Past Events

Parking may seem scarce when you’re looking for just the right spot, but it’s actually one of the Bay Area’s most expansive resources. With 15 million parking spaces — enough to wrap around the planet more than twice — the region has an excessive amount of parking. Yet for decades, planners have operated blindly when they attempt to determine parking needs or assess the impacts of new parking policies. Thsi webinar discussed a new effort, the Bay Area Parking Census, produced by the Mineta Transportation Institute in partnership with SPUR, to quantify the region’s parking supply and its negative impacts on health, climate and affordability. The discussion was led by the effort’s principal researcher, Mikhail Chester, PhD, to learn more about the Bay Area Parking Census and the strategies that Bay Area cities can use to reduce, manage and convert parking.

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*MTI was a proud co-sponsor of this event.

Traffic fatalities, which are on the rise, leave pedestrians and bicyclists highly vulnerable. Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered systems that monitor and manage traffic flow can significantly improve safety for everyone. Until recently, there was no effective automated system for monitoring the movement of vulnerable road users. MTI funded research contributed to the development and implementation of  an accurate, real-time, and automatic system based on Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision to monitor, detect, track, count, and manage traffic elements like pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, and more. This cost-effective system does NOT require installing new cameras. Instead, the system has been trained on videos captured from existing traffic cameras in Los Angeles. The results demonstrate more than 97% accuracy in pedestrian counting. We have presented the system’s features and capabilities in this webinar.

MTI was a proud to co-sponsor of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) SJSU Student Leadership Summit (SLS), an event organized by students to promote guidance and professional development through fun events such as presentations, socials, and technical events. Previously hosted by California Polytechnic State University, it was a great honor to continue the tradition of providing opportunities on behalf of San Jose State University for students to network with professionals in the transportation sector and streamline their interpersonal and leadership skills.

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Aviation’s impact to climate change is significant; without mitigation, this impact is expected to grow as the industry recovers from the global pandemic. Climate change has a correspondingly large impact on aviation; changing weather patterns can affect aircraft performance, infrastructure, and operations. Over the coming decades, the decarbonization of the aviation sector will present numerous technological, policy, and environmental challenges, while extreme weather will create challenges and new requirements for aviation safety and growth.

On January 20, 2022, SJSU and its Mineta Transportation Institute hosted a virtual forum on Aviation and Climate Change to discuss these issues. The forum brought together Silicon Valley leaders in academia, government, and industry to showcase the regional capabilities available to address climate change and aviation challenges, and to encourage the public-private partnerships and collaborations needed to do so.

PDH Credit Certificate.

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Programming

Welcome and Forum Overview, Dr. Karen Philbrick, Executive Director, SJSU Mineta Transportation Institute and Dr. Tina Panontin, Director of Program Content, Professor of Practice, SJSU College of Engineering

Welcome and SJSU Perspective, Dr. Vincent Del Casino, Provost and Senior Vice President, SJSU

Silicon Valley Policy-Maker Perspectives, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, 19th District of California and Senator Dave Cortese, State Senate District 15

1. Aviation and Climate Change: Phenomenology

Speakers:

• Dr. Minghui Diao, Associate Professor, SJSU College of Science, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science

• Raj Pai, Senior Technologist, NASA Ames Research Center

2. Aviation and Climate Change: Strategic Frameworks

Speakers:

• Robert Pearce, Associate Administrator, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

• Dr. Brandon Graver, Senior Researcher, International Council on Clean Transportation

• Dr. Sheryl Ehrman, Don Beall Dean, SJSU College of Engineering

• Dr. Michael Kaufman, Dean, SJSU College of Science

• Dr. Eugene Tu, Center Director, NASA Ames Research Center

3. Aviation and Climate Change: Technology Advances

Speakers:

• Dr. David Wagner, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, SJSU College of Engineering

• Dr. Alison Bridger, Department Chair, SJSU College of Science, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science 

• Shawn Engelland, Aerospace Engineer, NASA Ames Research Center

• Dr. Mark Hansen, Professor of Transportation Engineering, UC Berkeley

• Kevin James, Senior Aerospace Engineer, NASA Ames Research Center

• Dr. Serena Alexander, Associate Professor at SJSU, Research Associate at MTI

4. Public Private Partnerships

Speaker:

• Shivanjli Sharma, National Campaign Deputy Lead, NASA Ames Research Center

5. Industry Roundtable

Moderator:

• Andrea Pesce, Director, Industry Alliances & Licensing, UC Santa Cruz

Speakers:

• Amy Gross, Sustainability Lead, Joby Aviation

• Chris Bley, Co-Founder & Director, Monterey Bay DART

• David Merrill, CEO & Co-Founder, Elroy Air

• Michael Read, Founder, Skybase