DETROIT – The U.S. Transportation Department has awarded a $2 million grant for the creation of a nationally focused University Transportation Center, which will be led by Leo Hanifin, University of Detroit Mercy Dean of the College and Engineering and Science. Other Michigan consortium members include NextEnergy and Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids.
The mission of DOT?s UTC Program is to advance U.S. technology and expertise in the many disciplines comprising transportation through the mechanisms of education, research and technology transfer at university-based centers of excellence.
The University Transportation Center, tentatively named MI-OH (Michigan/Ohio) UTC, will combine the resources of five leading universities in Michigan and Ohio to address transportation issues that are critical to this important hub of transportation and to the nation. Other consortium partners include Grand Valley State University, Wayne State University in Detroit, the University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
MI-OH UTC will try to use transportation as a vehicle for economic development through increased knowledge and education as well as through technology transfer.
The Center?s initial three focal areas include:
Alternate Energy: Continuing dependence on high-cost, non-renewable fossil fuels imported from politically unstable regions of the world is a threat to the future development, security and effective use of the transportation network in the U.S. The UTC will focus on research and commercialization to develop and distribute renewable, homegrown, low-polluting energy sources to support transportation and work closely with NextEnergy, the alternative energy company developed by WSU and based at its TechTown incuabor in downtown Detroit.
Infrastructure Utilization: Growing demand for transportation is stretching current infrastructure to, and in many cases beyond, its capacity. By 2020, the demand for moving freight is expected to increase by more than 50 percent. Expanding infrastructure, by itself, may not be an effective solution because it is expensive and consumes valuable land that could be used for agriculture, recreation and commerce.
Supply Chains: The emergence of supply chains and sophisticated distribution systems is placing new demands on transportation. Understanding transportation?s role in this new paradigm and adapting the transportation systems to meet the needs of suppliers, manufacturers and customers is fundamentally important for economic development.
Hanifin, has been named Director of MI-OH UTC. Hanifin has extensive experience leading both research and educational organizations and the development of coalitions of academic and industrial organizations. He was previously the director of the Center for Manufacturing Productivity and Technology Transfer, a 300-person research center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was also the director of the Greenfield Coalition, an engineering coalition funded by the National Science Foundation that included over a dozen academic institutions, corporations and engineering societies. Hanifin is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Engineering Society of Detroit.
