RSG Senior Director, Michael Geilich, was recently awarded his fourth patent. This latest patent (US Patent # 8,862,454) is for a method and apparatus for simulating risk tolerance and associated adversary costs in a distributed business process.
RSG President, Tom Adler, will be presenting this week in Berlin, Germany at the German Aerospace Centerâs Institute of Transport Research. His presentation titled, âFrom Surveys to Big Data: Future Tools for Travel Forecastingâ will summarize the large body of research that RSG has generated related to long-distance travel by air, rail, bus, and auto and explore opportunities for collaboration with European researchers in this field.
RSG Director, Stephane Hess, co-authored the article âTemporal Transferability of Models of Mode-Destination Choice for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Areaâ which was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Transport and Land Use. The article summarizes the findings from a literature review that demonstrates there is little evidence about the transferability of mode-destination models over typical forecasting horizons. The analysis demonstrates that improving model specification improves the transferability of the models, and in general the transferability declines as the transfer period increases.
RSG Senior Consultant, Elizabeth Greene, co-authored the article âLong-Distance Work and Leisure Travel Frequenciesâ which was published in the latest issue of Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. In the article, Elizabeth and her co-authors explored factors influencing non-distance-based definitions of long-distance travel to help long-distance survey designers know which demographic factors they should include in their surveys. The findings suggest that future data collection for long-distance travel can be tailored to address the specific definition being studied.
RSG Director, Marc Aquila, was recently announced as a âRising Starâ by Vermont Business Magazine. The 2014 âRising Starâ award recipient list is comprised of 40 winners under the age of 40. Award recipients were selected by a panel of judges for their commitment to business growth, professional excellence, and involvement in their communities.
The National Park Service (NPS) recently selected RSG to serve as the nationâs lead contractor for visitor use and social science research in the national parks through a five-year, up to $20 million contract. This provides RSG with a unique opportunity to help the NPS with the stewardship of Americaâs national treasures, the national parks.
RSG Analyst, Nagendra Dhakar, co-authored the article âRoute Choice Modeling Using GPS-Based Travel Surveysâ which was published in the latest issue of Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. Nagendra and co-author Sivaramakrishnan Srinivasan combined data from a large-scale GPS-based travel survey and geographic information system-based roadway network databases to develop models for route choice. These models produce statistically significant and intuitively reasonable effects that are sensitive to basis of trip and traveler characteristics
RSG Analyst Ben Cummins co-authored the article âWhy Do Voters Support Public Transportation? Public Choices and Private Behaviorâ which will be published in the next issue of the journal Transportation. In it, Ben and co-author Michael Manville examine American support for transit spending, in particular the support for financing transit with local transportation sales taxes. The findings suggest a collective action problem; people support transit for its collective benefits, but these benefits are realized through increased ridership, which does not necessarily result from increased funding. The findings were also mentioned in CityLabâs recent article âIf So Many People Support Mass Transit, Why Do So Few Ride?â which explores the same concern.
RSG is proud to have played a key role in the Whoâs on Board: The 2014 Mobility Attitudes Survey commissioned by TransitCenter, an organization committed to improving transit through innovation. The study, released today, is the first to compare rider and non-rider attitudes by age, income, education, family status and ethnicity, and to examine both cities and suburban areas across various regions of the U.S. The study reveals that Americans from regions coast to coast think about and use public transit in remarkably similar ways.
RSG is thrilled to receive the âPlanning Project of the Yearâ Award from the Northern New England Chapter of the American Planning Association (NNECAPA). The award honors the Bedford, NH Pedestrian/Bike Master Plan which RSG worked on in partnership with Jeff Taylor & Associates.
RSG Senior Director, Michael Geilich, was recently certified as a âProject Management Professional (PMP)â by the Project Management Institute. The PMP recognizes demonstrated competence in leading and directing project teams.
The Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently honored RSG with the prestigious When Work Works Award, recognizing RSGâs use of effective workplace strategies to increase business and employee success. Applicants are evaluated on six research-based ingredients of an effective workplace: opportunities for learning; a culture of trust; work-life fit; supervisor support for work success; autonomy; and satisfaction with earnings, benefits, and opportunities for advancementâall factors associated with employee health, well-being, and engagement. RSG also qualified as one of the top 25 employers. After the recent recognition as a Great Rated!âą workplace, RSG is thrilled to welcome yet another national award.
Erica Wygonik recently re-joined RSG, bringing over fifteen years of experience in a wide range of transportation planning and engineering effortsâincluding traffic simulation, transportation planning, community outreach, and freight modeling. In her role as Senior Consultant at RSG, Dr. Wygonik will focus on freight transportation and modeling, transportation engineering, and campus and community planning.
The City of Burlington recently broke ground on the $9.1 million Waterfront North Projectâaimed to boost activity and upgrade infrastructure for the northern side of the Lake Champlain waterfront. RSG is proud to have been the consultant team project manager and lead design engineer for this development, helping the City of Burlington design, permit, and move forward with this major component of its waterfront revitalization initiative. The project will include, among other things, realigning and rebuilding parts of the deteriorated bike path, remediating environmental issues, building a $1 million skatepark, and implementing stormwater measures to protect Lake Champlain.
RSG Senior Consultant, Steven Gayle, has achieved the status of âCertified Instructorâ for the National Highway Institute (NHI). NHI is the training agency of the Federal Highway Administrationâoffering a large number of classroom and web-based courses for federal, state, and MPO staff. Certification involves a rigorous process of training, teaching, and observation by a Master Trainer. Steve teaches the Metropolitan Transportation Planning course.