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International cooperation and collaboration
On their European trip, students from Purdue University (USA) visited the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences at TU Dresden on 22 May.
The visit of the 15-member student group and two supervisors was part of a 14-day trip through the Czech Republic and Germany, with stops at Brno University of Technology, TU Dresden and TU Munich. The trip is part of a university course "Smart Mobility in Europe". The contact to Dresden was established through Prof. S. Travis Waller. Waller, himself an American, has held the Lighthouse Professorship and Chair of Transport Modelling and Simulation at TU Dresden since April 2022.
Focus on shared mobility, autonomous driving and electrification
In the course, the American students deal with the latest technical and scientific developments in transport in European cities. One focus is on shared mobility, autonomous driving and electrification. In addition to four lectures before the trip, the students will experience real traffic on site during the two-week European tour. The basic idea is that the students solve real, industry-related problems on site in small groups and present the results at the universities they visit. For this purpose, they can exchange information with various industry partners and ask for further data or input.
At the same time, the industry representatives have the opportunity to recruit potential interns or employees. It also aims to explore urban culture and broaden the students' own thinking about intelligent transport. In case of a positive response from the participating partner universities, Purdue University plans to continue the programme in the coming years.
For their stop in Dresden, the student travel group was offered a varied day programme by representatives of the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences. After the welcome and introduction of the faculty by the managing director Dr. Michael Krieg, there was a series of lectures by academic staff from various chairs.
After lunch, Prof. Satish V. Ukkusuri gave a lecture on "Multi-Modal Energy Efficient Mobility Analytics and Transportation Research at Purdue University" as part of a faculty-internal professor meeting on the development of possible mobility solutions in relation to energy flows in the transport sector in urban areas. In the afternoon, the group visited the new Vehicle Test Centre at TU Dresden. Here, Dr.-Ing. Kay Büttner, research associate at the Chair of Automobile Engineering, gave a guided tour of the new testing and laboratory facilities.
About Professor Satish Ukkusuri
Prof. Satish V. Ukkusuri has been a professor at Purdue University's Lyles School of Civil Engineering since July 2014, where he teaches university courses in the areas of transport systems and freight and logistics planning. He received his doctorate about 20 years ago under Prof. S. Travis Waller - now a professor at TU Dresden. Ukkusuri is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Group at Purdue University and co-leader of the Building Sustainable Communities cluster.
Prof. Ukkusuri is known and respected both nationally and internationally for his research in transportation network modelling and disaster management. He directs the Urban Mobility, Networks and Intelligence (UMNI) Lab at Purdue University and works across disciplines (including with researchers from the social and computer sciences). His scientific work has been funded by a number of institutions and associations (e.g. National Science Foundation, US Department of Transportation, New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), Departments of Transportation of various US states as well as the Global Policy Research Institute and the Purdue Research Foundation).
About Purdue University
Purdue University is an American university located in West Lafayette, Indiana. It was founded in 1869 and named after John Purdue (a Tippecanoe County businessman), who bequeathed a $150,000 estate to the university. It is a member of the Association of American Universities (an association of leading research-intensive North American universities).
In 2021, Purdue University had 50,000 students, 3,000 teaching staff and a total of 16,809 employees (including 815 professors). It is one of the 26th largest universities in the USA (as of 2018).
Its specialisation lies primarily in the field of engineering, specifically in aerospace technology. Among other things, the university has its own airport. It also has a very good reputation in the field of agricultural sciences and is one of the ten best universities in the world in this subject area.
Sustainability and ethics in the mobility of the future: #Introducing S. Travis Waller
The US-Australian and transport visionary Prof. Dr. S. Travis Waller 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. 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.
"How We Move into the Future" - Inaugural lecture of Prof. S. Travis Waller in full length
Prof. S. Travis Waller was appointed to TU Dresden in 2021 and conducts research at the Lighthouse Professorship "Transport Modeling and Simulation" at the “Friedrich List” Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences. His inaugural lecture discusses how automated mobility simulation tools can assist decision-making in the context of environmental impact, health risk, economics, data science and ethical consideration.
Prof. S. Travis Waller
Head of the Chair of Transport Modelling and Simulation
"Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Science, TU Dresden
Mail: steven_travis.waller@tu-dresden.de