Five Students Awarded Dissertation Grants for Spring 2010 Cycle

May 21, 2010—Five students at four UC campuses have been awarded UCTC Dissertation Grants for the Spring 2010 award cycle. Each grant provides the student with $20,000.

The dissertation grantees are: Weiha Gu (UC Berkeley), Lima Koptitch (UC Irvine), Edward Pultar (UC Santa Barbara), Robert Schneider (UC Berkeley), and Michael Smart (UCLA).

Their topics cover: bus system operations, with a focus on optimal bus stop location; managing freeway incidents; how social networks and mobile information influence travel behavior; neighborhood and site characteristics that encourage walking and bicycling; and how ethnic neighborhoods influence their inhabitants' travel and mode choices.

Read abstracts of the Spring 2010 Dissertation Grant proposals here.

Students at any campus of the University of California are eligible (except UC Davis, which has a separate UTC.)

The dissertation research must be on topics with direct relevance to U.S. surface transportation, with a focus on systems analysis and policy. Applicants must have advanced to candidacy for their Ph.D. degree prior to the application deadline.