A key goal of CrIS UTC is to foster the development of the next generation of transportation research leaders by providing opportunities for faculty who traditionally work outside the field of ground transportation. Another outlet by which we engage these leaders is through research and leadership opportunities for early-career faculty members.

As part of this mission, we held our first request for proposals for miniprojects on crash imminent safety on new or advanced topics not extensively being investigated. The request for proposal was open to researchers affiliated with partner universities—Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), University of Massachussetts, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and University of Wisconsin) not currently receiving CrIS UTC funding.

Two proposals were selected for funding: Benjamin Coifman, associate professor, Departments of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, “Safety Implications of Traffic Dynamics in Congested Freeway Traffic” and Jiang Zheng, computer and information science, IUPUI, “Analyzing and Mining Big Data of Driving Videos for Crash Avoidance.” These projects will both be considered as subprojects under CrIS UTC’s project seven, technology enhancements to improve precrash safety.”