About ITS
The Transportation Community at UC Berkeley
For more than 60 years, the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, has been recognized as one of the world's leading centers for transportation research, education, and scholarship.
History
The Institute was created as an Organized Research Unit in 1948 by the California state legislature in response to the deferred maintenance of transportation facilities during World War II. Its mission was to conduct research and provide instruction to a new generation of transportation professionals.
Achievements
Today ITS Berkeley is home to a large and diverse community of people who study all aspects of transportation—from technological advances to social and environmental consequences.
- Many of our faculty and other researchers play leadership roles in industry and government.
- More than 100 graduate students pursuing master's degrees and Ph.D.'s currently study here.
- Nearly 100 graduates have gone on to university faculty positions.
- Among the ITS faculty, four are members of the National Academy of Engineering, eight are editors or associate editors of leading scholarly journals, and several have chaired prestigious committees at the state, federal, and international level.
See our Nobel connections.
Funding
The Institute’s programs receive an average of $20 million in extramural funds each year, one of the largest such totals at the University for a research facility or academic department, and leverages its core state funding by a ratio of about 20:1.
Support ITS Berkeley Research
Learn how you can sponsor, support, and partner with the world's leading transportation researchers.
Overview Slideshow
Watch an overview slideshow to learn about our research and education centers.
Advisory Council
The eight-member ITS Advisory Council consults on ITS's activities.
Academic Departments
The Civil and Environmental Engineering department (at the College of Engineering) and the City and Regional Planning department (at College of Environmental Design) together offer what may be the widest choice of transportation topics on any university campus today.
Other Transportation-Associated Research Organizations at UC Berkeley
- Berkeley Institute of the Environment
- California Institute of Energy and Environment
- Center for Global Metropolitan Studies
- Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society
- Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and UC Berkeley
Institutes of Transportation Studies on other UC campuses