Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Arpad Horvath distinctly remembers the Institute of Transportation Studies meeting eight years ago that resulted in the birth of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center(TSRC). It only seems fitting he accepted the role of Faculty Director, starting mid-January 2015.
“We are delighted to be working closely with Professor Horvath on the future of TSRC, particularly in light of his notable expertise in sustainable transportation. This is an exciting time for the center given the wide range of innovative solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts,” says TSRC co-director Susan Shaheen.
He joins Shaheen and Tim Lipman as co-directors for the center.
“It was a great idea then and it’s still a great idea,” says Horvath. “It’s easy to step into this role because the center is in such a good place, and its leaders have done a great job. I am honored to become a leader at TSRC and see where we can go in the future.”
Horvath takes over for Dan Kammen, who has co-led the center since 2008. During his tenure, Kammen helped carve an academic home for the center at ITS and recruited faculty across Cal to participate in the center’s research and mission. With his new roles on UC President Janet Napolitano’s UC Task Forces on a Carbon Neutral System, and on Sustainable Investing appointment, Kammen says it is time for a new face and new ideas to help expand the already exciting agenda of TSRC
“I’m really pleased to see someone at the forefront of lifecycle modeling to take this position,” says Kammen, who has worked with Horvath for the past 15 years. “He is an amazingly creative person and a wonderfully kind and collaborative scholar; we are so lucky that he was able to lead the next phase of research projects at the center.”
Horvath is ready to dig in in January and continue the Center’s groundbreaking and leading research. He also is excited to discover new, untapped areas for the Center to pursue.
“ITS Berkeley is one of the leading transportation research centers in the U.S., if not the world,” says Horvath. “As an extension, TSRC is making a great impact in sustainability research, and there is so much more we can do.”
Horvath praised the excellent work performed on alternative fuels, vehicles, mobility and the sharing economy, and goods movement. In addition, he would like to see the focus expand to a transportation system-wide approach that includes surface, maritime and aviation.
Horvath brings his expertise on life-cycle environmental and economic assessment of products, processes, and services, particularly of civil infrastructure systems and the built environment to his new position as he seeks to set the vision of the Center and make strategic decisions. He has conducted studies on the environmental implications of various products, processes and services, in particular, transportation, water and wastewater, biofuels, buildings, pavements, and construction materials.
“Professor Horvath brings so much to our campus with his excellent teaching and research, and he has been great for me to work with personally in the past,” says Lipman. “We’re all very excited about his new role with TSRC as our center continues to evolve and flourish.”
Horvath earned his doctoral and master’s degree in Civil Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and his Engineer Diploma in Civil Engineering at Technical University of Budapest in Budapest, Hungary. He has worked at UC Berkeley for 15 years, and is the head of the Energy, Civil Infrastructure and Climate Graduate Program, Director of the Consortium on Green Design and Manufacturing, and Director of the Engineering and Business for Sustainability certificate program.
He is a recipient of the International Society for Industrial Ecology’s Laudise Prize and the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize. Three of his co-authored papers have been voted among the best in Environmental Science & Technology in 2008, 2011, and 2012.
Horvath also is a member of the Environmental Engineering Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, as well as the EPA’s Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards Committee. He is an Associate Editor of the “J. of Infrastructure Systems” and a member of the editorial advisory boards of “Environmental Science & Technology” and the “Journal of Industrial Ecology.” He is an Editorial Board member of “Environmental Research Letters.” He is a frequent consultant to industry and government agencies.