UC Riverside’s Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, or BCOE, will partner with five other universities in a new, federally funded research center based at UC Davis to advance technologies needed to reduce vehicle emissions and improve climate resiliency in transportation.
The Center for Emissions Reduction, Resiliency and Climate Equity in Transportation was established through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation, or DOT, which provided $1.7 million for the center, and the participating universities.
"Tackling the climate crisis and making our infrastructure more resilient has never been more urgent," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a recent statement announcing the funding.
The center will develop solutions to reduce carbon pollution from transportation and improve the resiliency transportation infrastructure, he said.
“UC Riverside is proud to play an important role in this effort, focusing on how intelligent transportation system solutions can help address our climate crisis,” said Matthew Barth, professor and associate dean for research and graduate education at BCOE.
"This collaboration is a critical step forward,” he added. “By combining our team’s strengths, we can develop practical solutions that reshape our transportation systems and cut greenhouse gas emissions.”
The center will advance research and technologies to support the nation's clean energy goals, accelerate decarbonization of the transportation sector, strengthen the resilience of the nation's transportation infrastructure, and address environmental inequities created by the transportation system, the DOT said in a statement.
"This investment will spur innovation and support research-backed transportation decisions across the nation," said Robert C. Hampshire, the Biden administration’s deputy assistant secretary for research and technology.
In addition to UCR and UC Davis, the partner institutions are California State University, Long Beach, Texas Southern University, University of Southern California, and University of Vermont.
