DETROIT (Jan. 22, 2014) -  Faculty, staff and students from the Wayne State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) shared their transportation expertise at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, held Jan. 12 to 16 in Washington, D.C. Wayne State's CEE department, led by chair and professor Joseph Hummer, sent four full-time faculty members, one professor emeritus and 12 student/staff members -- most of whom spoke on panels or in presentations.

TRB provides leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange. At the meeting, transportation professionals from around the world shared presentations and peer-reviewed technical papers and identified research needs.

In addition to Hummer, Professor Tapan Datta, Associate Professor Timothy Gates, Associate Professor Peter Savolainen and Professor Emeritus Snehemay Khasnabis were also in attendance. Assistant Professor Shawn McElmurry co-authored a paper presented at the meeting, but was not in attendance.

"The strong presence of Wayne State at the TRB Annual Meeting shows that the university's investment in transportation engineering is paying off," Hummer says. "The program at Wayne State emphasizes traffic safety, and this fits very well with the theme of TRB. At the meeting, it seemed like every session on safety had a Wayne State presenter. Also, with 13 presentations himself, Dr. Peter Savolainen must have been one of the busiest researchers at the meeting. We have a very productive transportation engineering research group at Wayne State, and that was evident at this year's TRB meeting."

According to the TRB website, the meeting attracted more than 12,000 transportation professionals from around the world. It featured nearly 800 sessions and workshops, with more than 30 of those addressing the spotlight theme for 2014: "Celebrating Our Legacy, Anticipating Our Future."

Experts from Wayne State's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering were featured in the following panels and presentations:

• "City of Detroit Signal Removal Program," by Michael Schrader, Wayne State University
• "Pedestrian Enforcement Programs on an Urban Commuter Campus," by Peter Savolainen, Wayne State University
• "Multientity Perspective on Transportation Infrastructure Investment Decision Making," by Sabyasachee Mishra, University of Memphis; Snehamay Khasnabis, Wayne State University; and Subrat Kumar Swain, Arizona State University
• "An Empirical Analysis of Critical Headway for Drivers Turning Right-On-Red at Signalized Intersections," by Brendan James Russo and Peter Savolainen, Wayne State University
• "Predicting Driver Action at Signalized Intersections Using Nested Logit Models," by Timothy Gates, Peter Savolainen, and Honey-Um Maria, Wayne State University
• "Impacts of Automated Red-Light-Running Enforcement Cameras on Driver Behavior," by Timothy Gates, Peter Savolainen, and Honey-Um Maria, Wayne State University
• "Spatial Analysis of Child Pedestrian and Bicycle Crashes: Development of a Safety Performance Function for Areas Adjacent to K-8 Schools," by Adam McArthur, Peter Savolainen, and Timothy Gates, Wayne State University
• "A Disaggregate-Level Assessment of Changes to Michigan's Motorcycle Helmet Use Law on Motorcyclist Injury Outcomes," by Timothy Barrette, Trevor Kirsch, Peter Savolainen, Brendan Russo, and Timothy Gates, Wayne State University
• "Empirical Models of Demand Levels and Turn-in Rates at Roadside Rest Areas," by Jonathan Kay, Timothy Gates, Peter Savolainen, Adam McArthur, and Brendan Russo, Wayne State University
• "Examination of Factors Associated with Child Restraint Device Use: Application of Random Effects Model Considering Driver, Vehicle, and Site Characteristics," by Elizabeth Hacker, Peter Savolainen, and Timothy Gates, Wayne State University
• "Examination of Factors Associated with Safety Belt and Cell Phone Use by Drivers Using a Bivariate Probit Model," by Brendan Russo, Jonathan Kay, Peter Savolainen, and Timothy Gates, Wayne State University
• "Evidence of Mixed Safety Performance Among Roundabouts Converted from Signalized Intersections," by Brendan Russo, Amelia Davis, Sterling Frazier, Peter Savolainen, and Timothy Gates, Wayne State University
• "Comparison of Safety Performance of Single- and Multilane Roundabouts," by Ahmad Fawaz, Peter Savolainen, and Timothy Gates, Wayne State University
• "Potential for Metering to Help Roundabouts Manage Peak-Period Demands in the United States," by Joseph Hummer, Wayne State University; Joseph S. Milazzo, Regional Transportation Alliance; Bastian Schroeder, and Katayon Salamati, North Carolina State University
• "Comparison of Factors Affecting Injury Severity in Angle Collisions by Fault Status Using Bivariate Ordered Probit Model," by Brendan Russo, Peter Savolainen, Wayne State University; and William Schneider, University of Akron
• "Pedestrian and Bicycle Accommodation on Superstreets," by Joseph Hummer, Wayne State University; Anne Holzem, Nagui Rouphail, Christopher Cunningham, Sarah Worth O'Brien, Bastian Schroeder, Katy Salamati, and Robert Foyle, North Carolina State University
• "Calibration and Field Validation of Four Double-Crossover Diamond Interchanges in VISSIM Microsimulation," by Bastian Schroeder and Katayon Salamati, North Carolina State University; Joseph Hummer, Wayne State University
• "A Framework for Suitability Assessment of Non-Traditional Development within the Roadside Right-of-Way," by Timothy Gates, Peter Savolainen, Adam McArthur, Patrick Andridge, Trevor Kirsch, and Shawn McElmurry, Wayne State University
• "Lane Utilization at Two-Lane Arterial Approaches to Double Crossover Diamond Interchanges," by Joseph Hummer, Wayne State University; Chunho Yeom, Bastian Schroeder, Christopher Cunningham, Chris Vaughan, and Nagui Rouphail, North Carolina State University

For more information on Wayne State's CEE department, visit engineering.wayne.edu/cee/. A full TRB Annual Meeting program can be found at http://pressamp.trb.org/aminteractiveprogram/Program.aspx.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students. For more information about engineering at Wayne State University, visit engineering.wayne.edu.