The Transportation Center and Its Synergistic Partners

For over 50 years, the Transportation Center has been the hub and catalyst for multimodal transportation-related research, education and service at Northwestern, and a pace setter nationally and internationally for cross-disciplinary, leading-edge, industry-focused and policy-relevant research in transportation-related matters.

The work of the Center is focused on transportation systems and processes – shipper and traveler behavior, network and service design and operations, management and economics, policy and regulation. Its faculty and staff have a multi-modal perspective built on a strong foundation of connectivity to the transportation industry and key public agencies and professional organizations.

The Transportation Center's research activities are outlined here.

The Transportation Center’s effective role in educating the Northwestern University community and promoting awareness of transportation-related research needs and opportunities has led to a breadth and depth of activity in transportation-relevant subjects that is unmatched on any university campus. Examples of ongoing research programs and centers with synergistic activities with the Transportation Center include:

Infrastructure Technology Institute A USDOT-funded center focusing on the development of structural materials for transportation infrastructure and innovative techniques for non-invasive testing.
Center for the Commercialization of Innovative Transportation Technology A USDOT-funded center conducting "innovation gap" research that brings applied transportation research to the point of implementation.
Center for Energy Efficient Transportation A center in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science engaging in fundamental research in the physical sciences aimed at enabling the development of energy-efficient vehicles.
Center for Operations & Supply Chain Management Based in the Kellogg School of Management, COSCM studies operational research questions in supply chains and other business contexts. It offers executive education and other programs that consistently rank among the nation's best.
The Transportation Library The nation's largest collection of specialty transportation publications, staffed by expert reference librarians.
Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems An institution that brings together scholars from across the university to study complex, emergent behavior of systems of interdependent actors. For example, automobile traffic network behavior results from aggregating discrete decisions of individual drivers.
Institute for Sustainable Practices This partnership between Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern will facilitate joint research and educational initiatives to achieve sustainability in human and ecological systems. The institute's scope encompasses energy and other natural resources, and its work will include development of tools for assessing and monitoring sustainability.
These programs and centers provide enhanced opportunities for students and faculty to learn about and engage in a wide range of subjects affecting the complex and diverse transportation industry. The activities they generate are open to the campus community, and generally to the transportation community beyond Northwestern, contributing to a rich intellectual and professional experience in virtually all aspects of transportation systems research and education.