Program in Transportation

Director

Alain L. Kornhauser

Executive Committee

Alain L. Kornhauser, Operations Research and Financial Engineering

Sanjeev R. Kulkarni, Electrical Engineering

Warren B. Powell, Operations Research and Financial Engineering

Robert F. Stengel, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

 

The Program in Transportation is an interdisciplinary program offered jointly by the School of Engineering and Applied Science (in particular the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering) and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Faculty members and students from other departments also participate. The interdisciplinary nature of transportation problems is emphasized throughout. In addition to work in their own discipline, all students participate in a common core of courses and workshops, dealing with the technological, economic, and social aspects of transportation. Methodological research in network analysis, statistics, stochastic systems, optimization, and economics focused on intelligent transportation systems is an area of emphasis for engineering majors.

Research and Scholarship

Emphasis is on methodological policy analysis and research applied to advanced transportation initiatives in public transportation, private-sector logistics systems, air transportation, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Research includes the development and application of operation research techniques to transportation problems. New areas include the development and application of large parallel computing, neural networks, and expert systems to the real-time operation and management of stochastic transportation systems.

Admission

A candidate for admission to the program should apply to one of the cooperating schools or departments. The school or department and the interdepartmental committee of the Program in Transportation then make recommendations to the dean of the Graduate School on admission to the program. The candidate normally is expected to fulfill the requirements for admission to graduate standing as set forth in the respective departmental statement.

Plan of Study

Programs of study lead to the degrees of Master in Public Affairs (M.P.A.), Master in Public Policy (M.P.P.), Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in the appropriate field.

On entering the program, the student is assigned, or may select, an adviser who is normally a faculty member representing the department. A plan of study emphasizing the student’s major goals is arranged by the student in consultation with his or her adviser.

Master’s Program

Requirements for the M.P.A., M.P.P., and M.S.E. degrees are described under the cooperating schools and departments. Normally, the curriculum requires two academic years plus the summer in between. Students from both professional schools participate in transportation core courses as well as a research seminar.

The summer between the student’s first and second academic years is an integral part of the educational program. Because the Program in Transportation attaches great importance to professional experience, students are assisted in finding suitable positions of professional value during this period. On occasion, the program provides support to students for well-developed summer research projects.

Doctoral Program

Admission to the doctoral program is governed by the requirements of the cooperating schools or departments. The doctoral program normally takes four years. In order to qualify, students must pass the general examination in their discipline, present an acceptable dissertation, and pass the final public oral examination. The general examination is set by the student’s department in consultation with the Program in Transportation committee. The dissertation is written under the supervision of faculty members approved by the department and the committee. The committee recommends to the department acceptance of the thesis. With the approval of the department, the committee sets and administers the final public oral examination.

Financial Aid

Financial aid for students is available in the form of fellowships and research assistantships.

Pertinent Courses in Allied Departments

Operations Research and Financial Engineering

522 Linear Optimization

524 Statistical Theory and Methods

526 Stochastic Modelling

547 Dynamic Programming

Woodrow Wilson School

505 Financial Management in the Corporate and Public Sectors

511 Microeconomic Analysis: b (Basic), c (Advanced), d (Accelerated)

533 Planning Theory and Process

535 Planning Methods

538 Politics and Policy Making in Metropolitan Areas

Other appropriate courses can be found under the listings for the Departments of Economics, Politics, and Sociology.

Undergraduate Courses of Interest

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the program, students may wish to elect certain undergraduate courses from cooperating departments.

Operations Research and Financial Engineering

301 Elements of Interactive Computer Graphics

417 Dynamic Programming

467 Transportation

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

435, 436 Special Topics in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering