Mineta Transportation Institute Awarded Grants and Accolades

Karen Philbrick, Ph.D., Executive Director, MTI In December of 2016 the Mineta Consortium for Transportation Mobility (MCTM), led by SJSU’s Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), was awarded $10.5 million in federal and local grants. The project is now well underway and the funds are being used to conduct research, education, workforce development and technology transfer activities that improve the mobility of people and goods, with the goal of improving the safety, efficiency, accessibility and convenience of the nation’s transportation system.

“The locations of Consortium universities provide geographical diversity. They are in urban and rural settings, and in areas with varied population density, creating a natural test bed for transportation research,” states MTI Executive Director Karen Philbrick.

Those locations are:

  • SJSU on the West Coast and Howard University on the East Coast, both metropolitan regions with significant transportation mobility challenges;
  • University of North Carolina Charlotte, located in one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., making it ideally situated to discover effective ways to improve mobility in mid- to large-size cities undergoing rapid growth;
  • Navajo Technical University, located in a geographically isolated region of rural New Mexico traversed by 18,000 miles of road, more than 80 percent of them unpaved.

Along with its national accomplishments, MTI continues to receive accolades and make contributions in the Silicon Valley community:

  • In March 2017 VTA presented MTI with a Community Partnership Recognition Award in recognition of the MTI's delivery of emergency management and security education to the agency.
  • On May 18, 2017, Dr. Philbrick was honored by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of 100 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley.
  • Also in May, MTI sponsored a field trip for 90 third graders from Reed Elementary School. The students, from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, traveled by VTA light rail to the Tech Museum, where they learned about solar powered automated transit networks.
  • On June 17, 2017, 27 SJSU students received their Master of Science degrees in Transportation Management. Former Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and SJSU President Mary Papazian were the keynote speakers at the graduation banquet.

For more information about MTI, visit the MTI website.

2016