Fabulous Launch of Forecasting Urban Travel Book at Northwestern University

I arrived today from Chicago, after taking part yesterday in the launch of the new book, "Forecasting Urban Travel,"  co-authored by Professors David Boyce and Huw Williams, and recently published by Edward Elgar.

The event took place at the Northwestern University library in the stunning Ver Steeg Faculty Lounge. The wonderful master of ceremonies was Professor Hani S. Mahmassani, who is the Director of Northwestern's Transportation Center.

I had the great honor of being one of the three panelists. When I received the invitation, I had to say "yes!" David Boyce I respect tremendously. He has been a mentor and dear friend for many years. He is an INFORMS Fellow, an RSAI Fellow, and a recipient of the Robert Herman Lifetime Achievement Award in Transportation Science.  I have been with David at numerous conferences and professional events in the US, Canada, Sweden, and even Russia.

The day began with a luncheon at the Norris University Center in a room with the spectacular views below (including one of the new Kellogg Business School Building under construction).

The below photos were taken at the luncheon and Professor Huw Williams had traveled from Wales with his wife for this special event.

The Ver Steeg Room is gorgeous, complete with an oil painting and was the perfect venue to celebrate the publication of this book, which, in my remarks, I called a masterpiece of scholarship.

Professor Hani S. Mahmassani welcomed the attendees and congratulated the authors.

The Dean of Libraries and the Transportation Librarian had opening remarks at the book launch. Below they are standing with Professor David Boyce.

Then it was time for Professors Boyce and Williams to highlight the contributions in their over 600 page magnum opus. Boyce and Williams did a terrific job, each describing the specific chapters that he was responsible for.  I had read and reread the book and enjoyed very much hearing from the authors their intellectual  journey that resulted in the book's publication. According to Boyce, the genesis took place in Williams' garden in Cardiff, Wales, in 2003, when Boyce visited him, after they had completed a paper on forecasting urban travel, from both US and UK perspectives. Huw said to David that the paper should be expanded into a book. Much of the work over a ten year span took place collaboratively over the Internet.

After the highlights of the 12 chapters had been presented we had a break and then it was time for the panelists. I enjoyed the mix of academics with a practitioner. Professor Ram Pendyala of Georgia Tech and Kermit Wies, former Deputy Executive Director, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, were my fellow panelists.

Below is a photo of the authors and panelists with Professor Mahmassani.

 My full presentation can be viewed here.  One of my favorites chapters in the book is Chapter 7 on Transportation Network Equilibrium.

The Q&A part was terrific with questions ranging from which was our favorite travel forecasting software, to questions about freight transportation, to issues surrounding acquisition of data.
 
Then it was time for a reception. The crabcakes were delicious and I had had some just the previous Friday at Legal Seafoods in Boston where I spoke at the ACEC conference.

The discussions at the reception were absolutely delightful and it was great to meet Professor Ken Small and to see Professor Marco Nie again, and even Paul Slater.

In my remarks,  I emphasized the deep scholarship behind this book and the history of the field. Also, in reading it, I remembered so many contributors so it was quite a  nostalgic walk down Memory Lane.  Boyce has always been one who welcomed new researchers into the field and has tirelessly guided and nurtured scholars, building bridges with practice. The following collage, which I included in my presentation emphasized the importance of people in the forecasting urban travel field and, I might add, the great friendships that have been made over the years. My dissertation advisor at Brown University, Dr. Stella Dafermos, is in the top left corner photo. She was the second female PhD in Operations Research in the world. Many in the photo collage below are noted in the book. Over 100 people reviewed chapters in the book.

The book takes on on a trip of 60 years over space and time. It already is a classic.

The paperback version should be available in 2016 Boyce told us.

We ended the perfect day with a delicious dinner, hosted by Hani S. Mahmassani at the Stained Glass restaurant  in Evanston.  The photo below taken by a waiter did not come out well but the memories will stay with us for forever.

The dessert (3 types of creme brulee was even better than it looks below!)

Many thanks to Boyce and Williams for a book that will be read by future generations of students, faculty, and transportation practitioners as well, I am sure, urban planners. Thank you also for helping to build such a special community!

Finally, congratulations!!!!

For the Love of Networks

When the invitation came from Dr. Adilson Motter to speak at the 2013 Network Frontier Workshop that he was organizing at Northwestern University I was very intrigued, even though the workshop was to take place in early December. Since I live (most of the time) in Massachusetts, I have experience with cold weather but, for some reason, that cold on Lake Michigan is quite unique.

But, since I love researching networks and teaching about the subject and find it one of the most powerful of scientific topics in bridging disciplines, of course, I said "yes!"

This workshop, which was a huge success, and I am still savoring the talks and discussions as well as the people that I met, was a three-day event, that took place last week, December 4-6, highlighting leading-edge research on complex networks. According to the workshop website: Participants working on innovative aspects of complex systems will communicate recent results and ideas relevant to fields as diverse as brain, climate, and socio-technological research. Sessions will include theory and applications of nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics in the context of synchronization, cascades, transportation, control, and failure recovery in complex dynamical systems.

The program, which featured talks on applications ranging from climate science to brain physiology and envisioning the future Internet (my topic) can be downloaded here.  The list of invited speakers can be viewed here.  Invited speakers were from the US, Europe, and Asia, and one industrialist told me that he flew in from China just to hear me speak. I hope that I did not disappoint.

I loved the applications described as well as the methodologies, which included innovations in dynamical systems and control theory applied to networks.

Thanks to Dr. Motter  and his team at the Northwestern Institute for Complex Systems (NICO) for putting this great workshop together. You succeeded in bringing researchers, practitioners, and students together to Evanston in December for the love of networks!

Below are some photos that I managed to take even though, honestly, my digital camera seemed to freeze (although I had charged it before flying out to Chicago).

The lunches and refreshments were delicious!

And, today, UMass Amherst has delayed its opening until noon because of the inclement weather but since we are interviewing a candidate for a faculty position, I will be going in. This afternoon, we are having our annual Isenberg Reindeer Seminar in the Isenberg School of Management atrium, which is a holiday party but first there will be a Personnel Committee meeting to attend. Never a dull moment in academia!

Information on the Network Frontier Workshop at Northwestern University

Nothing is cooler or more fascinating than Networks!

When I received the invitation from Professor Motter of Northwestern University to speak at the upcoming 2013 Network Frontier Workshop, I had to accept. 

Professor Motter recently received the Erdos-Renyi Prize in Network Science, so congratulations are also in order!

I like the workshop poster and am featuring it above to generate more interest.  The website is now live.


For all of you who love the interdisciplinary unifying power of networks, I hope that you can join us!

The below from the poster announcement is captivating!

The Network Frontier Workshop 2013  is a three-day event highlighting leading-edge research on complex networks. Participants working on innovative aspects of complex systems will communicate recent results and ideas relevant to fields as diverse as brain, climate, and socio-technological research. Sessions will include theory and applications of nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics in the context of synchronization, cascades, transportation, control, and failure recovery in complex dynamical systems.

The Transportation Network Design Symposium is this Friday and Admission is Free!

I am delighted to be able to take part in the upcoming Symposium on Transportation Network Design and Economics that will take place this Friday at Northwestern University. Information is below. Professor David E. Boyce, along with Professor Hani S. Mahmassani, have made this symposium possible and I thank them.

Symposium on Transportation Network Design and Economics
January 29, 2010
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

On the occasion of the visit of Professor Martin Beckmann to Northwestern University, a one-day symposium has been organized for January 29, 2010, on topics related to his seminal work on transportation network equilibrium and efficiency theory.

In Part I of his 1956 book, Studies in the Economics of Transportation, co-authored with C. Bartlett McGuire [1925-2006] and Christopher B. Winsten [1923-2005], Martin Beckmann established basic principles for user behavior on congested transportation networks, as well as for optimal network vehicle flows, when user choices are respectively uncoordinated or coordinated. Beckmann’s contribution launched the new subfield of transportation network economics. Two ongoing international symposia (ISTTT and TRISTAN), the founding of three international transportation journals in 1967, 12 books and two academic handbooks may be traced to Beckmann’s pioneering contribution. Today, Beckmann’s findings are being applied to many congested economic network questions, not only to predict road traffic and public transit flows and to establish road tolls in cities around the world, but also to describe and route telecommunication flows on the Internet, and to price electric power transmissions through generation and distribution networks with many intermediaries and decision-makers.

The Symposium on January 29, 2010, will bring together several leading academic researchers to address some of the implications of Beckmann’s contribution for unsolved problems. One focus of the discussion will be the design of transportation and similar networks (communication, electric power, the Internet). Although network design has been explored formally and informally over the past 60 years, operational design methods have yet to be regularly applied in the planning of large-scale transportation systems by public agencies or private firms. A second focus of the symposium concerns decision making about the pricing, expansion, operation or maintenance of such public and private systems.

In addition to several Northwestern University faculty associated with the Transportation Center, speakers and panelists, according to the official announcement, will include:

* Anna Nagurney, John F. Smith Memorial Professor, Department of Finance and Operations Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
* T. John Kim, Endowed Professor of Urban and Regional Systems, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
* John F. McDonald, Gerald W. Fogelson Distinguished Chair in Real Estate, Roosevelt University, Chicago
* Yanfeng Ouyang, Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Download the agenda here.

The Symposium is open to all interested persons - there is no fee to attend!

Please register online or by contacting
Diana Marek:
d-marek@northwestern.edu
847.491.2280

LOCATION
Transportation Center
Ruan Conference Center
Northwestern University
Chambers Hall
600 Foster St., Lower Level
Evanston, IL 60208

Professor Martin Beckmann's 1956 book, Studies in the Economics of Transportation, is available online here. The Web of Science recently showed 527 citations of this book. Of these, 277 citations (53%) appeared since January 2000, illustrating the significance of this work today. The citing authors represented 39 countries throughout the world.

Symposium on Transportation Network Design and Economics

On January 29, 2010, the Symposium on Transportation Network Design and Economics will take place at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. This symposium has been organized by Professors David E. Boyce and Hani S. Mahmassani to honor and celebrate the visit of Professor Martin Beckmann to Northwestern. The symposium program is now available.

Professor Beckmann is the only living author of the classic book, Studies in the Economics of Transportation, published in 1956 by Yale University Press, and co-authored with Bart McGuire and Chris Winsten. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of this classic book, in 2005, we organized several sessions at the San Francisco INFORMS meeting and both Beckmann, and McGuire (who died two months after), came to the sessions and took part in the festivities. Please click here for those talks and many photos as well as for a link to the classic book, which is now available online.

Professor Beckmann was on my doctoral dissertation committee at Brown University, which was chaired by Professor Stella Dafermos, and I remember so well the question that he asked after my defense plus the party that I gave in Barus and Holley (that well-known engineering and physics building at Brown) afterwards. Beckmann, a true cosmopolitan and lover of travel and terrific food, especially enjoyed the European tortes that I had prepared for the occasion (although we were quite poor grad students at that time and did not have all the right utensils for slicing). He took advantage of a plastic spatula to do the job.

Professor Beckmann, I hear, will be traveling by train to Northwestern, from Providence, Rhode Island, and the day before the symposium, will be speaking on his reflections of the classic book (BMW).

Boyce, Mahmassani, and I wrote a journal article on the impacts of BMW, which was published in Papers in Regional Science in 2005 .

At Northwestern, I will be speaking on some of my latest work and will be delivering the paper, Supply Chain Network Design Under Profit Maximization and Oligopolistic Competition.

I am very much looking forward to this symposium, which will honor the work of a truly great scholar and human being.

For those who would like to see additional photos of Professor Beckmann, who, as Professor Boyce, was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Transportation Science, please click here. These photos were taken in various locations around the globe, including Australia and Sweden.