Universities Receive RITA Grants for Transportation Education and Research

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Contact RITA 03-05 Roger Lotz 202-366-2246

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 — The U.S. Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) today announced over $6.6 million in grants to be awarded to 10 University Transportation Centers (UTC) located throughout the United States for a variety of transportation education and research programs.

Each school will receive $665,000 to support the full range of projects in their respective UTC programs. The schools receiving these grants are: University of Arkansas , University of California , University of Central Florida , University of Idaho , University of Missouri-Rolla , University of Southern California , University of Tennessee , North Dakota State University, Pennsylvania State University and San Jose State University .

The diversity of the work being done at these specific UTCs is as varied as the geographic areas where the schools are located. For example, the University of Tennessee 's UTC concentrates on transportation safety, while the University of Idaho 's UTC specializes in advanced transportation technologies.

More than 75 colleges and universities throughout the United States participate in the UTC program conducting transportation research, education and technology transfer. Last year, UTC colleges and universities graduated over 1,100 students with advanced transportation-related degrees, offered almost 2,000 undergraduate and graduate transportation courses, conducted almost 300 research projects, and trained 32,000 practicing transportation professionals.

The UTC program is administered by RITA and grant recipients are required to provide matching funds. More information on UTC grants can be found at www.rita.dot.gov.