CTR Welcomes Ukrainian Scholar Oleksandr Bondarenko for Collaborative Transportation Research

July 9, 2026

The Center for Transportation Research (CTR) is proud to welcome Associate Professor Oleksandr Bondarenko to Knoxville for the month of July. Visiting from the Ukraine’s #1 technical university, the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Bondarenko is engaging with UT researchers to share knowledge and cultivate long-term international research partnerships. During a presentation to UT researchers […]

Bayati and Khattak Examine Rare but Lethal Pedestrian Crashes

April 29, 2026

On average, car crashes cause more than 40,000 deaths per year in the United States. Technologies like seat belts, advanced airbags, and automated braking systems have improved car driver and passenger safety, but pedestrian deaths due to crashes have actually increased by 48% over the last decade, reaching about 7,500 fatalities in 2022. Transportation researchers […]

Asmussen Awarded for Research on Automated Vehicle Consumer Acceptance

April 29, 2026

Katherine Asmussen, research assistant professor with UT-ORII’s Transportation Convergent Research Initiative and the Center for Transportation Research, has received an award for her project, “Consumer Acceptance of Automated Vehicles: Evidence from a Newly Deployed U.S. Survey and Stated-Preference Experiment”. This research aims to provide evidence-based insights to help cities and agencies prepare for the integration […]

2026 Data Competition for an Efficient Transportation Design

April 10, 2026

This Spring, the 2026 Data Competition for an Efficient Transportation Design was held at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, bringing together students to develop data-driven solutions to improve transportation safety in rural communities. The competition was organized by the Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) and made possible through the contribution of Honda, […]

CTR Student Researcher Awarded 2026-27 Goldwater Scholarship

April 1, 2026

We are proud to celebrate CTR undergraduate research assistant Samuel Barbour for being awarded the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for the 2026-2027 academic year. Selected from a pool of nearly 1,500 nominees nationwide, Samuel is recognized for his exceptional promise in STEM research and his dedication to the future of civil engineering. Goldwater Scholarship Awardees each […]

CTR Project Awarded: Data-Driven CMV Enforcement Optimization and Driver Education in High-Risk Tennessee Corridors

March 25, 2026

Mohammad Razaur Rahman Shaon, Research Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Center for Transportation Research (CTR), has been awarded an Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration High Priority Program – Commercial Motor Vehicle (HP-CMV) project for “Data-Driven CMV Enforcement Optimization and Driver Education in High-Risk Tennessee Corridors.” With this award, the project will deliver […]

Research Rock Stars: Anahita Khojandi Puts People at the Center of AI Innovation

February 26, 2026

Anahita Khojandi has built her research career around a guiding belief: Artificial intelligence should empower people—not replace them. A professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Heath Endowed Faculty Fellow in Business and Engineering, Khojandi designs decision-making systems that operate under uncertainty and support human users in high-impact real-world environments. In settings […]

From Hoarding to Donating: Researching Strategies for Disasters

November 4, 2025

Few could have predicted how quickly facemasks and hand sanitizer would go flying off the shelves when the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world in 2020. The items had not been a regular part of society’s daily life, and supply chains were not prepared to respond to the need in such a short amount of time. […]

Davis, Rewalt Named UTC Outstanding Students of the Year

May 14, 2025

Matthew Davis and Allison Rewalt were both honored at the 34th annual University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program’s Outstanding Student of the Year Awards ceremony in January in Washington D.C. Davis, a doctoral graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was named Outstanding Student of the Year by the Center for Regional and Rural Connected […]

Calderón’s Research Seeks to Ease Freight Congestion

March 6, 2025

Technology has made receiving items at home easier than ever. If you need laundry detergent from the store, you can have it delivered instantaneously. If you see a pair of shoes you want to wear this week, they can arrive within two days. If you don’t feel like cooking one night, you can order a […]

Four Future Mobility Institute Cluster Faculty Hired

September 11, 2024

The Institute for Future Mobility (FMI) has hired researchers to fill four of six cluster positions. The four researchers will form a collaborative community cluster led by Professor Kevin Heaslip, the Center for Transportation Research Director.  Professor Heaslip: “These new hires will complement the faculty who are already part of the University of Tennessee Knoxville […]

Carol Hatmaker Retires after 23 Years of Being a Vital Part of CTR

June 26, 2024

In May of 2024, Carol Hatmaker officially retired from CTR. Carol has graciously agreed to work part-time during the next several months to aid new Business Manager Tammy Johnson with the transition. Those who have worked with Carol during her 23-year career with CTR have seen the contributions and sacrifices that Carol has made over […]

Han’s Ongoing Research Uses Innovations from Generations of Vols

May 10, 2024

As you drive to the beach this summer, you may find yourself playing road trip games based on the license plates around you. How many states’ plates do you see? How many different animals can you find? Can you find a plate in every color of the rainbow? Can you write an algorithm that recognizes, […]

Kevin Heaslip, Director of CTR, Gives Expert Opinion on Baltimore Bridge Collapse

April 1, 2024

CGTN’s Asieh Namdar speaks to Kevin Heaslip, Director of the Center for Transportation Research, about the ship losing power and issuing a mayday before crash. Watch the video here

Bai leads $5M Grant from DOE-VTO to Produce Smaller, More Efficient Motor Drive Systems for Electric Vehicles

March 14, 2024

Kevin Bai, associate professor in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), shares a principle-investigator role in a collaboration with the ABB Group’s US Research Center to develop an integrated, compact drive inverter and motor for electric vehicles that would reduce both the size and cost of electric drive trains. Bai’s proposed […]

Deb Crawford discusses foundation for success at TEAM TN Summit

February 12, 2024

Day one of the event is in the books after presentations and “asks” from several speakers. Now, the hard work begins. Deb Crawford clearly outlined the opportunities and challenges that a group of more than 100 partners is trying to address under the auspices of the TEAM TN umbrella. Speaking Tuesday morning at the start […]

Hightower, Whitehouse Awarded Prestigious Eisenhower Fellowships

February 5, 2024

UT graduate students Ashley Hightower and Grace Whitehouse both received prestigious Eisenhower fellowship grants to help fund their research in the transportation field. Hightower received the maximum amount awarded. Read the full article here

More than 180 UT Faculty Members Among World’s Top 2% of Cited Scientists

January 10, 2024

Stanford University’s annual list of the top 2% of scientists cited by other researchers around the world was recently released, and this year’s version includes 183 faculty members from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, including the UT Institute of Agriculture. The database includes almost 205,000 scientists, engineers and mathematicians worldwide whose work has been most […]