From Transportation to Air Pollution and Public Health—Are We Doing the Right Thing, and Doing it Right?

Date: 4/11/2018, 1:00 PM-2:00 PM EDT

Location: 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE, Washington, DC, (West Building) Conference Center Room 6

Speaker: H. Oliver Gao, Ph.D.,  Director, Center for Transportation, Environment, and Community Health (CTECH); Director, Cornell Systems Engineering; Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University

Organization: Center for Transportation, Environment, and Community Health (CTECH), Cornell University

OST-R Office: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), University Transportation Centers Program

Email questions to: OSTR.speakerseries@dot.gov

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Abstract

Transportation-related air pollution, GHG emissions and energy problems are a significant issue in the U.S., China, and across the world. The World Health Organization estimates that urban air pollution causes 200,000 deaths per year worldwide and that it will be responsible for 8 million premature deaths from 2000 to 2020. Sacrificing transportation needs for environmental quality and public health is simply infeasible. How do we meet the transportation needs in the age of development without sacrificing environment sustainability and public health? 

The Center for Transportation, Environment, and Community Health (CTECH) pursues research and innovation to support sustainable mobility of people and goods while preserving the environment and improving community health. It leverages behavioral and economic sciences, epidemiology, information technology, and environmental and transportation sciences and technologies to address critical issues falling under the FAST Act’s priority area of Preserving the Environment.

Bio

Dr. Gao, Director of CTECH and Director of Cornell Systems Engineering, is an Associate Professor with the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. He is an elected member in the graduate fields of 1) Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2) Air Quality in Earth and Atmospheric Science, 3) Cornell Institute of Public Affairs (CIPA), and 4) Systems Engineering at Cornell University. His research focuses on quantitative modeling and development of engineering systems solutions for sustainable and intelligent infrastructure and lifeline systems, low carbon and low emission transportation systems, and the closely related environment (especially air quality and climate change)-energy systems. He also studies alternative transportation/energy technologies, systems innovation, and green supply chain and logistics (e.g., sustainable food systems, quantifying and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from food supply chains).

Gao received his graduate degrees (Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, M.S. in Statistics, and M.S. in Agriculture and Resource Economics) from the University of California at Davis, M.S. degree in Civil Engineering, and duel undergraduate degrees in Environmental Science and Civil Engineering from Tsinghua University, China.