NTC@Maryland Co-Funds “Master of Transportation” Project at University of New Orleans

The National Transportation Center at Maryland recently co-funded an education project titled, “Master of Science in Transportation Degree Program Development," in partnership with the Unviersity of New Orleans (UNO).

Spanning Oct. 1, 2014 through Sept. 30, 2015, the project supports NTC@Maryland’s goal of demonstrating a commitment to transportation education and workforce development by providing students and professionals with an integrated curriculum covering technologies and management subjects. The principal investigators for the project are Dr. Bethany Stich and Dr. Carol Short from UNO, which is one of the seven member universities in the National Transportation Center consortium.

The Louisiana Board of Regents has approved a Master of Science in Transportation (MST) degree at UNO, making it the first degree of its kind in the state. The MST will launch in fall 2015 and will also be one of the first in the United States that will train students in multimodal freight and passenger transportation subjects.

The program is housed in the Mitt C. Becker Jr. UNO Transportation Institute (UNOTI), a federally designated University Transportation Center, which engaged in applied research across Louisiana.

In addition to the University of Maryland and University of New Orleans National Transportation Centers, current consortium member universities are Arizona State University, Louisiana State University, Morgan State University, North Carolina State University and Old Dominion University.

NTC@Maryland offers a focus on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) strategic goal of “Economic Competitiveness.”

The Center is concerned with the integrated operations and planning of all modes serving the nation’s passenger and freight transportation system, including the institutional issues associated with their management and investments. A balanced multi-modal approach will be used that considers freight and passenger travel mobility, reliability, and sustainability, as well as system operations during periods of both recurring and non-recurring incidents, including response to major emergencies. The modes in this theme include highway, transit, rail, and inter-modal interfaces including ports, terminals and airports. In particular, the Center will focus on research, education, and technology transfer activities that can lead to (1) Freight efficiency for domestic shipping and for our international land, air, and sea ports; (2) Highway congestion mitigation with multi-modal strategies; and (3) Smart investments in intercity passenger travel facilities such as high speed rail.

Published January 21, 2015