU Dresden gains an outstanding expert with important interdisciplinary connections to computer science and the social sciences. At the same time, he can draw on a wide range of experience in cooperation with industry. Travis Waller increases the visibility of our unique Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences on the international stage. His research focus and his international networking will give the TUD's potential area of 'Automated and Networked Mobility' important development impulses towards a future application for a cluster of excellence," says the Rector.

At the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, the new colleague is looked forward to "with joy and enthusiasm working together", as the Dean, Prof. Günther Prokop, puts it. "Mobility is a basic need of every society. It must be reliable, comfortable and safe for people, goods and information, but also ecologically sustainable as well as compatible with urban planning and the economy and technologically feasible. This is a systemic task with strong and diverse interactions from many disciplines. The lighthouse professorship ,Transport Modelling and Simulation’ is centrally necessary to master this complexity. The appointment of Prof. Waller is a milestone for the faculty," explains the dean.