University of Minnesota
Advanced Transportation Technologies Seminar Series
CE 8213, ME 8772, PA 8290
Fall Semester, 2015
Room 1130 Mechanical Engineering Building
Scheduled Thursdays (starting September 10, 2015), 3:00 to 4:00 PM
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Professor Max Donath
Office: 211 Mechanical Engineering
Phone: 612-625-2304
Fax: 612-625-6381
Email:
Hannah Grune
Course Coordinator
Office: 200 Transportation and Safety
Phone: 612-626-4965
Fax: 612-625-6381
Email:
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Overview and Purpose:
This seminar series will provide updates on research in the Roadway Safety Institute’s core science, policy and technology areas—human centered design, intelligent vehicles and automation, vulnerable road users, traffic modeling and control, sensors, geographic information systems (GIS), wireless communications and public policy—addressing safety issues from many perspectives. The research that will be presented will cover a wide range of disciplines including mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, human factors, statistics, policy and risk analysis, and computer science. Planning, social, and behavioral issues related to roadway safety will also be discussed.
The seminars are open to those interested in learning more about the interplay of science, technology, policy and transportation. Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and practitioners are encouraged to attend. The seminars will each stream as a live webinar, and then will be posted to the Roadway Safety website two days after the presentation
Attendance and Reporting Requirements:
All students registered for academic credit will be required to attend a total of ten seminars. Twelve seminars will be offered throughout the semester, but attendance is only required at ten to receive credit. Please note that seminars will not be offered every week: there will be no seminar on Thursday, October 29 and Thursday, November 26.
Additionally, students will be required to prepare a short written report on five of the ten seminars they attend.This requirement is meant to give each student practice in preparing memoranda much like those that are routinely required in professional practice, in research laboratories, and in industry.
The report is to take the form of a technical memorandum and should be approximately two typed pages in length. Equations and graphs, if used, should be fully referenced. Freehand sketches of graphs (neatly done) are acceptable. But, keep in mind that the document and all figures must be submitted electronically.
An overall guideline to keep in mind when preparing the report is that it should capture the primary points of the seminar and communicate them to the course coordinator, as if the coordinator is the student’s supervisor in his/her organization. It may be assumed that this supervisor has a technical background but is not an expert in the subject of the seminar. It should also be assumed that the supervisor is very busy. The purpose of the report, therefore, is to give a concise yet comprehensive account of the seminar. The report should contain enough information so the supervisor can capture the essential features of the subject.
Submitting Reports:
Reports must be emailed by 1:00 PM on the Wednesday following the seminar to HannahGrune, Course Coordinator, at:
Reports should be sent in MS Word or PDF format. Diagrams should be integrated within the document.
Grading and Procedures:
- Students are required to prepare a short written report on five seminars.
- Students are expected to attend ten seminars. If a student cannot attend a seminar, please contact Hannah Grune at 612-6-4965or prior to the start of the seminar. For any seminar missed without an excused absence (e.g. doctor’s note), the student will be required to watch the Web version of the seminar and submit a two page written report. This assignment will be in addition to the five required seminar reports. Job interviews do NOT constitute an excused absence.
- Students are responsible for signing-in to indicate their attendance at each seminar.
- Reports will be graded on the following basis: Pass, Fail, or Request to Revise.
- To receive credit for the seminar course, the five reports must each receive a “Pass”.
- Reports will be returned to you one week after the due date at the beginning of class.
General Guidelines:
- The report should be typed (except for original sketches).
- Equations, if necessary must use standard symbols and follow standard format, such as those used in technical journals. Symbols must be defined either in the text or in an addendum.
- Figures and tables must be numbered and labeled appropriately (captions above tables and below figures). A reference to each table or figure must be made within the report.
Grading Criteria:
Technical Content and Summary
The report succinctly summarizes the overall theme of the speaker’s seminar and the technical points made by him/her. Excessive technical jargon is to be avoided, but sufficient technical detail, including equations and graphs when needed, is expected.
Writing, Organization, and English Usage:
Header
Essential information. Identifies seminar presenter and writer by name and title. Gives date. States topic of memorandum report.
Introduction
First paragraph gives a short set-up (background of speaker, topic of seminar) and the purpose of the report (i.e., to provide the reader with information about the particular topic).
Summary
Second paragraph gives preview of the major points of the following discussion and establishes the organizational pattern of the discussion.
Structure of Report Body
Overall structure must be coherent and logical as outlined in the summary. All the materials and only that which is contained in the summary are addressed in more detail in the body of the report. Report body sections are labeled using main points from the summary as headings. Paragraphs are ordered logically.
Paragraphs
Paragraphs must be unified and coherent; each addressing only one main point and beginning with an effective topic sentence.
Layout
Use an appropriate format, i.e., headings, lists, white space, graphics.
Mechanics and Style
Punctuation, spelling, and usage must be correct. Use correct, readable sentences (15 –40 words); appropriate use of technical and scientific terminology is required.
For more information about the Roadway Safety Institute and for updates on the seminars, visit our website at
Help with writing:
Student Writing Support (SWS) offers free writing instruction for all University of Minnesota students—graduate and undergraduate—at all stages of the writing process. In face-to-face and online collaborative consultations, SWS consultants help students develop productive writing habits and revision strategies.
SWS consultants are teachers of writing: graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants and professional staff. Some consultants specialize in working with multilingual writers, and others have experience with writing in specific disciplines.
Consulting is available by appointment online and in 15 Nicholson Hall, and on a walk-in basis in 9 Appleby Hall. For more information, go towriting.umn.edu/swsor call612.625.1893.
In addition, SWS offers a number of web-based resources on topics such as avoiding plagiarism, documenting sources, and planning and completing a writing project.
ADVANCING TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGIES
SEMINAR SERIES—CE 8213, ME 8772, PA 8290
Schedule for Fall Semester, 2015 Thursdays, 3:00-4:00
Room ME 1130
September 10, 2015
The Minnesota Strategic Highway Safety Plan
Brad Estochen, State Traffic Safety Engineer,
Minnesota Department of Transportation
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September 17, 2015
Characterizing Uncertainty in Left-Turn Crash Reconstructions Using Event Data Recorder Data
Gary Davis, Professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering
University of Minnesota
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September 24, 2015
Transportation Incidents, Events, and Disasters
Dan Work, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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October 1, 2015
Low-Cost Centimeter-Accurate Mobile Positioning
Todd Humphreys, Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
University of Texas at Austin
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October 8, 2015
Modeling the effects of drivers’ adaptive behavior on system safety
Linda Boyle, Professor and Chair, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Washington
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October 15, 2015
Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Traffic and Infrastructure Surveillance: Opportunities and Challenges
Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department
University of Minnesota
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October 22, 2015
Automated Identification and Extraction of Horizontal Curve Information from Geographic Information System Roadway Maps - Improving Safety on All Roadways
David Noyce, Professor and Department Chair, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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October 29, 2015
NO SEMINAR
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November 5, 2015
Novel Collision Avoidance System for Bicycles
Rajesh Rajamani, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Minnesota
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November 12, 2015
Assessing Roadway Safety Risks in American Indian Reservations
Kathy Quick, Assistant Professor and Guillermo Narvaez, Research Associate, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
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November 19, 2015
Pedestrian Safety, Pedestrian Behavior, and Intersection Design and Control
Per Garder, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Maine
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November 26, 2015
NO SEMINAR
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December 3, 2015
Distracted Driving: The Last Two Seconds of Your Life
Don Fisher, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, and Director, Arbella Human Performance Lab
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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December 10, 2015
A Positioning and Mapping Methodology Using Bluetooth and Smartphone Technologies to Support Situation Awareness and Wayfinding for the Visually Impaired
Chen-Fu Liao, Senior Systems Engineer, Minnesota Traffic Observatory
University of Minnesota
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