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Celebrating 50 Years, Center for Transportation Research Looking to Future

The Center for Transportation Research (CTR) was created at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, as a way of bringing together ideas, policy discussions, and innovations related to all forms of transportation, with a spirit of collaboration fostering faculty coming together from all areas of the university.

Now, the center is turning 50, and is celebrating that milestone with an event open to people across the campus community.

“The impact of the Center for Transportation Research has been broad, especially in the State of Tennessee,” said CTR Director Kevin Heaslip. “This celebration will highlight all of the important contributions of the center, featuring the collaborations of faculty throughout the university, from agriculture to engineering, from business to food science. Our university partnerships provide the center to serve the transportation needs of the state of Tennessee and beyond.”

The celebration event will be Dec. 1, from 3-6 p.m. at the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy and will feature refreshments. Parking vouchers are available for use at the Volunteer Hall Parking Garage on White Avenue. 

During the celebration, CTR will share its vision on the future of mobility. This vision will be complimentary with the recently awarded cluster hire from the university. The vision for future mobility will be collaborative and comprehensive for the grand challenges the nation and Tennesseans face every day. Currently the center has more than $10 million in sponsored research under contract, providing a solid base for the future impact of UT in the mobility space.

Its experts have appeared in coverage from several major news organizations, including the Associated Press, CNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, just to name a few, giving insight and opinion into transportation-related issues of the day. It currently has 34 active research projects involving 165 faculty, staff or visiting scholars and has conducted 211 workshops or training events involving more than 4,500 participants from around the world.

It currently has 34 active research projects involving 165 faculty, staff or visiting scholars and has conducted 211 workshops or training events involving more than 4,500 participants from around the world.