Category: News

Mr. Justin Dennis is the co-founder of Urban SDK, which is a company that specializes in helping local governments and public agencies build trust with IoT (Internet of Things), data visualization, and machine learning. At Urban SDK, he leads all operations and product development related to technology. As technical lead, Justin manages a team of […]

A first-ever Women in Transportation Initiative (WITI) Internship Program was established at the University of Florida this spring 2020 with the assistance of the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development & Education Center (STRIDE), which is the 2016 U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Regional (Southeastern) University Transportation Center (UTC) housed at the UFTI. The WITI is […]

How we meet The University of Florida’s move to remote work has forced all of us to rethink the way we meet and interact with our colleagues.   During this time the UFTI has celebrated a retirement and held an External Advisory Board meeting. Traditionally, these would have been in-person events; often involving food, discussion, and camaraderie.   McTrans Director Retirement  Bill Sampson, PE, […]

Changes in Education  The University of Florida moved all course to online instruction March 16, 2020 in an effort to allow students and faculty to safe-guard their health and practice social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19. To maintain the health of the UF community the decision was made to move all classes online […]

Abigail Osei-Asamoah’s interest in transportation and engineering started from a young age; she would spend time figuring out how things got from one place to another. While being driven to and from school she would muse on the other vehicles moving between homes in minutes, passing pedestrians along the way.   Having a father who is a […]

Planning for the future of Florida’s transportation system is a complicated process. The Florida Department of Transportation is currently going through the process of updating its transportation plan.  Researchers and students from the University of Florida (UF), Florida State University (FSU), and the University of South Florida (USF) collaborated on research examining how risks and […]

Micro-mobility is an emerging form of transportation which involves shared electric bikes or scooters. Micro-mobility companies have been rolling out in metropolitan areas across the United States and around the world. User surveys conducted by micro-mobility company Bird indicate that individuals utilize micro-mobility to access public transit. The potential exists for micro-mobility to improve first-and-last-mile […]

As college campuses across the country have closed in response to the spread of COVID-19, students have been figuring out how to finish off their semester studies away from the labs and facilities they rely on. In one of his last official acts as Director of the McTrans Center, Bill Sampson has ensured that students across the […]

Bill Sampson, PE, retired after 30 years as Director of the McTrans Center in March 2020. On Friday, March 20, former students and coworkers came together via Zoom, an online web conferencing platform, to celebrate his time with the University of Florida. Having a virtual retirement party allowed participants to celebrate Bill’s time with McTrans while being […]

Dr. Behzad Aghdashi is the newly appointed Director of the McTrans Center. Dr. Aghdashi previously worked as the Driver and Transportation Analytics Lab (DaTA Lab) manager at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University (NCSU). Dr. Aghdashi, a certified project manager (PMP), also served as an adjunct assistant professor at the […]