Jonelle Hanson, AICP, joins RSG as a Director and brings over 12 years of transportation planning experience in the public and private sectors. Her primary interests are in strategic mobility planning and long-range transportation planning. She is also researching the manufacturing of landing infrastructure for delivery using drones, or Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Jonelle's experience and expertise will allow us to continue to help clients plan for and adapt to rapidly changing traveler behavior.

The Zephyr Foundation has awarded PopulationSim its “Zephyr Software Badge” after RSG Senior Director Joel Freedman nominated the program. The award was made after Zephyr's Software Badging process found that the population synthesis program is easy to use, useful to Zephyr's community of users, and contributed to a common problem space.

RSG originally developed the population synthesis program for the Oregon Department of Transportation and its partner agencies. It replaced multiple population synthesis tools being used throughout the state at the time. Unlike other population synthesis software products, PopulationSim handles multiple geographies and avoids algorithmic errors. Moreover, RSG built it using software engineering best practices. This reduces the likelihood of bugs and enhances its utility to users. RSG included PopulationSim in the Python-based ActivitySim modeling framework, which we also led the development of.

RSG Director Michelle Lee coauthored a peer-reviewed paper, titled “The 2019 Conference on Health and Active Transportation: Research Needs and Opportunities,” which was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The paper discusses expert conclusions from the December 2019 Conference on Health and Active Transportation (CHAT).

Active transportation, which includes activities like bicycling and walking, has well-known public health benefits. These modes, when replacing personal vehicle trips, can also reduce emissions. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed new opportunities for active transportation. At the same time, the pandemic highlighted societal inequities around transportation access and health.

Michelle and her fellow authors present a conceptual model, based on CHAT sessions, that could assist practitioners in overcoming barriers to the development and use of active transportation infrastructure. The paper also identifies crucial research gaps. Importantly, the paper emphasizes the importance of coupling additional research with plans for dissemination and implementation.

Lucia Maloney, PMP, joins RSG as a Director and brings over 15 years of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Her primary interests lie in innovative product delivery for local/regional transportation planning efforts and capital projects. Lucia's experience and expertise will help us continue to offer clients unparalleled insights into household- and person-level travel behavior.

We have officially opened our new downtown Denver, Colorado, office location. The new office signifies continued growth in and demand for RSG's energy and noise control engineering services.

“I'm thrilled to see Denver added to our diverse portfolio of office locations,” said Stephen Lawe, CEO. “As interest in renewables has grown, so has the demand for our services that integrate advanced statistical approaches and modeling with traditional acoustical analyses. Our Denver location will help us meet this demand.”

In addition to our headquarters in White River Junction, Vermont, RSG now has offices in six other locations. These other offices include San Diego (CA), Portland (OR), Chicago (IL), Washington, DC, and Burlington (VT).

RSG Principal Johanna Zmud, PhD, and Senior Director Mark Bradley will both present at the Complete Trip – ITS4US Deployment Program Performance Measurement webinar. The webinar will describe our team's work in Buffalo, New York, as part of the Complete Trip – ITS4US Deployment Program. The goal of the program is to solve the mobility challenges of all travelers in accessing jobs, education, healthcare, and other activities.

Buffalo, New York, is one of five deployment sites chosen. The proposed deployment in Buffalo combines accessible trip-planning services, community-based shuttle services, and intersection pedestrian safety technologies. Johanna and Mark will describe our team's work on Phase 1 of the deployment, which included the development of a Performance Measurement and Evaluation Support Plan.

Who? Johanna Zmud, PhD, Principal (RSG) and Mark Bradley, Senior Director (RSG)

What? Complete Trip – ITS4US Deployment Program Webinar: Buffalo, NY (Webinar 3) hosted by ITS Joint Program Office

Where and When? The webinar is virtual. Johanna and Mark are presenting during a session on Tuesday, November 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET. The webinar registration link is below.

RSG Senior Director Mark Bradley will moderate and present at the next Oregon Modeling Users Group (OMUG) meeting, which will discuss COVID-19 travel impacts. OMUG meetings bring together dozens of transportation planning professionals from agencies, universities, and consultancies across the Pacific Northwest.

Mark's presentation will share highlights from RSG's COVID-19 Transportation Insights Survey. Since May 2020, our survey has collected a wealth of data on how the pandemic is reshaping travel and mobility. Mark will present an overview of our findings and discuss observed regional travel behavior impacts seen in the data collected to date.

Who? Mark Bradley (RSG)

What? Oregon Modeling Users Group meeting

Where and When? The meeting is being held virtually this year. Mark is moderating the entire meeting, which begins on Tuesday, October 26 at 9:00 a.m. PT, and presenting during the COVID Panel Surveys portion, which begins at 10:05 a.m. PT. The meeting information is provided below and a recording will be available.

Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 890 3097 7384
Passcode: 298504
If you need telephone audio: (253) 215-8782

RSG Director Dana Lodico, PE, INCE Bd. Cert., will present at the Technology for a Quieter America: Advances in Noise Control Engineering workshop. The event is hosted by the National Academies of Engineering (NAE) and is part of an ongoing series of workshops.

Dana's presentation will describe her work for the Institute of Noise Control Engineering to roll out a new product noise rating (PNR) labeling system in the United States. With a nationwide PNR labeling system in place, consumers will have more information on products' noise levels. This will allow purchasers to compare products across similar categories and improve their indoor noise environment.

Who? Dana Lodico, PE, INCE Bd. Cert. (RSG)

What? Technology for a Quieter America: Advances in Noise Control Engineering workshop

Where and When? The workshop is being held virtually. Dana is presenting on Wednesday, October 20 at 3:40 p.m. ET. The workshop occurs from October 19 to October 20. Registration is free but requires NAE registration.

RSG celebrates 35 years in business this October. Since 1986, we have combined academic rigor with serious data analysis and computer modeling. Through the dedication of our employee-owners, we have evolved into an innovative consultancy. Our work now helps clients understand why people and systems do what they do and guides their decision-making.

“RSG solves challenging problems. But more than that, we offer our clients solutions grounded in innovative, data-driven methods,” said Stephen Lawe, Chief Executive Officer at RSG. “Every issue facing humanity now involves a complex system. Uniting people with diverse perspectives and backgrounds to tackle the issue at hand—that’s where we excel as a consultancy. We’re innovators at our core, and we have been since day one.”

In the three-and-a-half decades since our founding, we have consulted for Fortune 500 companies and clients at all levels of government while working in all 50 states and over 30 countries. Our unique culture has also won awards that cite our industry-leading benefits and workplace flexibility.

“As RSG celebrates 35 years, I’m thrilled to see the vision that I shared with my two friends and cofounders continue to make a significant and positive impact on the world,” said Tom Adler, PhD, President at RSG. “The system our clients operate in today is much more complex than it was when we started RSG. Now, more than ever, clients require rigorous analysis to guide, support—and, in many cases, defend—their decisions.”

RSG has also established itself as a cutting-edge firm that develops advanced software tools and platforms. We developed our own software (rMove™) to conduct location-aware market research and understand mobility patterns using big data. We have also contributed to the development of several open-source software products in use by clients around the world.

RSG Principal Johanna Zmud, PhD, will present at the ITS World Congress in Hamburg, Germany. The ITS Congress is the world's premier event that gathers industry experts, policy makers, and the public to discuss smart mobility technologies and transportation.

Johanna's presentation will focus on the equity implications of technology-enabled mobility services. Specifically, she will discuss findings from her previous work as principal investigator for the Transportation Research Board's (TRB’s) Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) B-47: Impact of Transformational Technologies on Underserved Populations. Work on TCRP B-47 will produce an inclusivity-oriented playbook for practitioners seeking to ameliorate some of the negative impacts on transportation equity and mobility inclusion as a result of new and emerging mobility technologies. Research for TCRP B-47 is underway.

Who? Johanna Zmud, PhD, Principal (RSG)

What? Special Interest Session (SIS 75), titled Equity Assessment of New Mobility Technologies: Current Status, during ITS World Congress

Where and When? The ITS Congress is being held in Hamburg, Germany. Johanna is presenting during a session on Thursday, October 14 at 11:00 a.m. CEST (5:00 p.m. GMT-4). The ITS Congress occurs from October 11 to October 15. The program link is below.