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Kaitlyn Bedwell, Team Leader

Administration

Supply Chain, Transportation, Automation, & Resource Sustainability

Kaitlyn Bedwell

Kaitlyn Bedwell is the Team Leader for Supply Chain, Transportation, Automation, and Resource Sustainability (STARS) at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), where she directs interdisciplinary programs advancing supply chain resiliency, automated and connected vehicle research, energy efficient freight systems, and regional workforce development. Her work integrates technical research, public private partnerships, and data driven strategy to support national transportation innovation and community impact.

Kaitlyn also serves as Program Manager for the Dock to Door Coalition, a 90 plus member cross sector initiative she helped establish under Dr. Myra Blanco's leadership as CEO to strengthen last mile delivery systems and modernize freight operations. She leads coalition strategy through the STARS team across four major program areas—Data Sharing Platform, Connected and Automated Vehicles, Energy Efficient Freight, and Workforce Development—including the development of a first in the nation federated data sharing platform.

Since joining VTTI in 2014, Kaitlyn has contributed to a wide range of projects across the institute in multiple states from VA, WA, and TX spanning automated driving system safety, human centered design, impaired driving studies, NSTSCE stakeholder engagement, and transportation policy. She previously contributed to multiple volumes of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) considerations for automated driving systems, supporting NHTSA in shaping national guidance for ADS crashworthiness and safety requirements. Her research contributions include technical reports on cannabis impaired driving, emergency services, vehicle information reporting systems, distracted driving countermeasures, teen driver mobile safety applications, supply chain resiliency gap analyses, and national policy reviews for automated driving systems.

Previous to VTTI, Kaitlyn's early career focused in international development and social entrepreneurship through non-profit fieldwork in Sri Lanka, Morocco, and Turkey, where she led community based research, mobile technology design, and cooperative development initiatives. She holds an M.A. in Public Administration and Public Policy and a B.A. in International Development from Virginia Tech, along with certifications in UX Design and Human Subjects Research.

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