July 17, 2024
Congratulations to this year's ITS Award winners! We will presenting awards Aug. 21, 2024 at the Richmond Field Station. Faculty and Staff RSVP here.
Dr. Ching Yao Chan has been a research leader as well as an effective manager at the Institute of Transportation Studies, California PATH and Berkeley DeepDrive for over 30 years. Dr. Chan’s research spans from vehicle automation, driver-assistance systems, sensing and wireless communication technologies, to driver behaviors, vehicular safety and highway network safety assessment. He has continued to make important contributions effectively working with researchers from PATH and the College of Engineering of UC Berkeley as well as those from China. He has earned national and international recognition in the field of intelligent transportation systems. As a leader, he consistently demonstrates a deep care for the well-being of the staff, researchers, and students. He prioritizes their personal and professional development, fostering a culture of continuous growth and development within his team. His ability to cultivate strong, positive relationships with collaborators (Caltrans, industrial partners, academic peers) has proven instrumental in establishing a productive work environment. He goes above and beyond to support his team's endeavors, utilizing his extensive network, sometimes even his personal connections, to ensure their education and career success.
Maria Laura Delle Monache has played an important role in supporting ITS engagement activities with legislators, decision makers, and the broader public. Her presence in Washington DC, her regular involvement with the seminar series, and her relevant and impactful research work are the type of faculty contributions ITS recognizes. Maria Laura received the IEEE TCCPS Mid-Career Award. She has also served as Vice Chair for DEIB in CEE, and made significant impacts on studying and improving the climate & sense of belonging among our graduate students.
In July 2023, Julia Griswold and SangHyouk Oum stepped into the role of Acting Co-Directors to guide SafeTREC in its next chapter, and by year’s end were named Director and Associate Director, respectively. With a deep commitment to advancing the ITS mission and contributions to research, innovation and scholarship, they have ably taken on this leadership challenge to manage the workplace transition and optimize SafeTREC’s portfolio and performance, while overseeing a plethora of transportation safety programs and teams. They have achieved this by leading by example and upholding high standards, building staff morale through quarterly social events, improving efficiencies with technological upgrades and streamlined processes, and increasing transparency with staff.
Wei Zhan assumes his co-Director role at a period when Berkeley DeepDrive membership and interaction models with sponsors are undergoing a period of transition. He shepherds singlehandedly multiple tasks on a daily basis. Wei organized a seminar series by current and potential sponsors, which also became a formal class in Mechanical Engineering. He served as the point person for the BDD workshops for the last two years, arranging the agenda, identifying and inviting the speakers, and hosting the events on site. He also interacted actively with the sponsors and made significant efforts in outreaching to research partners, with a positive and cheerful attitude. The staff all enjoy working with Wei and supporting him.
Irwin Guada is a founding member of the ITS Morale committee, he works to increase collaboration within ITS and with TechTransfer, and he leads and encourages the UC PRC team to come to campus for events. He is a great first point of contact for the PRC and his long history with PRC and ITS helps identify strengths, problems and solutions within the ITS community.
Fangyu Wu is a brilliant researcher and a true citizen of the ITS and BDD community. He is intelligent, resourceful, and reliable, and consistently supports his co-workers and acts as a mentor to junior researchers. His innovative spirit and collaborative attitude set him apart in all aspects of his research, especially in the /NSF-funded multi-million-dollar initiative CIRCLES project. Fangyu's contributions, particularly to the hardware aspects of the project, were instrumental to the experiment. He built and managed a robotics lab in the basement of McLaughlin and led a team of MEng students in conducting transportation research. He is helpful to ITS staff as a volunteer for events, photos, and interviews, and he maintains vehicles at the Richmond Field Station.
Kathryn Exon Smith's work and collaborations in all regards is phenomenal -- from her above and beyond Master's thesis on transportation regional governance to charting her own path in the graduate transportation studio conducting an in-depth analysis of freight and passenger rail shared corridors, an understudied critical area of research. She cultivated strong relationships with team colleagues and resourcefully initiated and maintained practitioner client relations and project sponsorship. Kathryn also worked on a project and wrote a white paper examining the lessons that could be learned from California's MPO experience that could guide policy for Ontario and Toronto- a paper that is being shared with senior government officials in Canada. She performed at the same level as her co-authors. Kathryn also worked on an SB1-funded project on transit and downtowns, where she has been a mainstay in the work, reviewing the academic literature, documenting and critiquing plans, and organizing and analyzing interviews and focus groups.
Ira is a self starter and performs her tasks with great skill, care, and creativity. She always goes above and beyond, contributes ideas to projects, and everything is done with fresh enthusiasm. She has made good connections with the ITS community and is a joy to have around. She came in at a chaotic time for communications, and she has not missed one step!
In recognition of the extraordinary level of support Melissa delivers to the PATH team, and in recognition of incredible resilience and positivity that inspires the entire team.
Michael has demonstrated an outstanding ability to maintain the quality of the testing at the PRC at the highest level. This contribution is essential to move forward with one of the main challenges that asphalt pavements face nowadays: the implementation of the Balanced Mix Design, which we expect to be the mix design practice of the 21st century.
In recognition of Kris Leckie‘s tireless efforts and dedication to modeling and nurturing a culture of excellence at SafeTREC. Since joining the Center, Kris has demonstrated exceptional self-motivation and a commitment to enriching not only their own professional development but also that of colleagues and programmatic partners. They have taken on additional responsibilities in current programs, established valuable relationships in coordination with campus partners, and made many contributions to SafeTREC’s research, education, and public service.
Brooke has demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing our understanding of sustainable transportation systems and their impact on the environment, society, and economy. Throughout the past year, Brooke has co-led numerous projects aimed at investigating and promoting sustainable transportation strategies. She has consistently demonstrated a collaborative spirit, actively engaging with colleagues and students in addressing transportation sustainability challenges.
In recognition of extraordinary commitment and dedication to pavement training for local agencies.