Author Archives: Office of the Provost

Mineta Transportation Institute Receives $10.5 M in Grant Funding

The Mineta National Transportation Research Consortium (MNTRC), led by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU), was awarded $7 million in federal funding through the University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program for transportation research, education, workforce development and technology transfer activities. Matching funds from regional and state partners, including Caltrans, bring the grant five-year total to $10.5 million.

In addition to SJSU, the Consortium brings together a diverse set of university partners including Howard University, Navajo Technical University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who will focus on improving the mobility of people and goods to ensure that our nation’s transportation system is fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient for all.

MNTRC plans to lead the nation in researching safe, reliable solutions that increase mobility for people and goods and strengthen the nation’s economy. To achieve this goal, MNTRC will:

  • Leverage new technologies and innovative processes to achieve a seamless, multimodal surface transportation system that integrates with other “smart city” investments;
  • Create a safer, more reliable, and more resilient surface transportation system that improves equity through increased access to jobs, housing, services, and other opportunities;
  • Reduce the impact of transportation on climate change by identifying feasible alternative modes and fuels and innovative ways to reduce vehicle miles traveled;
  • Increase access to surface transportation so that people of all abilities and socioeconomic levels enjoy the same opportunities for learning, living, labor, and leisure; and
  • Optimize passenger and freight movements to improve mobility for people and goods through development of more accurate data models and advanced application of analytical tools.

“It would be difficult to overstate the contribution that the Mineta Transportation Institute has made to advancing our understanding of the far-reaching potential of mobility to effect change in people’s lives,” said Norman Y. Mineta, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation. “Without a doubt, the Mineta Transportation Institute has been a source of personal pride for me.”

MTI Executive Director Dr. Karen Philbrick said that the grant upholds the tremendous contributions MTI and the Consortium partners have made to the nation’s transportation system over the past 25 years. “We are honored to be recognized for our work that addresses the complex nature of today’s mobility challenges, and advances the body of usable transportation knowledge.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation received 212 applications as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act competition. Secretary Anthony Foxx, in his announcement of the winners, said, “Our nation faces unprecedented challenges from population growth, a changing climate, and increasing freight volumes. Universities are at the forefront of identifying solutions, researching critical emerging issues, and ensuring improved access to opportunity for all Americans.”

ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) conducts research, education, and information transfer programs regarding surface transportation policy and management issues, especially related to transit. Congress established MTI in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. MTI won national re-designation competitions in 2002, 2006, 2012, and 2016. The Institute is funded through the US Department of Transportation, the US Department of Homeland Security, the California Department of Transportation, and public and private grants. The internationally respected members of the MTI Board of Trustees represent all major surface transportation modes. MTI, the lead institute for the four-university Mineta National Transportation Research Consortium, is affiliated with San Jose (CA) State University’s Lucas College and Graduate School of Business. Visit transweb.sjsu.edu

Faculty Matter Tip #12: Wrapping Up the Semester

With the exams and Winter Break looming, this is a time when faculty can feel particularly pressed for time. In the spirit of the “A stitch in time saves nine” adage, we offer this last Faculty Matter Teaching Tip for the semester.

Faculty Matter Teaching Tip #12:  Before you wrap up for the semester, leave a trail of breadcrumbs to help you reconstruct how you’d like to modify your courses before you teach them next.

Many of us tend to shove all of our teaching materials aside as soon as we are done submitting students’ grades. The essence of this final Faculty Matter Tip for the semester is that it might be productive to take some time to review the courses we have just wrapped up, and make some notes before moving on to other commitments and activities. Next time you teach the class, what might you want to add, what might you want to delete, what might you want to tweak a little bit, what might you want to change significantly, and what might you want to leave exactly as is because it went really, really well.

As you review your course materials, consider the following:

  • Were there topics that didn’t grab students’ attention as much as you had hoped or expected?
  • Were there concepts that students struggled with more that you had envisioned they might?
  • Were there activities or techniques that required more of your time than warranted, given the student gains you can attribute to them?
  • Did you come across resources that you didn’t have time to draw upon this semester?
  • Have you gotten ideas about things to try next time you teach the class?
  • Were there topics or activities or teaching techniques that really engaged your students or helped them master the material?

We encourage you to make some notes while these observations are still fresh in your mind.  Without this “trail of breadcrumbs” to jog your memory, as you sit down weeks or months from now to “refresh” the course, you may find it frustrating to try to reconstruct what changes you had thought might be fruitful. We also invite you to participate in any of the CFD sessions or workshops starting in January, or to sit down one-on-one with CFD staff, to flesh out your ideas about the changes you would like to make to your courses. In the meantime, please add your own strategies using the comment link below.

Nominate Students for 2017 Research Competition

 SJSU Student Research Competition 2017 and University Student Research Forum

Undergraduate and graduate research students have the opportunity to present their work and compete for selection as SJSU representatives at the annual CSU Student Research Competition at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Applications are made to the appropriate college and each college submits their selections to the Office of Research. Details about the competition follow and can also be found at the following link:  http://www.sjsu.edu/research/student-research-competition/. A PDF copy of this announcement with instructions can be found at: General Description and Information for 2017 Competition.

Timeline

Each college established its own deadline for receipt of the nominations from its faculty, included below.

College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CASA) – Application packets should be submitted to the CASA Dean’s Office, MH 431, by 5 p.m., on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.

Lucas College and Graduate School of Business – Application packets should be submitted to the Business Dean’s Office, BT 950, by 4 p.m., on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.

Connie L. Lurie College of Education – Application packets should be submitted to the Education Dean’s Office, SH 103, by 5 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017.

Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering – Application packets should be submitted to the Engineering Dean’s Office in care of Teresa Mercure, ENG 493, by 4 p.m., on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.

College of Humanities and the Arts – Application packets should be submitted to the Humanities and the Arts Dean’s Office, WSQ 120, by 5 p.m., on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017.

College of Science – Application packets should be submitted to the Science Dean’s Office, SCI 127, by 4 p.m., on Monday, Feb. 6, 2017.

College of Social Sciences – Application packets should be submitted to the Social Sciences Dean’s Office, WSQ 103, by 5 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 10, 2017.

Feb. 20, 2017 – Colleges send electronic copy of completed student delegate registration form and 5-page summary for each student to gilles.muller@sjsu.edu or deliver a hard copy to the Office of Research (ADM 223B). Student teams must submit individual registration forms for each one of its members.

March 1 and 2, 2017 – Student presentation of research and subsequent selection of SJSU finalists.

March 17, 2017 – SJSU Office of Research submits SJSU finalist list to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

April 28 and April 29, 2017 – CSU Student Research Competition at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Application

The student registration form for nomination of students from each college to participate in the SJSU Student Research Competition can be found at the following link: Application Form for 2017 Competition. Attach this registration form to a written summary of the research. The rules governing the written summary are as follows:

–  The summary must include the names(s) of the student(s) and the title of the presentation.

–  The narrative may not exceed five double-spaced pages.  Use fonts and margins that ensure legibility.

–  Appendices (bibliography, graphs, photographs, or other supplementary materials) may not exceed three pages.

–  Research that has human or animal subjects involvement must have appropriate institutional review.

Each college may send forward a total of FOUR student projects (undergraduate and/or graduate) representing outstanding research or creative activity. Students eligible to compete at SJSU and at the CSU-wide competition at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, are undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled or those who graduated in May 2016, August 2016 or December 2016. The research presented should be appropriate to the student’s discipline and career goals. Proprietary research is excluded.

Divisions of Competition

Divisions of competition have been defined by CSU-wide procedures and the CSU-defined divisions are indicated below:

Group A                                                                    Group B                                                                

Behavioral and Social Sciences                                  Biological and Agricultural Sciences

Business, Economics, and Public Administration         Engineering and Computer Science

Creative Arts and Design*                                           Health, Nutrition, and Clinical Sciences

Education                                                                 Physical and Mathematical Sciences

Humanities and Letters

Interdisciplinary Majors

*Creative projects are welcome, see SJSU Oral Presentation section for more information.

SJSU Oral Presentation

Student research will be presented on March 1 and 2, 2017, from 1:30 to 6 p.m. (or as the number of eligible participants dictate) in IRC 101. This event is not open to the public. See the Open House Celebration section for the event open to the campus constituency. Students in Group B will make their presentations on March 1; those in Group A will present on March 2. Each student or multi-student group will have 10 minutes to present her or his research orally and five minutes to listen and respond to juror and audience questions. Students are encouraged to use delivery techniques that promote interaction with the audience. All entrants may use audio visual materials as appropriate. An entrant in the Creative Arts and Design category may present an audio and/or visual record of a performance s/he has given or a work s/he created; the oral presentation should focus on the rationale and historical context underlying the student’s interpretation of the material. Successful students in previous years often have been those who practiced with their advisors or other faculty and students. It is expected that students will not make oral presentations by simply reading directly from their research summaries.

Research Summary and Oral Presentation Evaluation Criteria

The University Graduate Studies & Research Committee will evaluate the research summary and the oral presentation to identify finalists for the CSU-wide competition using the same evaluation criteria that will be used in the CSU-wide competition. The evaluation criteria are as follows:

– Clarity of purpose

– Appropriateness of methodology

– Interpretation of results

– Value of the research or creative activity

– Ability of presenter to articulate the research or creative activity

– Organization of the material presented

– Presenter’s ability to handle questions from the jury and general audience.

After the event, Associate Dean Gilles Muller in the Office of Research can provide feedback to each student (or each group) on her/his presentation if requested.

Open House Celebration

The 38th SJSU Annual University Research Forum sponsored by the SJSU Research Foundation and the Office of Research will be held on Wednesday, April 5, 2017, in Engineering 285/287. Refreshments will be served. The Forum will be a celebration for students who have been selected to represent San José State University at the 31st Annual CSU Student Research Competition. At this event, SJSU finalists will receive a small monetary award that can be used to defray students’ basic travel expenses to the CSU statewide competition. Finalists in a multi-student research group have the one monetary award amount split equally between all group members. The Forum will also recognize the faculty mentors of selected students by the presentation of Distinguished Faculty Mentor awards. At the Forum, finalists will be available to discuss their research at a poster session; family and friends are invited to attend.

CSU Statewide Competition

The 31st Annual CSU Student Research Competition will be held April 28 and 29, 2017, at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The competition is held to promote excellence in undergraduate and graduate scholarly research and creative activity by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments throughout the twenty-three campuses of the California State University. Evaluation criteria to be used is the same as the evaluation criteria shown above except the jurors will be comprised of experts from corporations, foundations, public agencies, and colleges and universities in California. There will be separate undergraduate and graduate divisions for each category (listed in Divisions of Competition section) unless a division has four or fewer entrants, in which case undergraduate and graduate divisions may be combined. The California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, steering committee reserves the right to combine or subdivide the categories or to move an entrant from one category to another, as numbers of submissions necessitate. Based on the recommendations of the jurors, cash awards will be provided to the outstanding presenter and the runner-up in both the undergraduate and graduate divisions of each category. If the undergraduate and graduate divisions of a category have been combined because there are fewer than four presenters in one division, awards will be provided to the outstanding presenter and the runner-up without regard to class standing. In the event there are five or fewer presenters in a session, only the outstanding presenter will receive an award.

If you have questions about the SJSU Student Research Competition, please contact the Office of Research in care of Gilles Muller at 408-924-2632 or gilles.muller@sjsu.edu. For any matters related to the Forum, please contact the SJSU Research Foundation in care of Brenda Swann at 408-924-1414 or brenda.swann@sjsu.edu.

San Jose’s “Open Streets” Event Gets People Biking and Walking

San Jose’s “open streets” event succeeds at getting people out to bike and walk, independent study finds

Nearly 75% of survey respondents got more than 60 minutes of physical activity during the event

Open streets initiatives close streets temporarily to vehicle traffic so that people can use the street for walking, biking, dancing, socializing and other non-motorized forms of activity. The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) just released results from an independent survey conducted at San Jose’s second annual open streets event, Viva CalleSJ. The results are reported in A Survey of Viva CalleSJ Participants – San José, California 2016. Researchers found that the event attracted a diverse set of participants and that most got at least an hour of physical activity during the event.

San Jose closed six miles of streets on Sept. 18, 2016, for Viva CalleSJ. An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets, nearly three times the number who attended the first Viva CalleSJ event in 2015. The event offered a wide range of activities, such as yoga, Zumba, soccer in the streets, music and dance performances, and live mural painting. There were also food trucks and other vendors.

The survey, a single-page, self-administered questionnaire available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, was designed by MTI researchers to evaluate the event’s success and provide a comparison to a similar survey conducted in 2015. A total of 318 surveys were collected from a diverse set of participants. Some key findings include:

  • People learned about the event in a variety of ways including word of mouth (41%), social media (33%), and flyers/posters (20%);
  • The most popular way to access the event was by bicycle (51%), although nearly one-third came by motorized vehicle;
  • The most popular organized activity along the route was watching entertainment (65%);
  • Most respondents expected to spend money at the event, with 39% expecting to spend more than $20.

According to Dr. Asha Weinstein Agrawal, one of the report’s authors, “surveying at events such as Viva CalleSJ can be challenging because of the crowds and difficulty obtaining a truly random sample.” Planners for future events may want to consider alternative methods of surveying participants, such as online surveys.

Tweet this: MTI research shows that open streets events like #vivacallesj get people moving http://transweb.sjsu.edu/project/1628.html

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Asha Weinstein Agrawal, PhD, and Hilary Nixon, PhD, are professors of urban and regional planning at San José State University.

ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI) conducts research, education, and information transfer programs regarding surface transportation policy and management issues, especially related to transit. Congress established MTI in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. MTI won national re-designation competitions in 2002, 2006 and 2012. The Institute is funded through the US Department of Transportation, the US Department of Homeland Security, the California Department of Transportation, and public and private grants. The internationally respected members of the MTI Board of Trustees represent all major surface transportation modes. MTI, the lead institute for the nine-university Mineta National Transit Research Consortium, is affiliated with San Jose (CA) State University’s Lucas College and Graduate School of Business. Visit transweb.sjsu.edu

Faculty Matter Tip #11: Encouraging Students to Engage in Each Others’ Presentations

In many courses, considerable portions of class sessions during the final weeks of the semester are devoted to student presentations. These assignments – and the preparation that goes into them – provide valuable opportunities for students to delve into topics of particular interest, to develop important public speaking skills as they plan and execute a formal presentation, and to collaborate with fellow students when they need to work as a team. Most students become fairly enthusiastic about the material they get to explore so deeply. One of the challenges for faculty, however, is to ensure that students be as engaged in (and reap benefits from) their classmates’ presentations.

A common strategy is to simply hold students accountable for the information contained in the presentations on the final exam. Below, are a few additional suggestions that are designed to prompt students to more intentionally make connections between the content of the presentations and ideas that have been of interest to them throughout the course.

BEFORE the presentations

Have each student create and share a brief summary of their upcoming presentation (one paragraph in length or so). Have students then formulate one or two questions about several other students’ topics, based on the summaries. This can be done online (using the discussion features of Canvas) or in class (as a gallery walk where each student prints out their summary and the class then circulates, reads the summaries, and writes their questions on sticky notes which are placed adjacent to the summaries). If it is feasible, presenters can address some of these questions in their actual presentations.

If time permits, facilitate opportunities for students to work in groups of three to four to rehearse their presentations with each other. Once students serve as “audiences” for each other have them probe linkages among their topics, or between topics and issues raised in the course more generally.

THE DAY OF the presentations

Allow time after each presentation for brief question and answer session to clarify any points of confusion. Encourage students to note how what they have just heard aligns with something they have discovered, as a result of the research they did for their own presentation.

Allocate a few minutes near the end of class periods for small-group discussion of the day’s presentations. Have one student in each group record the essence of the conversation. Provide prompts, as you deem useful (what was interesting/surprising; link to their own topics or to course themes; etc…)

Have students create worksheets or quizzes for other students to complete during their presentation. Students can compare and discuss answers after the presentation.

AFTER the presentations

Have students post comments about several of their classmates’ presentations (using the discussion features of Canvas). Provide prompts as you deem useful (what was interesting/surprising; link to their own topics or to course themes; etc…)

If students will be submitting a paper based on their presentation, have them include a section where they explicitly address a connection between what they have studied in depth and one or more of their classmates’ presentations.

Please add your own strategies using the comment link below.