MIT Summer Course Announcement

The following one-week courses, taught by Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva and
visiting lecturers, will be offered this summer at MIT.

Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Demand and Market Shares [14.61s]
Date: June 11-15, 2012 | Tuition: $3,900 | CEUs: 3.0

An in-depth study of discrete choice models (logit, nested logit, cross-nested logit, generalized extreme value, probit, logit mixtures, latent class), data collection, specification, estimation, statistical testing, forecasting, and application. Topics include analysis of revealed and stated preferences data, sampling, simulation-based estimation, discrete panel data, Bayesian estimation, discrete-continuous models, menu choice, models with latent variables, and behavioral mixture models. Participants will learn practical applications, be provided with discrete choice software, and will gain hands-on experience by estimating and testing alternative methods using real databases.

Additional information about the course and registration can be found at
http://web.mit.edu/professional/short-programs/courses/discrete_choice_analysis.html

Modeling and Simulation of Transportation Networks [1.10s]
Date: August 6-10, 2012 | Tuition: $2,900 | CEUs: 2.9

An in-depth study of state of the art transportation network modeling and simulation methods including: theory and applications of origin-destination estimation and prediction; traffic flow models and alternative simulation methods (microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic); dynamic traffic assignment methods; models of user behavior; public transportation models; equilibrium methods; calibration and validation; and real time traffic information systems.

Additional information about the course and registration can be found at
http://web.mit.edu/professional/short-programs/courses/simulation_transportation.html

One full-tuition fellowship will be awarded to an outstanding PhD student in each course. Applications must include a CV and a motivation letter stating the relevance of the course for the applicant's research. The full-tuition fellowship will be awarded to the best applicant. Partial fellowships may be awarded to other outstanding applicants. Please contact Katie Rosa at krosa@mit.edu with any questions. Please forward this message to others who may be interested in these courses.

Visitors

Welcome Peter Gooding Swartz!!

Honorary Degree

Recent DynaMIT research is highlighted in MIT Civil & Environmental Engineering's July/August '07 newsletter OnBalance. [Click here for PDF copy.]

In a recent Boston Globe article, ITS Lab Director, Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva, explains how DynaMIT could benefit Boston drivers....[click here for full story.]

Moshe Ben-Akiva receives the Dupuit Prize

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2007 -- In June 2007, The World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS) presented Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva with the Dupuit Prize for his outstanding lifetime contribution to transport research and his major contribution to the development of WCTRS and its activities as a member since its inception through his chairmanship of the Scientific Committee from 1992 to 1998 and his role as Editor in Chief of the Society's journal Transport Policy since 1998. Moshe becomes the latest in a list of recipients who have not just made their mark on scientific research, but have devoted themselves to the creation of WCTR as a forum for dissemintion and discussion of transport research across all disciplinary boundaries.

The Dupuit Prize is the WCTRS major prize. The award recognizes individuals who's outstanding record of contributions have fundamentally unfluenced the field of transportation research and its development, worldwide. Moshe Ben-Akiva, the Edmund K. Turner Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT and Director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory has been able to bring scientists from many disciplinary backgrounds together, evolving the field of transportation research.Very few can fail to have used at least some of his research as input into their own work.

The 2007 Duipuit Prize committee consisted of Roger Vickerman, Antti Talvitie and Hideo Nakamura.

Moshe Ben-Akiva receives IATBR Lifetime Achievement Award

Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 19, 2006 -- The International Association for Travel Behaviour Research (IATBR) presented Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th IATBR conference in Kyoto, Japan, August 19, 2006. Professor John Polak, Chair of the award Selection Committee, said that Professor Ben-Akiva was chosen because of his “profound contributions in many areas of discrete choice. It is no exaggeration to say that where ever one looks in the area of research and application of discrete choice methods, one sees Moshe’s hand at work…”

The award recognizes widely known individuals who have made fundamental and sustained contributions to travel behavior research over his or her professional career, and have influenced the field through his or her writings, teaching, service, and nurturing of younger professionals. Fittingly, over 60 of Professor Ben-Akiva’s friends and colleagues signed his nomination letter, describing the extent of his contributions and citing a “profound appreciation for his contributions to our own educations and careers.”

Moshe Ben-Akiva, Edmund K. Turner Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Director of MIT’s Intelligent Transportation Systems laboratory, has been involved with travel behavior research for over 30 years. He developed many discrete choice and demand modeling techniques that are being widely applied in a variety of disciplines and industries around the globe today. He has supervised over 40 doctoral students and over 60 masters students, and his graduates occupy top positions in academia, industry, and government.

Professor Ben-Akiva commented on the award, “I'm honored. I'm grateful to those who nominated and supported me for this award. It is rewarding to receive this recognition from such a talented and dedicated group.” Regarding his future research in travel behavior, Professor Ben-Akiva explained, “[A] continuum of behavioral richness is what's makes this field exciting. There is much to be done and it gets more challenging.”

IATBR Lifetime Achievement awards are bestowed every three years. Nominations are considered by a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee for the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award were Professor Kay Axhausen (ETH, Zurich), Professor Aki Fujiwara (Hiroshima University), Professor Kara Kockelman (University of Texas at Austin), Professor John Polak (Imperial College, London), and Professor Tony Richardson (The Urban Transport Institute, Australia).

In addition to Professor Ben-Akiva, Professor Ryuichi Kitamura from Kyoto University was also honored with a 2006 IATBR Lifetime Achievement Award.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) refers to transportation systems which apply emerging hard and soft information systems technologies to address and alleviate transportation congestion problems.  For example, using advanced surveillance systems, the early stages of a traffic bottleneck situation can be detected, and traffic can then be directed to other routes to mitigate the congestion and to provide faster and more efficient routes for travelers.  New technologies enable this type of surveillance and guidance response to occur in real time, and therefore, to allow potential congestion situations to be addressed before they develop into serious traffic jams.

In 1990, MIT established a program in Intelligent Transportation Systems on campus to be directed by Moshe Ben-Akiva, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.  The program unites researchers from a variety of departments, centers, and laboratories -- including the Center for Transportation Studies, the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and the Sloan School of Management -- in conducting multi-disciplinary research on the applications of modern information technologies to transportation systems.  Initial efforts have focused on the conceptual design of intelligent transportation systems and on the development of computer tools for design and evaluation of ITS services.