Past Events

Part 1: The Inspiration - Lessons Learned from Small Business Owners

WTS-SF Bay Area and the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) of San Jose State hosted a virtual event "How to Be Your Own Boss Without Going Broke or Crazy - Part 1." Thinking about starting a consulting business? While the idea is exciting, the actual process can be quite daunting. We created this three-part series about starting your own business to help you get on your way.

This first session was an opportunity to talk with three business owners about how they started off, what they've learned on the way, and their successes and challenges.

Panelists included:

1. Eileen Goodwin, President, Apex Strategies
2. Ronny Kraft, Planner, Ronny Kraft Consulting
3. Dominic Tafoya, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, VST Engineering

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Human trafficking—a form of modern slavery—is the recruitment, transport, or transfer of persons using force, fraud, or coercion to exploit them for acts of labor or sex. According to the International Labor Organization, human trafficking is the fastest growing organized crime with approximately $150B in annual profits and 40.3M individuals trapped in slave-like conditions. 

The transportation industry plays a critical role in combating human trafficking as traffickers often rely on the transportation system to recruit, move, or transfer victims of human trafficking for either sex or forced labor. Additionally, transportation is used to move goods produced by forced and trafficked labor. 

This webinar shared the state-of-the-art efforts being used to combat this issue in the United States, including the role of transportation in facilitating effective prevention programs and increasing victim identification. It informed ongoing efforts on legislation, key initiatives, collaboration, data collection, and research on transportation.

PDH Credit Certificate.

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One of the greatest advantages of autonomous vehicle technology is its potential to empower people to achieve mobility. This technology has significant potential to empower Americans with disabilities to move from A to B in ways previously unheard of. However, the realization of this potential depends on many stakeholders and potential obstacles. Vehicle manufactures, policy- makers, and state agencies all collaborate to accommodate the needs of disabled individuals at different stages of travel, through information system design, vehicle design, and infrastructure design. Integrating accessibility at this stage of the AV revolution would allow an opportunity to develop a transportation system that treats accessibility as a guiding principle, not as an afterthought. ADA regulations, along with universal design principles and assistive technologies, can maximize accessibility for all. We explored how through improved collaboration and adoption of best practices, the industry can learn to address the needs of individuals with disabilities.

PDH Credit Certificate. 

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Automotive companies are constantly striving to enhance their vehicles to minimize and ultimately eliminate driver errors and enhance safety. Various advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated features are designed to warn, and in some cases, take over certain driving maneuvers. These systems are part of vehicles with driver assist technology, which are vital for the successful deployment of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) in the near future. What are these features? How do they work? How does a driver’s behavior vary when driving a vehicle with ADAS or automated features in rural, urban, and freeway driving scenarios? This webinar explored these questions based on research from evaluating drivers’ behavioral response to scenarios when driving vehicles with and without features like lane departure warning (LDW), blind spot warning (BSW), over speed warning (OSW), lane keep assist (LKA), and adaptive cruise control (acc).

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MTI is partnered with the SJSU Department of Urban Planning, Communivercity, and Veggielution on this community-based project. In order to gain broad participation in a downtown community survey exploring the habits of Downtown San Jose residents and the new SoFA Pocket Park, MTI co-hosted three outreach events, including two geared towards K-12 participants. 

MTI is proudly co-sponsored Mobility 21's 2021 Summit "Road to Recovery." Mobility 21 is a coalition that brings together public, business and community stakeholders to pursue regional solutions to the transportation challenges facing Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties. 

In this year's summit, speakers tackled such topics as:

• California's Global Ports & Supply Chains
• Carbon Neutrality
• Employees Commutes
• Transportation Advocacy
• Equity 
• Contractors
• Housing

The City of San Jose considered reducing the regulations it placed on parking to allow development to occur more easily. On August 27th, the City Council held a study session on this. What would these changes mean? Could they be beneficial for San Jose? How will they impact the next generation of San Joseans? Catalyze SV & Mineta Transportation Institute held a dynamic panel bringing together Professor C.J. Gabbe of Santa Clara University and his Environmental Studies and Sciences students.

*MTI was a proud co-sponsor to this informative event.

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6:00-7:15p.m. (PDT) | View Event Page | View Program

As we begin to see the world move towards recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we bear witness to the resilience and strength of the American people. The class of 2021 has demonstrated not only these values, but also the determination to continue to better themselves, their career, and their future and ours. The MTI/SJSU community gathered to recognize and celebrate the graduating students in a virtual session. 

Joined by Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Denver International Airport's Nominee for CEO Phil Washington, who recently led the Biden-Harris transportation agency review team, we came together to celebrate these future mobility leaders. 

This exciting MSTM celebration included individualized recognition of each graduate and award presentations.

Transportation policymakers face two overlapping, once-in-a-generation opportunities: electrifying the nation’s vehicle fleet and re-establishing a stable source of federal and state revenue for transportation. As states and the Biden administration begin a push to rapidly electrify the US fleet for climate reasons, policymakers are under increasing pressure to rethink how states and the federal government fund transportation infrastructure and services. For decades, motor fuel taxes have generated the majority of state and federal funds spent on transportation, even if recently these taxes have been losing their purchasing power. However, a shift to electric vehicles will require a new transportation funding model. The speakers will discuss the challenges and opportunities with such options as mileage fees, carbon taxes, higher vehicle registration fees, or a shift entirely away from user-generated revenue.

View Recording | View Program | View Flyer | View event page on Commonwealth Club website | View past MTI's National Transportation Policy Summits

MTI proudly partnered with Hayward Unified School District’s Lorin Eden Elementary for their 2^nd annual STEAM Innovation Showcase featuring projects related to the theme Building a Better World. This exciting district-wide event was designed to share student work with the community and highlight innovative projects and programs in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math.

MTI held a photography contest open to all who take an interest in photography. MTI embraces diverse submissions and photographers to amplify the convergence of all voices. The 2021 theme for this contest was ground transportation with an emphasis on safety by diverse groups ranging in age, gender, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Ground transportation methods including but not limited to autonomous vehicles, bicycling, micro-mobility, pedestrian access, public transit, etc. Safe transit practices should be observed in the images (i.e. helmets for bicyclists, e-scooters in bike lanes, etc.). 

This webinar discussed how widespread autonomous vehicle use impact traffic law violations and current government revenue schematics. States and localities have the opportunity to rethink and replace current practices since these vehicles will likely commit fewer traffic offenses. Governments can begin to reallocate resources that are currently invested in writing these tickets, defending the charges, and pursuing the debts in addition to re-evaluating the considerable equity issues that autonomous vehicle adoption may further highlight. 
 

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MTI was proud to co-sponsor this year's Calcog Leadership Forum, focusing on "Resilient Regions." The conversation and top leaders discussed what California should be doing for "Pete's sake." This virtual conference completed with networking opportunities and roundtable discussions featuring a wide array of knowledgeable and enthusiastic speakers on pandemic challenges and recovery. 

In the quest for environmental quality as the pandemic subsides, many urban planners understand and appreciate that housing located within walking distance of rail stations and bus stops motivates many local residents to choose commuting on buses and trains rather than driving. But what about those park-and-ride (PnR) facilities for the commuters who choose to live in places beyond walking distance to transit? Attendees listened to the new research-based evidence on where parking provides a boost to bus and train ridership that is double to four times the impact of transit-adjacent housing. This webinar started the discussion of how transit agencies should react to the research.

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MTI proudly participated in Sciencepalooza! where a winning team received the "MTI Innovative Transportation Project Award" and a prize of $200. 

Sciencepalooza! is a science fair for all East Side Union High School (ESUHSD) students, whether they're a first-time science fair participant, a returning participant, and/or someone who wants to get a head start on a project for the regional science fair a few weeks later. Usually 700-900 students from different grade levels participate to create the most authentic "real world" work they can. These projects require students to create solutions, meet deadlines, and explain their product/ project. 

Representation of women in the transportation workforce is stunningly low. What would happen to our mobility with more women driving transportation policies, planning, operations, and maintenance? During TRB's 6th International Conference on Women's Issues on Transportation, panelists discussed best practices for recruitment, support, and advancement of women in the transportation sector. In this webinar, conference speakers continued their discussion about workforce challenges and overcoming them; approaches to attract, retain and advance women in transportation, and how these leaders see COVID-19 changing the workforce and work environment.

Featuring: 

• Dr. Hilary Nixon, MTI Deputy Executive Director (moderator)
• Laurie Berman, Director (retired), California Department of Transportation
• Flora Castillo, President, Pivot Strategies, LLC
• Jodi Godfrey, Senior Research Associate, Mobility Policy Research Program & Transit Safety & Workforce Development Programs, Transportation Research, University of South Florida
• Debra A. Johnson, General Manager/ CEO, Regional Transportation District (Denver)

This webinar discussed the explored potential for ride-hailing services like Lyft and Uber to help meet the travel needs of older Californians. Using data from a survey of almost 3,000 Californians 55 and over, researchers analyzed how many older Californians have used ride-hailing, how they booked trips, what concerns they have about ride-hailing services, and their interest in potential new options for how to book and pay for trips.

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WTS-SF Bay Area and the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) of San Jose State University hosted "Make the Connection: Next Stop Your Career." At this event, Bay Area university students studying transportation (all disciplines) were introduced to the many wonderful professional organizations in our region, including: 

• Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS)
• American Planning Association (APA) 
• American Public Works Association (APWA)
• Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP)
• Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO)
• Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)
• Latinos in Transit (LiT)
• Young Professionals in Transportation (YPT)

MTI proudly partnered with Silicon Valley Education Foundation for thier 10th annual College Day– a county-wide celebration that shows students that college is possible. This event featured a week's worth of workshops to promote college and career readiness for elementary, middle, and high school students. 

As part of their career exploration, students had the opprtunity to view two MTI videos on transportation careers 1) Transportation Careers: Moving More than People and 2) VTA/MTI Career Day.

Traffic congestion is a serious challenge for transportation professionals. It is also linked to negative environmental impacts, economic drawbacks, and a reduced quality of life. As successful urban areas expand, so do roads, and congestion increases. Unfortunately, no long-term solutions have been found, and many commuters are reluctant to alter their traditional driving habits in favor of carpooling. A recent case study, however, found that at $15 a day, half of people driving on a busy road would be willing to travel as passengers and another 23% would be willing to serve as drivers. Congestion-clearing Payments to Passengers looks at a long-standing bottleneck location on Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay, California and suggests a potential solution for the continuing problem of traffic congestion.

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Road trips, often understood as an embodiment of American freedom, are an essential summertime activity for millions even amidst a global pandemic. New research and recent events, however, complicate the vision of the great American road trip by revealing how it has been shaped by democratic ideals, commercial interest, and nostalgia. Reexamining the road trip through a historical lens can inform the work of transportation professionals – especially in the context of the mobility revolution, social justice reform, and pandemic shutdowns.

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With the Fresno State Transportation Challenge, K-8 students in the Central Valley learn about transportation while making a positive impact in their communities. This interdisciplinary program, led by Fresno State Transportation Institute founder Professor Aly Tawfik, opens up exciting paths to careers in transportation. This webinar documented the challenges and best practices for leveraging university resources to effectively engage youth.

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All in-person MTI events have been postponed until the global pandemic passes and the shelter in place directive is lifted. As a result, the 2020 Annual MTI Banquet and Convocation Celebration has been cancelled. 

Understandably, COVID-19 is at the top of many people's minds; however, a webinar is the perfect way to social distance while engaging in knowledgeable research discussions. Join the conversation from anywhere online. We look forward to future event opportunities that will allow us to continue in our mission to improve mobility for all.

Resources for Transportation Professionals

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens every aspect of transportation funding in California. State revenues from federal, state, regional, and local taxes and fees are all at risk.  Since California’s shelter-in-place order went into effect in March, the state has already faced plummeting revenues from gasoline taxes, tolls, transit fares, and sales taxes. These revenue sources will most likely continue to be severely threatened in the coming months and possibly even years. 

Panelists discussed the opportunities for every level of government to help recover transportation revenues in our uncertain future. Can we rely on our traditional mix of revenue sources? Will the COVID-19 crisis stimulate innovation in transportation finance? 

These and other revenue options were discussed at the 11th Annual Norman Y. Mineta National Transportation Policy Summit.

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View e-program. 

​Much like Garrett Augstus Morgan, who, despite his humble beginnings as the son of slaves, recognized the importance of education, ideation, and entrepreneurship, we too are living in a time of great innovation. Most recently in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we’ve seen businesses adapt to ensure the safety of their employees and communities. Most significantly we’ve seen individuals and whole communities rally behind essential workers like nurses, service industry workers, and transit workers to ensure that they can continue to provide those critical services and keep all of us moving. And that is what we do in transportation: keep things moving. Regardless of this pandemic our  industry is always teeming with new ideas focused on sustainability, traffic reduction, active transit, and others. And that’s where this competition comes into play by highlighting the significant creativity and innovation of these incredible students who put together projects despite the challenges associated with their schools closing as a result of COVID-19. 

Congratulations to the winners: 

• In 3rd place and the winners of an official award plaque and $200 is American Indian Child Resource Center for their project ‘Day and Night,’ which looks into hybrid electric and solar charging stations for devices and double as light sources around transit stations! Congratulations!
• In 2nd place and the winners of an official award plaque and $300 is Aptos Middle School for their project ‘Eco Drive,’ which proposes a bioethanol powered car with CO2 absorbing components. Congratulations!
• Finally, in 1st place and the winners of $1,000 cash prize, a plaque, and a special recognition from our Trustees (drumroll) is California Montessori Project- Capitol Campus for their project ‘Fast. Easy. Smart: A Sustainable AV Plan for Cities,’ which proposes a system for the deployment of autonomous vehicles that meets societal needs as well as safety and environmental concerns. 

[In light of recommendations regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the event has been postponed.]

Martin Luther King Jr. Library room 225 | 10:30a.m. - 4:30p.m. | AICP CM Credits: 4.0 (pending)

“Redefining the American Dream: Silicon Valley’s Housing Crisis” will brought together planning professionals, experts and advocates to shed light on the housing challenges facing our region and explored potential solutions. The presentation will be focused on four areas:

HOUSING FOR BETTER HEALTH

A dialogue amongst health professionals, policymakers and advocates on the linkage between the lack of affordable housing and increasing public health concerns.

MISSING MIDDLE: ADUs, JDUs, MICROUNITS

A discussion on how new laws will help integrate diverse housing choices and density into residential zoning districts.

BIG TECH, DISPLACEMENT & GENTRIFICATION

Addressing big tech’s housing pledges and their role in displacement and gentrification in Silicon Valley.

HOMELESS & HUNGRY @ SJSU

Bringing awareness to the lives of the homeless student and faculty population at SJSU.

• Breakfast & Registration begins at 10:30am

• Panels start at 11:00am

• Lunch will be provided

• AICP | CM 4.0 Credits (Pending)

[In light of recommendations regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the conference was postponed until further notice.]

In light of recommendations from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the summit was postponed until further notice.

Women from all different backgrounds and walks of life gathered to discuss "What's Next?" 

This half-day confrence tackled difficult and important subjects such as:

1. State of Women's Health
2. Reproductive Rights and Justice
3. Ending Violence Against Women
4. Relationship Between Women and Homelessness
5. Navigating Demands of Career and Caregiving
6. Mentorship: Building the Pipeline
7. Gun Safety Regulation
8. Men and Women: Lean in or Out
9. Climate Action and Environmental Policy
10. Youth Panel: Mental Health, Vaping Epidemic and Sexual Assault
11. Confronting Women's Workplace Challenges
12. A lunch plenary session on Leadership: Step Up, Step Forward, and Stand Out

Get empowered, engaged and take action on issues affecting our communities.

This year’s fair moved into the fifth world of creation, or the glittering world, and feature the work of Native youth throughout the region with the 3rd Annual Innoventure Product Challenge. The Innoventure Product Challenge (see far right) is an annual competition that tasks regional middle and high school students with designing a 3D printed product and developing a business model in introducing it to the public. The competition is expected to provide a glimpse into what making will look like for Navajo people in the future, while providing an outlet for the youth to feature their work.