The annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington DC boasts such a wide array of activities and gatherings that in this era of social media it is tempting to use tweets and photos to convey the considerable intellectual energy that permeates the week. We make no pretense of being any different at UCLA- you get your fill of such delights at the Twitter feed “@ucla_its” and peruse the photos in our slideshow.

There you’ll see the conference through the eyes of the 24 Master’s students who attended with the support of UCLA ITS and donor Larry Sauve MA UP ’78. At our UCLA in DC reception, the students thanked Mr. Sauve, and about 80 UCLA students, faculty, and alumni enjoyed each other’s company at Busboys and Poets.

But at UCLA the focus is always on the volume of high-quality work presented by our students, professors, and researchers, and this year’s TRB saw UCLA demonstrate substantial range and rigor in the field of transportation research.  

UCLA continued our significant work in the realm of social justice with doctoral student Trevor Thomas’ Travel Adaptations and the Great Recession: Evidence from Los Angeles County and doctoral student Carole Turley Voulgaris and professor Brian Taylor’s study: Long Routes to School? School Travel and Activity Participation Among High School Students

Herbie Huff, Juan Matute, Doreen Zhao, and Agustin Garcia’s Transit Applications of Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Technology demonstrated insight into rapidly evolving technological changes in transportation, and Carole Turley Voulgaris, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, and Brian Taylor’s Planning for Pedestrians in Underground Rail Transit Stations: State-of-the-Practice Survey assessed the quality of planning at the intersection of these two distinct travel modes.

Last but certainly not least, TRB veteran Martin Wachs participated in no fewer than six events, including leading a workshop entitled “A New Model for Models: Thinking Differently About Forecasting and Policymaking.”

These are just a sampling of the 21 different events led by UCLA scholars during another terrific year at TRB, and we look forward to continuing the relatively new year of 2015 energized by the creative frisson such gatherings generate.

–written by Nate Holmes