An extensive program of transportation research and education at George Mason's School of Public Policy is housed in the Transportation Policy, Operations and Logistics Center (TPOL).

The education program includes a Master's degree in Transportation Policy, Operations and Logistics and a Transportation and Regional Development track in the School of Public Policy's Ph.D. program. The Master's degree has graduated 100 students, and 40 are currently enrolled. (See link above for Master's degree program.)

The Center also houses two University Transportation Centers. The Transportation and Economic Development Center and the National Center for ITS Implementation Research, which is in its ninth and final year of operation, are linked above.

Scholars at the School of Public Policy carry on extensive research outside the University Transportation Centers, including both sponsored and independent research. Links on the left side of this page reference some 300 peer-reviewed books and articles written by School of Public Policy transportation scholars.

RECENT STAFF ACTIVITY AND PUBLICATIONS

Dr. Kenneth Button has been active on a wide front of transportation issues. In August 2007 he made presentations on the economics and politics of road pricing to a group of 60 congressional staffers on Capital Hill, and a week later to a forum at the U.S. Department of Transportation. He lectured on the economics of traffic congestion at a seminar held by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Also in August Dr. Button participated in a World Bank forum on transportation and its contribution to economic growth in developing countries, and he traveled to Winnipeg, Canada, to deliver a paper on the concept of regions as gateways -- the idea that a city or region can be a "gateway" to a larger region. While acknowledging that this can happen to a degree, Dr. Button cautioned against excessive dependence on this strategy for local economic development.

In conjunction with School of Public Policy Research Associate Henry Vega, Dr. Button presented to the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (San Francisco, April 2007) a paper "The Effects of Air Transportation on the Movement of Labor," arguing that the availability of economic air travel is substantially increasing labor mobility in both the United States and Europe.

Another senior transportation scholar at the School of Public Policy, Dr. Jonathan Gifford, has published in TR News an article "The Exceptional Interstate Highway System: Will a Compelling New Vision Emerge?" Dr. Gifford concludes that public-private partnerships will be an increasingly important element of surface transportation