Message from Chancellor Fox: One of UCSD’s greatest institutional strengths is the breadth and depth of faculty research on a range of important topics. Each month, Chancellor’s Corner will showcase cross-disciplinary faculty expertise in a specific area. I invite you to learn more about the work of these scholars, and I hope you share my pride in their achievements and their contributions to society.

TRANSPORTATION

Steve Erie,
Professor, Department of Political Science; Adjunct Professor, Department of History; Director, Urban Studies and Planning Program
Steve Erie is an authority on urban politics, public policy, race in politics, and American political development. His research also concerns California water issues, social and economic factors in political incorporation of minority groups, and regional governance, finance, transportation, trade infrastructure, and development. Currently, Erie is interested in Southern California infrastructure and development. More…

Silke I. Januszewski Forbes,
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
Silke Januszewski is an economist with a focus on industrial organizations, organizational economics, and corporate governance. Her research and teaching is in the field of Industrial Organization with a focus on exploring the effects of regulation on prices and product quality. She has also done research on corporate governance, especially the issue of whether competitive forces in the product market can mitigate weak corporate governance within a firm. Januszewski has written on the German economy and on the economics within the airline industry. More…

Vistasp Karbhari, Professor of Structural Engineering
Professor Karbhari's activities are focused on composites manufacturing science, application of composites to infrastructure renewal, durability of composites and polymers, interphase science in composites and dissimilar materials, experimental and theoretical mechanics of composites, and damage and crush mechanics. According to Karbhari, as we enter the 21st century, we are faced with the critical need for either repairing or replacing our civil infrastructure. Fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite materials hitherto used predominantly in aerospace, automotive, and marine applications are increasingly being considered for use in the renewal of a variety civil structures. More…

Francesco Lanza di Scalea,
Professor of Structural Engineering
Francesco Lanza di Scalea, a professor of structural engineering, has developed technology that significantly improves the railroad industry’s ability to find defects in steel railroad tracks, including hard-to-find internal cracks that can break under the weight of passing trains. He directs the Non-destructive Evaluation and Structural Health Monitoring Laboratory where he develops novel sensing technologies to measure the condition of structural components from the adhesive joints in aircraft to steel tendons used in concrete structures. More…

Frieder Seible,
Dean, UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering,
Reissner Professor of Structural Engineering
Frieder Seible's achievements include the development of large-scale structural testing techniques, seismic assessment and retrofit of bridges, and the application of Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC) in civil engineering structures. He developed and directs the Charles Lee Powell Structural Research Laboratories, which serve as a worldwide resource for full-scale testing and analysis of structures. Among his many recent research projects, Professor Frieder Seible is applying earthquake retrofit technologies to protect high-risk buildings from terrorist bomb blasts. Working with a number of collaborators, Seible is also investigating the use wireless sensors to monitor bridge safety. Seible has recently designed a new construction system comprised of hollow composite tubes filled with more traditional materials such as concrete. The system was used when California built the world's first composite bridge for heavy traffic. More…

Mohan Trivedi,
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
As head of UCSD's Computer Vision and Robotics Research laboratory, Professor Mohan Trivedi oversees projects such as a robotic, sensor-based traffic-incident monitoring and response system (sponsored by Caltrans). Trivedi's projects typically integrate active perception and machine vision; interactive graphical interfaces for human-machine interaction; distributed video networks; and, increasingly, wireless connectivity and remote sensing. He is knowledgeable about the use of mobile robots in hazardous situations such as disaster response, having consulted on their use in nuclear environments. Trivedi is also leading an interdisciplinary effort, as UCSD layer leader for intelligent transportation and telematics for the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology [Cal-(IT)2]. More…

Michelle J. White, Professor of Economics
Michelle J. White is professor of economics at UC San Diego. She has been at UCSD since 2001. During the past several years, her research has focused on the personal bankruptcy system in the United States. Other recent research projects include the effects of SUVs and pickup trucks on traffic safety and the effect of Proposition 13 in California on household mobility. More…

** To learn more about other campus faculty scholars and areas of expertise, please visit the searchable UCSD Faculty Experts Database at: http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/facultyExperts/