UTCs are asked to identify a “theme”, and the UCTC theme is transportation systems analysis and policy.
This theme is at once broadly scoped and strategically focused, allowing us to conduct research that addresses the variety of challenges facing our nation, region and state and find ways to promote effective implementation, while complementing rather than duplicating other technology-oriented programs at UC such as PATH and the UC Pavement Center.
The theme has guided UCTC research since the Center’s very beginning, reflecting the breadth
of knowledge in the transportation field found throughout the five UC campuses affiliated with UCTC and
the instincts of faculty researchers to link technical analyses to contemporary policy concerns.
The development of new methods and approaches for transportation forecasting and analysis,
explorations of alternative policy approaches, and evaluations of existing policies and programs are
examples of the kinds of projects that UCTC supports.
Our researchers come from a variety of disciplines, including urban planning, engineering, economics, political science, computer science, policy studies, management, public health, environmental studies, geography, history, psychology, sociology, and the natural sciences. Increasingly, both our projects and the researchers themselves are multi-disciplinary.
We emphasize surface transportation modes (e.g., highways, rail) rather than air or maritime transportation, but we support intermodal research involving the air and water modes if it has significant surface transportation components. Both passenger transport and freight transport topics are also investigated.
