ODU OPENS CENTER FOR INNOVATIVE TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS

In an event co-hosted November 1 by President John Broderick and Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms, ODU officially opened its Center for Innovative Transportation Solutions (CITS) in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton officially opened the Virginia Beach Town Center facility with a keynote address that lauded ODU and the city of Virginia Beach for collaboratively working to solve problems that affect everyone.

The center will focus on developing and applying innovative techniques, including the expansive use of modeling and simulation, to address a broad variety of transportation challenges and issues facing the region, state and nation.

CITS director Asad Khattak, Batten Chair in Transportation, said ODU researchers have already made two presentations to the city of Virginia Beach, one to City Manager Jim Spore and his team, and the other to Virginia Beach City Council and Mayor Sessoms.

"We have assembled a team of internationally known researchers and educators that includes Dr. Khattak, Dr. Mike Robinson and Dr. Mecit Cetin, who will lead the development of the center," Broderick said.

John Sokolowski, executive director of ODU's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, said cities face many complex issues in transportation planning, decisions that can provide the basis for sustainable economic growth.

"Modeling and simulation enables decision makers to see the impact of planned improvements on congestion and ease of access to neighborhoods and businesses, resulting in better informed decisions and more successful projects. This partnership between Old Dominion and Virginia Beach brings together the transportation research resources and urban planning capabilities to solve these complex issues for the benefit of all," Sokolowski said.

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