Q & A with Stephen Ritchie, New Director of ITS Irvine: Will Recker Steps Down after Two Decades-Plus

Longtime ITS Irvine faculty member and Professor of Civil and Evironmental Engineering Stephen Ritchie was named the new Director of ITS Irvine this summer, as former Director Will Recker stepped down after more than 20 years in the post. Ritchie chaired the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1995 to 2000 and is currently Graduate Advisor for civil engineering students. He also chaired UC Irvine's Graduate Council from 2004 to 2005 and is founding Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.

Tell us a little about ITS Irvine: how it has changed over the years and where you think it is headed.

ITS Irvine consists of faculty, staff, and graduate and undergraduate students engaged at the forefront of knowledge in interdisciplinary transportation research and education. Currently, the Institute involves faculty and students from the Schools of Engineering, Social Sciences, Social Ecology, Business, and Information and Computer Sciences. Collaborations with colleagues from outside the University are common.

The mission of the Institute is to create and disseminate significant new knowledge to help solve society’s pressing transportation problems, both in California and more globally. It achieves this through cutting-edge activities in research, education and professional outreach. A characteristic of ITS Irvine transportation research is a systems approach, focusing on the areas of planning, policy, economics (including pricing and finance), operations (including traffic, transit, logistics and freight, and safety), energy and the environment, and information technologies. In particular, in recent years the Institute has been home to concerted transportation research efforts in intelligent transportation systems, activity systems analysis, policy and pricing, logistics, and safety. The Institute is also now the administrative home to the University’s Transportation Science Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree Program.

How does the directorship of ITS Irvine complement your own background and experience?

Transportation research is entering a new era of challenges and opportunities, so it is an exciting time in our field. I have been closely associated with ITS and have admired the Institute and our ITS community for more than 20 years, so it is a great honor to now assume this new role. ITS is a tremendously valuable resource, not only for the University but for California and the nation. I think the need for and potential benefit from an interdisciplinary approach to transportation research and education has never been greater.

What areas of transportation research do you think ITS Irvine should be involved in? Do you plan on expanding on past approaches? Adding new ones?

In addition to expanding our recent major research efforts in intelligent transportation systems, activity systems analysis, policy and pricing, logistics and safety, I expect we will see new initiatives emerge in the energy and environment and information technology areas.

What aspect of transportation interests you the most?

My research focuses on emerging technology applications in transportation systems engineering, most recently addressing new sensor and processing methods for advanced traffic management in intelligent transportation systems. I have a growing interest in issues of transportation sustainability.

Do you anticipate new programs at ITS Irvine? New research partnerships?

ITS Irvine has enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial research partnership with many funding agencies, especially including the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). We will be studying the need and opportunity for new programs and partnerships, and I expect several new initiatives will emerge as mentioned above.

In addition, we plan to expand our educational efforts in support of all the graduate transportation programs at UCI, which are concentrated currently in civil engineering, economics and urban planning, but especially for our Transportation Science Interdisciplinary Graduate Degree Program for which I expect student demand to grow significantly in the next few years.