U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg(opens in new window) visited Carnegie Mellon University facilities at Mill 19 on Aug. 21 to meet with transportation researchers and officials to discuss how their research, development and deployment (RD&D) initiatives will impact mobility.

Carnegie Mellon is working closely with the USDOT to transform the U.S. transportation system through research that focuses on safety, economic growth, climate and sustainability, and equity.

This spring, Carnegie Mellon was awarded $20 million over the next five years from the USDOT to lead Safety21, a University Transportation Center (UTC). This center focuses on the USDOT’s chief concern — safety. Safety21, which includes partners from across the country, aims to develop and deploy autonomous, networked and integrated transportation technologies and systems with safety and equity in mind.

Carnegie Mellon has a long history of innovation in transportation, and Safety21 is CMU’s fourth University Transportation Center since 2012. CMU will complete its third UTC focused on mobility, Mobility21(opens in new window), this fall. The university serves to bring together the federal, private and nonprofit sectors to provide research and other input to help the USDOT achieve its strategic goals.

Deputy Trottenberg, accompanied by Ben Levine, senior adviser for the USDOT Office of Research and Technology, and Bryson Hughes, deputy director of USDOT Operations and adviser to the deputy secretary, met with CMU’s Raj Rajkumar, a professor of electrical and computer engineering(opens in new window) and the director of Mobility21 and Safety21, and university leaders. Discussion centered on goals for Safety21 and its strategic alignment with the new $22 million state-funded Pennsylvania Safety Training and Research (PennSTART) facility in Westmoreland County. Officials from the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC) were also in attendance, including Don Smith, president, and Tim White, senior vice president, business development and strategy.

“Meetings like this underscore the importance of universities, partners and the USDOT working together to provide safe and sustainable transportation while ensuring America’s continued competitiveness in transportation technology, and enabling all communities to have equal access and benefit from them,” said Rajkumar. For example, in addition to addressing safety and environmental issues, Safety21 will bolster the nation’s competitive edge in domestic technology production and provide training for the transportation workforce.

The meeting’s agenda included a tour during which the deputy met with faculty and students from CMU and the Community College of Allegheny County and viewed research demonstrations and posters. The visit concluded with Trottenberg and Levine taking a test ride in the university self-driving car.