About us

The Center of Excellence for Sustainable Urban Freight Systems (CoE-SUFS), funded by the Volvo Research and Education Foundations (VREF) was led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY. The CoE-SUFS consortium is comprised of the world’s leading freight transportation research centers including Delft University, University of Westminster, University of Gothenburg, University of Melbourne, and Kyoto University. 

Partners

The CoE-SUFS has worked with city agencies and private-sector groups to improve freight systems around the world. City agencies help define research priorities and assist in the implementation of promising concepts. Private-sector partners provide invaluable input on research needs and ensure that the proposed initiatives align with private-sector needs and expectations.

Mission

The mission of CoE-SUFS is one of behavior modification: to change the idea of urban freight systems from one driven by profit maximization to one that accounts for the externalities produced. The research team will use technology, public policy, and proactive engagement of the private sector as building blocks to design and implement actionable strategies to transform and push forward the leading edge of urban freight systems.

Key Accomplishments:

The VREF has played an irreplaceable role in fostering: urban freight research, training, and education; research and education collaborations between developed and developing countries; and critical connections between research and policy globally through their funding of several Centers of Excellence (CoEs) and the Urban Freight Platform (UFP). Since the start of the CoE-SUFS in 2012, urban freight research has grown from a rather small, specialized field to one that is more established, but still emerging. With VREF funding, the CoE-SUFS has developed a strong research network and collaborative work culture, which has demonstrated important benefits in spreading and strengthening urban freight research to new regions and partners globally. Such network building and dissemination work is essential.

The CoE-SUFS and the VREF network has played a critical role in fostering research in several influential developing countries such as Brazil, Colombia, China, India, and Mexico.

Another key contribution of the VREF funding has been to foster interconnections between the CoE-SUFS and international policy groups such as the Partnership on Sustainable, Low Carbon Transport (SLOCAT), the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), and the World Resources Institute (WRI), among others. Before the VREF funding, there was very little interplay between these influential policy groups and urban freight researchers. Despite their preeminent roles as freight re- searchers, the team’s cutting-edge findings did not find their way into policy documents produced by these groups. That situation has changed. The CoE-SUFS team now routinely provides input and technical documents, leading these policy groups to achieve a greater understanding and more forward looking position towards urban freight. Through these growing connections, dissemination of research has the potential to influence policy decision-makers in thousands of cities globally.

People

Director

Dr. Jose Holguin-Veras, William H. Hart Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
4030 Jonsson Engineering Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180-3590
Phone: 518-276-6221
Fax: 518-276-4833
Email: jhv@rpi.edu
URL: transp.rpi.edu/~jhvweb/

Administration

Jeffrey Wojtowicz, Senior Research Engineer
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
4033 Jonsson Engineering Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180-3590
Phone: 518-276-2759
Fax: 518-276-4833
Email: wojtoj@rpi.edu

Affiliated Faculty and Staff (alphabetical order)

Dr. Cara Wang, Associate Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
4032 Jonsson Engineering Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180-3590
Phone: 518-276-8043
Fax: 518-276-4833
Email: wangx@rpi.edu

Dr. Sean He, Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
4034 Jonsson Engineering Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180-3590
Phone: 518-276-8043
Fax: 518-276-4833
Email: hex6@rpi.edu

Dr. O. A. Elrahman (Sam), Senior Research Scholar
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY 12180-3590
Email: oae@alum.rpi.edu
URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oaelrahman

Partners

Research partners

Core Research Partners (CRPs):

Associate Research Centers (ARCs):

Institutional partners

Academic Institutions:

Core Industry Partners:

Core City Partners: