VTTI's Center for Sustainable & Resilient Infrastructure is a VTTI-affiliated partnership in collaboration with Virginia Tech's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The Center's main objective is to envision, develop, and implement efficient and sustainable solutions that can improve infrastructure facilities and systems.
Director Gerardo Flintsch, a professor at Virginia Tech since 1997, believes that his team's passion makes a difference.
“We provide an important service to the public in terms of sustainable mobility and access,” said Flintsch. “We strive to provide an infrastructure that is safe and comfortable that can fulfill peoples' needs in an efficient and practical way.”
The Center is also known for the opportunities it provides to graduate students and developing the workforce of the future. With additional financial support, Flintsch would work towards providing more opportunities for students to pursue novel projects. Unrestricted funding could allow students to move beyond applied research and focus on cutting-edge research that can make significant contributions to the future of transportation. In addition, there would be more resources to collect data, which would better inform the center on how best to pursue certain projects.
Flintsch believes that VTTI is well-positioned to take on these challenges due to the culture that has been built in the 24 years of his affiliation.
“We have a willingness to take on new challenges and embrace the aspect of technology that impacts transportation,” said Flintsch. “We try to improve transportation using a unique holistic approach that considers our infrastructure systems, their users, the external stressors that impact their performance, and the way we use them.”
Visit www.vtti.vt.edu/give to donate and support VTTI's dedication to saving lives, time, money, and protecting the environment.