CITT News

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded California State University, Long Beach’s (CSULB) Center for International Trade & Transportation (CITT), and its ongoing collaboration with the University of Southern California and University of California, Davis, a grant to renew the center for five more years.

Housed in the College of Professional and Continuing Education, CITT is a prominent center for workforce development, dedicated to community outreach, innovative research, and education in the area of goods movement. CITT, which houses six major research centers, accelerates research and policy insights across the global supply chain.

DOT’s University Transportation Center Program (UTC) helps develop the next generation of transportation professionals. USC led the formation of the Pacific Southwest Region UTC, which includes CSULB, in 2016. CITT also works with USC in the METRANS Transportation Consortium in the research of freight and goods movement. 

CITT also collaborates with UC Davis on the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, with a concentration on equitable decarbonization, which will create efficient transportation systems and create a healthier environment for communities. 

“CITT has a focus on professional development. Traditionally, our strength has been in training students to help build the future transportation workforce and be career ready. We work with programs such as the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program to help identify students who we can fund through our UTC program,” said Tom O’Brien, executive director of CITT. “Being that we are a continuing-education unit, a lot of our students are also non-traditional whom we help prepare for the workplace. We do things to directly serve our students and this grant will be a huge benefit.”

“The grant validates and helps to continue the work the center has been doing. It helps us to expand our reach throughout the campus and our community. I love being able to raise the profile for something that is an important contributor to the economy and to Long Beach,” O’Brien said. 

The USDOT received 230 applications this year for the UTC program, with 34 lead universities being awarded a grant to help support research, workforce development, technology transfer and innovation.

Click here for the full list of PSR members.

Click here to read an earlier version of this article for CSULB News by Lamar West.