MIT-Portugal Program (MPP): Transportation Systems

The overarching focus of the MIT Portugal Program (MPP) Transportation Systems focus area is the design of complex, large-scale systems that have major societal impact and provide opportunities for sustainable economic development. The mission of the educational program of the Transportation Systems focus area is the development of a cadre of transportation researchers and professionals in Portugal who are trained at the system level in the design and management of a technology-intensive, intermodal transportation system.

In addition, the Transportation Systems focus area aims to establish a collaborative, in-depth research program, building from the comparative advantage of the universities and researchers involved.

Furthermore, the Transportation Systems focus area will pursue research links with the other MIT Portugal Program focus areas and anchor program activities. In this respect, Transportation Systems has important and logical links to the work of the Sustainable Energy Systems focus area, since transportation is a major energy consuming sector and the single largest consumer of petroleum. Research links will also be pursued with the Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing focus area, due to related areas of interest including, for example, supply-chain management and automotive industry manufacturing. Finally, research links to anchor program activities will be developed, in areas such as network management and resilience, the "green car," and carbon-efficient supply chains.

A coherent and integrated research agenda has been organized around strong inter-university partnerships in four areas of research – transportation systems integration, intelligent transportation systems, airport and airline systems, and high speed rail.

The research agenda has been explicitly designed to:

(*) capitalize on the relative strengths of each of the partner universities and create a truly integrated and cooperative intra-Portugal and trans-Atlantic program of related projects;
(*) focus on research themes of high relevance in the contemporary transportation systems agenda worldwide, with a specific focus on applicability;
(*) develop, refine and employ state-of-the-art analytical techniques and technologies; and,
(*) engage existing national and international experts while simultaneously creating the next generation of experts in transportation systems.

The research work will be undertaken not only collaboratively across the participating universities, but will also involve the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC), and key industriesand agencies, such as infrastructure managers, operators of the various modes, and multiple technological support companies.