Category: Research and Innovation

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator, UFTI Transportation is truly interdisciplinary, combining engineering with data science, public policy, human behavior, and more. For Ally Recalde, a first-year doctoral student in the UF Department of Civil Engineering, that blending of disciplines felt like the best place to put her geography skills to work. “Geography and […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator, UFTI Meet Sophia. Sophia is a fictitious character created to help illustrate a typical commuter and transit rider. She lives in a large city. Her morning commute includes riding an e-scooter to the nearest subway station, stopping to buy a cup of coffee and catching the subway to […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator, UFTI Congratulations to Renan Favero for winning the Daniel B. Fambro Student Paper Award at the Florida-Puerto Rico Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) District Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, on August 12, 2025. Renan Favero is a doctoral student in transportation engineering, conducting research on autonomous shuttles. “This […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator, UFTI The streets of Key West always buzz with life. On any given day, you’ll see tourists pedaling past charming pastel-colored cottages, tourists stepping off sunbaked cruise ships wandering about, and roosters – yes, roosters – strutting confidently around town. But beneath all that charm is a serious […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator Christian Cardenas is spending his summer with the University of Florida’s Secure, Accessible, and Sustainable Transportation program – a paid internship sponsored by the National Science Foundation supporting talented undergraduate students involved in high-impact research exploring autonomous transportation challenges. Cardenas, an undergraduate student from Grinnell College in Iowa, […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research & Communications Coordinator During the past six decades, fly ash, a powdery byproduct from burning coal in power plants, has been used as an additive to concrete that makes up our roads, bridges, and even buildings. It has helped make concrete stronger, durable, and sustainable. Fly ash availability and […]

By Ines Aviles Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research & Communications Coordinator Helen Michael, a rising senior at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, is at UF this summer as part of the Secure, Accessible, and Sustainable Transportation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (SAST REU) – a program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and supervised […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator, UFTI Who would have thought that a microsimulation class would have made such an impact on Renan Favero that he would go on to pursue a career in transportation engineering? It was 2013, and Favero, then an undergraduate student in civil engineering, was attending the Politecnico di Torino, […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., Research/Communications Coordinator It was more than just a study abroad experience in Madrid, Spain, for Eliana Duarte – it was a moment that inspired her passion for transportation engineering. Duarte, who graduated with her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from UF in Fall 2024, describes that eye-opening moment. “My passion […]

By Ines Aviles-Spadoni, M.S., M.A., UFTI Research & Communications Coordinator This spring, Sara Garces will graduate from UF with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and will enter the professional world, working as a roadway engineer at HNTB’s Boston, Massachusetts office. During her undergraduate studies, she was drawn to transportation engineering because of her interest […]