U.S.-India Collaboration Tackles Transportation

In India, where bullock carts, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks and 1.2 billion people vie for space on jam-packed roads, managing transportation is a critical concern.

"Emerging Trends in Intelligent Transportation," a workshop co-sponsored by UNL and the Indian
Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-Madras) in Chennai, India, in February 2010 tackled these issues.

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) integrate advanced information and communications technologies to monitor traffic flow, weather and other factors affecting transportation. These data can be used to manage traffic flow and congestion through real-time traveler information systems, emergency networks, automated highways and other applications.

"The great part about the workshop was that it brought together key Indian and U.S. representatives from the private sector, public sector and academia to discuss critical transportation issues. While India and the U.S. face similar problems, such as safety, congestion and pollution, we use different components of ITS to address these issues so the conference provided tremendous benefits in learning about key successes in our different countries," said Larry Rilett, director of UNL’s Nebraska Transportation Center and workshop co-organizer with Lelitha Devi Vanajakshi from
IIT-Madras.

The workshop featured 27 ITS experts from the U.S. and India, including Rilett and UNL colleagues Anuj Sharma and Elizabeth Jones, and more than 100 Indian and American participants. One outcome was a mechanism enabling student and faculty exchanges between UNL and IIT-Madras to work on complementary research projects. Also in development is a proposal for an Indo-US Joint Centre of Intelligent Transportation Systems involving UNL, Purdue University, IIT-Madras and IIT-Mumbai.

The workshop was sponsored by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, with the support of executive director Arabinda Mitra and Michael Cheetham, director of the Forum’s U.S. Secretariat.

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Associated Web Content

Nebraska Transportation Center

Indo-US Science and Technology Forum

Indian Institute of Technology-Madras

Credits

The 2009-2010 Annual Report is published by the
University of Nebraska−Lincoln Office of Research and Economic Development. More information is available
at http://research.unl.edu or contact:

Prem S. Paul
Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development
301 Canfield Administration Building
University of Nebraska−Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0433
(402) 472-3123  •  ppaul2@unl.edu

Writers/Editors:
Vicki Miller, Monica Norby, Ashley Washburn, Elizabeth Banset, Office of Research and Economic Development

Contributing Writers:
Gillian Klucas, Kim Hachiya, Cara Pesek
Some articles are based on earlier stories from University Communications and IANR News Service and written by Kelly Bartling, Troy Fedderson, Sara Gilliam, Sandi Alswager Karstens, Daniel R. Moser, Judy Nelson, Tom Simons,
Steve Smith, Carole Wilbeck

Photography/Illustrations:
Joel Brehm, Brett Hampton, Craig Chandler,
Alan Jackson/Jackson Studios, Greg Nathan,
Bruce Thorson, Robert Cope, Laurence Smith
Historic photos, page 22, courtesy Joyce Clarke Turvey

PDF/Print Design: Sym Labs

Website Design: Joel Brehm