The Drive Forward Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Drive Forward Podcast
As we anticipate the emergence of autonomous and connected vehicles and freight, asphalt pavements face significant design and safety challenges.
Join Audrey Copeland, National Asphalt Pavement Association President and CEO, on the latest episode of The Drive Forward Podcast as she discusses the future of asphalt pavements. Hear her share her vision to maximize asphalt pavements as part of next-generation solutions, promote stewardship to combat climate change and advocate for Women of Asphalt and aspiring young professionals.
Copeland also shares NAPA’s commitment to the asphalt industry as well as in pursuing partnerships and research efforts to prepare for the future of asphalt pavements.
Check out more ways to stream The Drive Forward Podcast on • iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drive-forward-podcast/id1495386094 • SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-355428809 • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6a5apYSBsT6TE8EjEIzJGm?si=Y8EHvWa3RpamWgM78SEwbQ • YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzHPEMKzCp8HUBVYXewURqmwJK33YnHmz
No dream is too big for Ana Barros. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s department head joins the latest episode of The Drive Forward Podcast to discuss her short- and long-term goals for the department.
One of her biggest goals? Seeing the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track come to fruition. The high-speed, multimodal connected and autonomous track planned for Rantoul, Illinois, offers endless “possibilities” for research and navigating the future of transportation.
Barros also shares the “big adventure” that was entering a lead role during the middle of a pandemic. Hear her excitement in welcoming students back to campus.
Check out more ways to stream the The Drive Forward Podcast on • iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drive-forward-podcast/id1495386094 • SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-355428809 • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6a5apYSBsT6TE8EjEIzJGm?si=Y8EHvWa3RpamWgM78SEwbQ • YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzHPEMKzCp8HUBVYXewURqmwJK33YnHmz
Stop and think about it. When’s the last time you boarded a flight and gave much consideration of the pavement beneath you? No need, right? That’s all thanks to civil engineers like Dallas Little, a professor at Texas A&M, who ensures we’re ready for takeoff.
Join Little on the latest episode of The Drive Forward Podcast as he highlights the ins and outs of pavement materials like asphalt, concrete and bitumen, and why their applications are vastly different when it comes to roadways and runways.
Little shares how the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track, a high-speed, multimodal connected and autonomous track in Rantoul, Illinois, will be an “opportunity to really validate” ongoing pavement research for future transportation.
Check out The Drive Forward Podcast on • iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drive-forward-podcast/id1495386094 • SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-355428809 • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6a5apYSBsT6TE8EjEIzJGm?si=Y8EHvWa3RpamWgM78SEwbQ&nd=1 • YouTube: https://youtu.be/n-5eaWPEAmU • YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzHPEMKzCp8HUBVYXewURqmwJK33YnHmz
State roads aren’t just point A to point B routes for big business and ensuring a stable economy, they’re vital in ensuring a safe journey for those that matter most — our loved ones.
Join Omer Osman, secretary of Illinois Department of Transportation, as he unravels his transportation agenda, including updating our infrastructure to make it a “21st Century transit system” all while giving Illinoisans a reason to “raise their family and stay in the state of Illinois.”
Osman highlights IDOT’s partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to build a “futuristic” autonomous vehicle track, known as the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track in Rantoul, Illinois. He shares how this effort will advance mobility and “sustain” our freight ensuring feasible movement of people and goods for Illinois families and businesses for years to come.
Check out The Drive Forward Podcast on • iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-drive-forward-podcast/id1495386094 • SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-355428809 • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6a5apYSBsT6TE8EjEIzJGm?si=Y8EHvWa3RpamWgM78SEwbQ • YouTube playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzHPEMKzCp8HUBVYXewURqmwJK33YnHmz
Experiences shape you. Kevin Hall’s University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign experience certainly did.
Hear how his doctoral student journey, learning from the “godfathers” of UIUC’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, shaped his trek to becoming the associate dean for research and professor at the University of Arkansas. Hall also highlights challenges — like climate change, sustainability and urbanization — the next generation of civil engineers face in paving the future of infrastructure.
The alumnus also shares what a “tremendous opportunity” UIUC has in its efforts to build an autonomous vehicle track, known as the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track, in Rantoul, Illinois. Hall foresees such university-led tech providing interdisciplinary education and research.
Hailing a cab is one thing. Hailing a pod takes it to a whole other level. Join Michel Hovan, branch manager of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Technology Research and Development, as he explores futuristic air travel such as urban air mobility, where people travel through the airspace for short trips.
Hear how the FAA is preparing for smart airports to create a “seamless” experience. Learn about the agency’s use of drones to improve safety, oversee accidents and conduct pavement inspections along its runways.
Let’s face it, a lot’s changed since wide-use of smart phones. Even more will change once smart transportation rules the road.
Join Ann Schlenker, director of Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Transportation Research, as she chats about the U.S. Department of Energy’s exploration of the very tech that could pioneer us into the future of transportation with its Systems and Modeling for Accelerated Research and Transportation Mobility Consortium.
Hear how Schlenker’s ensuring the next generation of civil engineers are “ripe and ready” for such tech changes with the U.S. DOE’s four-year EcoCAR Mobility Challenge.
Listen to her vision for the future of goods delivery and getting beyond personal car ownership.
From lights detecting our presence upon entering a room to cars parallel parking themselves, we’ve taken sensors and run with it. Now we’re taking it a step further, applying sensor technology to runways. Join David Pittman, director of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineer Research and Development Center, on the latest episode of the podcast.
He shares the lab’s efforts in helping the U.S. Department of Defense take runways to the next level with its Joint Evaluation of Design Integrative Software, also known as JEDI 2D. This software takes advantage of new modeling advancements coming out of universities to better understand the stresses, strains, deflections of loads and much more these runways endure.
Pittman also shares his excitement for autonomous vehicle technology, especially Illinois Center for Transportation’s anticipated autonomous and connected vehicle track, known as the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track.
Hear ERDC’s efforts using supercomputers at its lab in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to simulate ground vehicles and design autonomous systems for the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps.
What’s your why? That’s the question Tom Harman, the director of the Federal Highway Administration’s National Highway Institute, poses on the latest episode of The Drive Forward Podcast.
Join Harman as he shares how FHWA literally pulled our transportation system out of the mud to get it where it is today. Hear Harman challenge future civil engineers to know their why in order to innovate the next big ideas in transportation.
Once the pandemic hit, The Grainger College of Engineering stepped up in a big way — from developing an emergency ventilator, providing data- and modeling-driven approaches to advise the governor on best policies, creating a saliva test and launching the Safer Illinois app, to designing personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. Hear how Dean Rashid Bashir envisions the college continuing to rise to the occasion with its five-year strategic plan in the latest episode of The Drive Forward Podcast.
Dean Bashir also discusses the college’s view of its leading transportation efforts. Hear Bashir chat about Illinois Center for Transportation’s efforts to build the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track, which has the potential to meet upcoming transportation needs like multimodal transit and smart freights.
Behind each defining moment is a team that works to pull off the impossible.
That’s exactly what Kristie Chin, our latest The Drive Forward Podcast guest, believes.
The University of Texas at Austin director of civic innovation for the Center for Transportation Research unveils the university’s efforts with the Texas Innovation Alliance, which partners with a robust network of cities, research institutions and transportation agencies to look at common challenges and develop shared solutions.
Chin also shares how university-led initiatives are championing the future of transportation and providing students with optimal opportunities for next-generation problem solving.
Imagine floating in the ocean. No, you’re not atop a raft or cruising in a boat. Instead, you’re actually living there.
That’s the future Guna, the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2020 president envisions. Join Guna on episode No. 6 of The Drive Forward Podcast, where he shares ASCE’s efforts of depicting five futuristic cities, including floating, frozen, mega, off-planet and rural communities, to challenge the next generation of civil engineers.
He delves into their first creation, the floating city, which entails structures based in the water with reimagined energy concepts.
Guna challenges civil engineers to become masters of systems integration in order to take on not only these creative living concepts, but also upcoming infrastructure and mobility needs for integrating connected and autonomous vehicles.
COVID-19 is changing our way of life, impeding transportation from highway traffic, aviation, barges — you name it. Join Neil Pedersen, the Transportation Research Board’s executive director, on episode No. 5 of The Drive Forward Podcast as he discusses how COVID-19 affects transit ideas like ride-hailing services, e-scooters, docked bikeshare systems and autonomous vehicles. Hear how Pedersen foresees civil engineers having to put on their thinking caps not just to deal with a new sense of normal, but also to re-envision and reimagine transportation.
Chances are if you’re cruising down an Illinois highway, you’re riding on hot-mix asphalt. That pavement not only provides a smooth, quiet ride, but it’s also a huge taxpayer dollar saver. Join guest Kevin Burke, Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association’s executive vice president, as he peers into the future of asphalt, sharing possible use of recycled materials, like plastic, to enhance pavement and drive costs down. He shares IAPA’s commitment to its highway contractors as well as investing in university students who will become the next generation of industry leaders.
Just as the U.S. Interstate Highway System paved the way for modern transportation, connectivity promises real change to our current way of life.
Just ask John Zhang, the chief engineer of electrical and innovation technology at the City of Chicago, who joins us on this episode of the podcast, sharing how 5G technology is pivotal for furthering autonomous and connected vehicle technology. Currently, 5,000 locations for 5G placement have been identified on nearby light poles and buildings to hold antennas, radio and supply equipment in order to improve 5G coverage in the Windy City.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign alumna also shares how the city’s converting all 1,800 of its Chicago Transit Authority buses to electric vehicles by 2040 and using smart-powered lanes to power its fleet. While still in the conceptual stage, smart-powered lanes aim to embed chargers underneath pavement to dynamically charge buses as they pass through the city.
Zhang also weighs in on autonomous and connected vehicles, sharing safety takes top priority. For Zhang, research facilities, like Illinois Center for Transportation’s proposed Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track — an autonomous and connected vehicle test track at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois, are a ‘crown jewel’ for this technology, enabling much-needed testing before real-world implementation.
Check out this and more on the third episode of the podcast. Use #DriveForward to fuel the conversation on social media.
Late for class? Take the autonomous shuttle! At least that’s what the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s dreaming up in its Campus Master Plan. Hear how Stacey DeLorenzo, who serves in transportation demand management at UIUC’s Facilities and Services, is considering those concepts becoming a reality. Learn more about her role in other exciting ventures like the Illinois-Autonomous and Connected Track, a high-speed connected and autonomous vehicle track proposed to be constructed at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois.
No need to call Marty McFly to get to the future. It’s already here in Illinois. Join guest Hani Mahmassani, a Northwestern University McCormick School of Engineering professor, chat about his efforts with autonomous and connected vehicles as well as his work as the director of the Northwestern University Transportation Center. See how Mahmassani’s role in the Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative helps Illinois Center for Transportation, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s research center, get that much closer to building a high-speed connected and autonomous vehicle track, known as the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track, at the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois.