October '25 Newsletter

MTI NEWS

October 2025

We are launching the 2025-2026  Elementary Poster Contest—an opportunity for young artists to think critically about their world as they design creative solutions for safer streets.

This year’s theme: Be a Safety Designer!

Every day, kids get to school in lots of different ways—and walking, biking, and rolling are some of the greenest, safest modes of travel. But is your neighborhood ready for safe travel? Are there crosswalks, stop signs, and bike lanes where you need them? And do kids and their families know how to use them safely? This year’s contest challenges YOU to design a traffic garden that helps teach everyone how to walk and roll safely! 

Who: Students enrolled in any U.S. school (grades 1-6)
When: Poster submision by December 16, 2025 at 11:59p.m. (PT)

Prizes: Eight winners will be selected: four from grades 1-3 and four from grades 4-6. 
People’s Choice Awards: The People’s Choice Awards will go to the top-voted poster in each group! Based on judges’ scores, we will publish the 4th–10th place posters from each group online for public voting. The poster with the most votes in each group will receive a $50 gift card.

Congratulations MiSTA ‘25 alum and youth transit advocate, David Rabinovich! Seamless Bay Area and SF Transit Riders awarded the California High School Transit Alliance (CalHSTA) with a Transit Month Riders’ First award. David is co-founder and current president of CalHSTA, which brings together clubs and student organizations from across the state to help make public transit and mobility better. A sophomore at San Mateo High School, David has been riding BART and other transit since he was a young kid, but when he traveled to Europe, he realized he wanted to shape the future of U.S. transit to give his friends and the broader community systems that serve them. “Youth should play a big role, since most of us can't drive or can't afford to drive, we have no choice but to take transit,” he told MTI staff. “It's important for transit to serve us so we can get to school, and places where we can socialize and have fun, in a fast, reliable, and efficient way.” David also participates in “transit speedrunning,” a major trend among youth who try to travel through every single stop on a transit system in as little time as possible, thanks to his friend and 2024 MiSTA alum Harvy Chang. David holds the SamTrans express bus record, 2nd place for a Muni Metro speedrun! He is also a member of the SamTrans CAC and was part of the campaign to fix the San Mateo Station northbound elevator, improving accessibility for all transit riders. We can’t wait to see what David gets up to next!

Joshua Schank on The Transit Authority Podcast

In the latest episode of The Transit Authority, Joshua Schank, partner at InfraStrategies LLC, Research Associate at MTI, and Senior Fellow at the UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies, shares real-world case studies on how government organizations can drive meaningful change. Drawing from his forthcoming book with Emma Huang and Marla Westervelt Berg, New Tricks for Old Bureaucracies: Improving Policy Outcomes in the Public Sector, which received partial funding from MTI, Schank reveals the inside story of how a small team at LA Metro’s Office of Extraordinary Innovation turned bold ideas into lasting results. The book underscores that innovation in public service is not only about celebrating success but also about learning from mistakes to build more effective systems.

Best Practices in Marketing and Creative Outreach for New Transportation Technologies

As electric vehicles, micromobility, autonomous vehicles, and mobility-as-a-service platforms reshape transportation, effectively communicating their benefits and challenges is vital to building public trust. This study reviews marketing best practices for advancing these technologies, drawing from academic research, industry standards, and case studies. Researchers emphasize the growing impact of short, visually engaging content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. The project also developed six original media campaigns on autonomous and advanced transportation technologies, offering insights into how innovative outreach can foster trust and accelerate adoption.

Wildfire Emergency Response and Evacuation Framework Using Drones: Phase I

As wildfires grow more frequent and severe due to climate change, new technologies are helping responders act faster and more effectively. This study presents an AI-driven Wildfire Emergency Response and Evacuation Framework that uses autonomous drones, multi-sensor data, and machine learning to improve real-time fire detection, evacuation planning, and search and rescue. At its core is a Dynamic Wildfire Response Algorithm combining deep learning, reinforcement learning, and genetic algorithms to coordinate adaptive, data-informed decisions. Prototype testing showed major gains—fire detection was five times faster, evacuation 28% quicker, and search and rescue efficiency up by 35% compared to traditional methods. The framework illustrates how AI and drone technologies can transform wildfire management by reducing response times and saving lives.

Youth, Community, and the Future of Mobility: Garrett Morgan Sustainable Transportation Competition 2024-2025 

The Garrett Morgan Sustainable Transportation Competition serves as a model for hands-on learning that connects classroom concepts with real-world challenges. Through mentorship, teamwork, and public presentations, the program helps middle school students strengthen skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication while fostering collaboration and confidence. By engaging with transportation topics, students also gain awareness of career opportunities and their potential to shape their communities. This early exposure supports a diverse and future-ready workforce while inspiring young people to contribute to the greater good.

A Fifty-Year Legacy of People-First Mobility

Michael Schneider is co-founder and Senior Partner at InfraStrategies, LLC, has spent five decades leading major transportation and infrastructure projects worldwide. A recognized expert in project delivery and public-private partnerships, he has held executive roles at Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP) and HDR, contributed to over 150 papers, and testified before Congress and the White House. Honored with multiple lifetime achievement awards, including induction into the APTA Hall of Fame in 2024, Mike recently spoke with MTI about his career lessons and the future of transportation.

WTS-SF Bay Area and the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) of San José State University invite you to join us for a free virtual event "Connect for Your Career: An Introduction to Professional Associations in Transportation." It will introduce university students and emerging professionals to transportation organizations that offer networking, professional development opportunities, and/or scholarship opportunities.

Generative AI is a powerful tool already benefitting the industry as a whole—but are you integrating it into your everyday work? In Everyday AI, a new MTI webinar series, you’ll learn how to use AI tools to enhance your research, simplify your writing, and elevate your report design. 

Webinar 1: Finding Information
Learn how to use free GenAI tools to quickly find transportation data and information. SJSU Professor Egbe-Etu Etu, an expert in transportation data analytics, will teach strategies for asking the right questions (“prompt engineering," in AI-speak) and validating results. Join us to discover how GenAI can help transportation professionals at every level work more efficiently and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Presenter: Dr. Egbe-Etu Etu, MTI Research Associate & SJSU Assistant Professor

This webinar is co-sponsored by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and WTS SF Bay Area Chapter. 
 

Join the Mineta Transportation Institute Student Association for our third annual scholarship success session—a free virtual event designed to help you strengthen your scholarship applications and explore funding opportunities for your education.

Hear what scholarship providers from these organizations have to say:

• Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO)
• California Transportation Foundation (CTF)
• Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS)

They’ll share what reviewers look for, introduce scholarship opportunities from their organizations, and provide practical tips you can use right away. Come ready with your questions and leave with advice and resources to support your scholarship journey.