Community Collaboration: Chancellor Jones Visits ATREL
5/1/2019
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Such an innovative hub requires meticulous planning from many key stakeholders.
ICT’s proposed Illinois Automated and Connected Track ― a high-speed connected and autonomous freight and multimodal mobility track on Rantoul’s decommissioned Chanute Air Force Base ― requires a similar meeting of the minds.
UIUC faculty and community leaders meet to discuss the future of transportation in Rantoul.
[cr][lf]Those conversations started in February, when University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Chancellor Robert Jones and Rantoul Mayor Chuck Smith joined UIUC faculty and administration, ICT, U.S. Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL), Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, and the Village of Rantoul in a collaborative effort to meet and explore potential areas of mutual interest related to the Smart Transportation Infrastructure Initiative (STII).
The collaboration began with lunch at ICT’s Advanced Transportation Research and Engineering Laboratory (ATREL) in Rantoul, where participants spent time networking.
Smith opened the meeting with a presentation focused on Rantoul’s economic history, expanding into future plans of innovation and leadership. Smith was excited about the collaboration among ICT, Rantoul, CERL, and UIUC’s Grainger College of Engineering.
Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer followed with a presentation on the past, present, and future of Rantoul, focusing on the aim to transform Rantoul into a transportation technological hub.
ICT Director Imad Al-Qadi presented an overview of ICT and introduced STII. The exciting initiative began a year ago as a remarkable partnership among academia, including UIUC, University of Illinois Chicago, and Northwestern University; industry, including the Illinois Automated Vehicle Association; and government, including the Illinois Department of Transportation.
“ICT will be the umbrella that bring together a significant number of faculty who are independently involved in various transportation research efforts,” Al-Qadi said.
He also presented the plans for the future Illinois Automated and Connected Track (I-ACT).
Chancellor Jones said, “I am pleasantly surprised of the magnitude and impact of the research at ICT and equally excited about the visionary plans of the Illinois Automated and Connected Track and working with Village of Rantoul.”
ICT research students treated guests to a tour of ATREL’s state of the art facilities. Each student presented research to guests at individual stations. Following the ATREL tour, ICT Senior Research Engineer Greg Renshaw led a tour of the Accelerated Transportation Loading Assembly (ATLAS).
ATLAS evaluates full-scale pavements by subjecting them to real-life traffic and environmental conditions in much shorter time. It can simulate 20 years in two months. After the full lab tour, Rantoul Airport Director, Eric Vences, administered a property tour via coach showing the future site of I-ACT.
The purpose of this collaborative session was to discuss STII, explore possible building sites, and elicit community excitement about the future of transportation.
Following the tour, UIUC Dean Rashid Bashir moderated a Q&A session. Bashir said that STII is an important area for the Grainger College of Engineering.
“We want to expand our footprint in transitional research as this area is growing,” he said.
CERL Deputy Director Kirankumar Topudurti shared his excitement to “strengthen the relationship between ICT and CERL.”
He mentioned that close proximity to this facility allows greater opportunity to build new ideas, partner, and generate new funding.
“Integrating with CERL offers new partnerships and chances to grow the pie,” he said.
As for the project’s vision and scope, Chancellor Jones said, “This University never ceases to amaze me. It appears we are poised to take advantage of some opportunities.”
He concluded that ICT and STII are critical portions of this vision moving forward.
Participants included:
- Robert Jones, Chancellor, UIUC
- Rashid Bashir, Dean, College of Engineering, UIUC
- Liang Liu, Associate Dean of Facilities, College of Engineering, UIUC
- Pradeep Khanna, Associate Vice Chancellor for Corporate Relations and
Economic Development, UIUC - Laura Frerichs, Director, Research Park and Director, Economic Development, UIUC
- Carly McCrory, Executive Director, Champaign County Economic Development Corporation
- Bob Flider, Director, Community and Government Relations, UIUC
- Mohamed Attalla, Director, Facilities and Services, UIUC
- Imad Al-Qadi, Director, Illinois Center for Transportation, UIUC
- Jeff Roesler, Professor, Associate Head for Graduate Affairs, UIUC
- Hasan Ozer, Research Assistant Professor, Illinois Center for Transportation
- Kristi Anderson, Senior Financial Operations Manager, Illinois Center for Transportation, UIUC
- Yanfeng Ouyang, Professor, UIUC
- Chuck Smith, Mayor, Village of Rantoul
- Scott Eisenhauer, Village of Rantoul Administrator
- Greg Hazel, Director, Rantoul Public Works
- Jacob McCoy, Deputy Director, Rantoul Public Works
- Eric Vences, Airport Director, Rantoul
- Mike Royse, Center for Community Adaptation
- Rick Snider, Former Administrator, Champaign County
- Kirankumar Topudurti, Deputy Director, US Army Construction Engineering
Research Laboratory (CERL)