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Each year, the D-STOP Symposium brings together top experts in the field of automated vehicles, connected infrastructure and new mobility services to share their emerging research that will impact the future of transportation planning and technology.

The Data-Supported Transportation Operations and Planning Center (D-STOP) from UT Austin met with representatives from local and state government, academia and industry in early April at a symposium designed to collaborate on the future of Smart Cities. The day-long event explored smart transportation systems, collaborative ecosystems, infrastructure-based technology, regional planning and analytics and connected vehicles through a series of panels featuring experts in the field.

In 2013, 32,719 fatalities resulted from traffic crashes, most of which were caused by driver error. Across the globe, people are facing longer commutes and five Texas communities are in the top 26 most congested cities in the United States. Traffic congestion creates about 4.8 billion hours of travel delay and affects the environment through increased carbon footprints and higher fuel consumption.

When around 70 percent of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) faculty nowadays come from the top four schools, the process of securing a faculty position, particularly as a new graduate, can be grueling. WNCG Ph.D. graduate Zak Kassas recently accepted an offer as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at The University of California, Riverside (UCR), making him the first UT Austin graduate to join UCR’s faculty. Prof. Kassas shared with WNCG the lessons he learned through the faculty search process.