UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies: A Comprehensive Overview

The UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) is a leading transportation policy research center in the United States. It supports and advances cutting-edge research, provides high-quality education, and promotes meaningful and influential civic engagement on pressing transportation issues. These issues affect cities, the state, the nation, and the world.

A Hub for Transportation Research and Education

UCLA has been a leader in transportation research and education for over a century. The Institute is a non-endowed research center housed in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. ITS faculty, staff, and students regularly collaborate with and receive support from the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies.

Rankings and Recognition

UCLA's urban planning department has been ranked first in the nation by Planetizen. This recognition is due in no small part to the university’s transportation planning program and ITS support of transportation faculty and students.

Financial Support for Students

Since its inception in 1993, ITS has supported hundreds of UCLA transportation students with more than $6 million in scholarship funds. This financial support enables students to pursue their academic and professional goals in transportation.

Alumni Success

UCLA transportation graduates hold positions at the highest levels of policy, planning, and academia. This demonstrates the quality of education and research opportunities provided by ITS.

Key Initiatives and Programs

UCLA ITS actively links transportation research with policy and planning practice through various initiatives and programs.

UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium

Since 1991, UCLA ITS has convened the annual UCLA Lake Arrowhead Symposium on Transportation - Land Use - Environment. This symposium brings together leading scholars with top policy and planning practitioners from around the globe for a three-day retreat in the San Bernardino Mountains. The symposium dives into pressing transportation issues by focusing on both causes and solutions.

UCLA Center for Parking Policy

UCLA ITS is also home to the UCLA Center for Parking Policy. The center focuses on parking policy. Parking is a misunderstood link between transportation and land use. The Center was officially launched last week.

Research Focus Areas

ITS scholars approach much of their research through the lens of transportation equity. They study how travel behavior, infrastructure development, and the environmental impacts of transportation impact low-income residents and communities of color. ITS also conducts research in the following areas:

Transportation Finance

From gas taxes to congestion pricing, transportation finance is often controversial. ITS researchers explore various aspects of transportation finance to identify sustainable and equitable funding mechanisms.

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Public Transit

California is counting on public transit to help meet its ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion. Yet despite large public investments in bus and rail service, the state’s transit ridership is on the decline. ITS investigates ways to improve public transit systems and increase ridership.

Innovative Mobility

The New Mobility program considers the intersection of travel behavior, economics, engineering, regulation, and infrastructure as technology and business forces lead to new mobility options. These options include ride-hailing, automated and connected vehicles, and micromobility.

Traffic Congestion

There is no better place to study traffic congestion than Southern California. In the famously gridlocked region, traffic is directly tied to development patterns and growth. ITS researchers analyze traffic congestion and develop strategies to mitigate its impact.

Climate Change

Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gases in California and the fastest-growing source of emissions worldwide. Yet climate policies to date have often had disappointing results, and the sector has proven stubbornly resistant to decarbonization. ITS scholars work to find transportation solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Core Operations Team

UCLA ITS’ work is guided by a core operations team of faculty, researchers, and staff.

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Adam Millard-Ball

Adam Millard-Ball is a professor of urban planning in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His research and teaching are about transportation, the environment, and urban data science. Trained as an economist, a geographer, and an urban planner, he analyzes the environmental consequences of transportation and land-use decisions, and the effectiveness of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Juan Matute

Juan Matute, Deputy Director of the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), leads research initiatives that bridge the gap between academic inquiry and practical transportation decision-making. At UCLA ITS, Juan spearheads research projects that delve into public transit, transportation finance, and governance. Juan’s dedication to public service extends beyond UCLA. He actively serves on various state, regional, and city committees, contributing his expertise to initiatives such as the Transit Transformation Task Force, Open Data/Big Data - Smart, and Connected SCAG Region Committee. Juan’s passion for transportation extends to the classroom, where he has taught numerous courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels at UCLA. Juan holds an MBA and Urban Planning MA from UCLA and a BA from Pomona College.

Adonia E. Lugo

Cultural anthropologist Adonia E. Lugo was born and raised in traditional and unceded Acjachemen territory and now lives and works in traditional and unceded Tongva territory in Los Angeles. Adonia began investigating transportation, race, and space during her graduate studies at UC Irvine, when she co-created the Los Angeles open street event CicLAvia and the organization today known as People for Mobility Justice.

Other Team Members

Claudia: Claudia brings extensive experience running communications programs for other university-based research centers, including most recently the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access, and UC/ACCORD, an all-UC campus research consortium. Claudia has also worked as a development officer for a Hollywood-based community mental health agency and a newspaper reporter in the Inland Empire.
Hao Ding: Hao Ding is a postdoctoral scholar at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His research interests include the equity and justice impacts of urban design regulations, the interaction between urban form and transportation, and transportation equity.
Georgiana: Georgiana is the Events and Operations Coordinator for the Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and Institute for Transportation Studies. In her role she oversees event logistics, planning, and execution for both centers. Additionally, she coordinates day-to-day business and purchasing operations. Prior to joining the Lewis Center/ITS, Georgiana served as the community engagement and logistics coordinator at the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, based at UC Davis. Georgiana brings experience in academic event management and research institute financial administration at the UC level. She received a bachelors degree in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley.
Ellen Schwartz: Ellen Schwartz manages the UCLA Center for Parking Policy. After reading The High Cost of Free Parking, Ellen was captivated by the connections between parking and health, housing, equity, and sustainability, and inspired to pursue graduate studies and a career in parking policy. Before joining ITS, Ellen worked as a Curb, Mobility, and Parking Planner at Walker Consultants, where she advised public sector clients on transportation and land use plans, including parking management frameworks and development review policies.
Jacob Wasserman: Jacob Wasserman studies and manages research on public transit, the intersection of transportation and other social issues, and a range of mobility questions at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. Prior to joining ITS, he worked for the Cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Haven on capital planning, vehicle miles traveled development review thresholds, budget process improvements, and active transportation. Wasserman has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, with concentrations in transportation policy and planning and in community economic development and housing, in the housing stream.
Whitney: Whitney coordinates events and manages the center’s daily business and personnel operations including the student fellowships and grants. Prior to joining ITS, Whitney was the program manager for the Center for Collaborative Education’s Los Angeles (CCE). During her time at CCE, she managed the program and administrative efforts of the Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency Program and the Los Angeles New Administrators Leadership Program. She also supported the recruitment and communications efforts of both programs. Whitney’s passion is community development. She has volunteered as a math and science tutor in numerous childcare centers and mentoring programs. She has also spent time as a volunteer in many educational nonprofits such as the Casa Heiwa Angelina Mentorship Program, the Center for Powerful Public Schools, and the Angel Tree Foundation.
Tamika L. Butler: Tamika L. Butler (she/her/they/them) is a student researcher at ITS. She is a national expert and speaker on issues related to the built environment, equity, anti-racism, organizational behavior, and change management. As the Founder of Tamika L. Butler Consulting, she focuses on shining a light on inequality, inequity, and social injustice. Previously, she was the Director of Planning, California and the Director of Equity and Inclusion at Toole Design. Tamika served as the Executive Director of the LA Neighborhood Land Trust and LA County Bicycle Coalition. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Urban Planning. Tamika received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, and received B.S.
Jordan: Jordan is a current Master of Urban and Regional Planning student at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is excited to be supporting the Institute of Transportation Studies as a Communications Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year. Jordan is arriving to UCLA with 4+ years of community-based planning experience with a specialty in Safe Routes to Schools policies and programming.
Madi Hamilton: Madi Hamilton is in her second year as a Master of Urban and Regional Planning student. She is interested in mobility justice involving public transit and active transportation and the relationship between transportation infrastructure and affordable housing.
Yu Hong Hwang: Yu Hong Hwang is a PhD student in urban planning and a research data analyst with the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. He is interested in the intersection of transportation engineering, planning, and policy, especially at the misalignment between engineering practice and planning and policy goals.
Andres F. Ramirez: Andres F. Ramirez is a doctoral candidate in urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research explores the entanglements of property, Indigenous urbanism and insurgent planning in the global South, with a particular emphasis in his country of birth, Colombia.
Sam Speroni: Sam Speroni is a doctoral student in the UCLA Department of Urban Planning and a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies. His primary research interests lie in travel behavior, transportation finance, and school transportation, all with a focus on advancing equity.
Tat Srisan: Tat Srisan is a doctoral student from the UCLA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His interests lie in transportation equity, supporting disadvantaged communities and developing areas, analyzing travel behavior, and connecting travel demand modeling with practitioners and policymakers.
Madeline Wander: Madeline Wander is a UCLA Urban Planning doctoral student and a UCLA ITS graduate student researcher whose research examines transportation disparities and justice amidst the changing geography of low-income communities of color from cities to suburbs. Madeline holds a BA in Urban and Environmental Policy from Occidental College and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA. She sits on the Board of Directors of the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she was a Senior Data Analyst at the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (now USC Equity Research Institute).

Academic Programs

While UCLA ITS does not admit students to UCLA, it supports and works with students while they are here. ITS supports students in the following programs:

Master of Public Policy (MPP)

This two-year, full-time program is for students interested in careers in transportation policy. While there is no formally defined MPP concentration in transportation, students can work with Luskin School transportation faculty in crafting a transportation-focused MPP program drawing on the large array of Luskin transportation course offerings.

Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP)

UCLA’s most popular two-year, full-time program for students interested in transportation. It emphasizes both transportation planning and policy, as well as its intersections with land use, housing, urban design, economic development, and other planning sectors.

Ph.D. in Urban Planning

Four- to five-year program for those interested in careers in transportation research in consulting, government, and advocacy, as well as research and teaching in university settings.

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Transportation Concentration)

The UCLA Civil Engineering PhD program (transportation concentration) focuses on new mobility and infrastructure technologies and systems and the intersection of travel behavior, economics, engineering, regulation, and infrastructure.

Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Engineering

Four- to five-year interdisciplinary program on environmental sustainability for students interested in physical sciences and transportation. Students are eligible for UCLA ITS fellowship aid if pursuing a transportation course of study and coming to the program with a transportation faculty member as an advisor.

Course Offerings

ITS also has enhanced the curriculum by regularly funding special topics courses in transportation studies. Examples of courses include:

Parking is a misunderstood link between transportation and land use. Transportation engineers typically assume that free parking simply is there at end of most trips, while urban planners treat parking as transportation issues that engineers must study.
This course is an examination of equity issues related to urban transportation, with a focus on the complex relationships among urban spatial structure, transportation (travel patterns and transportation investments), and economic outcomes.
Walking and bicycling are essential components of sustainable transportation systems. In response to growing concerns about access, safety, public health, equity, climate change and community sustainability issues, many government agencies and private developers are planning to improve pedestrian and bicycle transportation.
Applications of traffic safety improvements, highway capacity analyses, signal design and timing, Intelligent Transportation Systems concepts, and traffic interface with railroads, urban transit, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
Introduction to basic elements of intelligent transportation systems (ITS), focusing on technological, systems, and institutional aspects.

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