News and Events
News and Events
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Interested in CR2C2 activities and engagement opportunities?
APR 2025: On Friday, April 25, the Center for Rural and Regional Connected Communities welcomed transportation researchers from the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at University of Minnesota For a Transportation Research Exchange. Read More...
APR 2025: Dr. Ali Karimoddini joined a panel of transportation leaders for an impactful discussion on the best practices for collaboration within the USDOT University Transportation Centers (UTCs) network representing the Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2). Read More...
MAR 2025: The Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) has earmarked $400,000 in FY 2026 to fund projects under its Research and Education Exploratory Grants (REEGs) program, subject to the approval of the Center's budget by the USDOT. The purpose of this program is to fund short-term projects that investigate emerging concepts and novel approaches for addressing transportation challenges in rural communities. Submit your idea ...
MAR 2025: The Center for Rural and Regional Connected Communities (CR2C2) is proud to have co-organized the workshop "Pioneering Transportation Innovation with Generative AI" alongside the ASCE TDI Artificial Intelligence in Transportation Committee, the Center for Multi-Modal Mobility in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Areas (CMMM), Leidos, and BlueHalo. Read More...
MAR 2025: Congressman Richard Hudson visited North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to learn about the innovative research and technological advancements taking place on campus including presentations from the Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities. Read More...
FEB 2025: The Center for Rural and Regional Connected Communities (CR2C2) welcomed North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to North Carolina A&T State University for a roadshow event Read More...
FEB 2025: The Alabama Transportation Institute proudly hosted a successful Transportation Awareness Day at Greensboro Middle School on February 19, 2025, aiming to inspire the next generation of transportation professionals. The event attracted 305 enthusiastic 6th to 9th-grade students, eager to explore the exciting world of transportation and STEM education. Read More...
FEB. 2025: CR2C2 Student Leadership Council (SLC) organizes Leadership Training Workshops on Empowering Future Leaders: Building Skills for Inclusive, Data-Driven, and Strategic Leadership! Read more...
FEB. 2025: On February 11 - 12, CR2C2 participated in the 2025 NCDOT Research and Innovation Symposium held at NC State University! Read more...
FEB 2025: The work of CR2C2 student Sabit Musa, advised by Drs. Greg Erhardt and Andrew Martin at the University of Kentucky (UKY), has been featured in Vanguard News for its innovative contributions to rural mobility and transportation research. Read More...
FEB. 2025: CR2C2 had the pleasure of hosting the Winston Salem Career Center’s drone technology class on February 6th for an immersive facility tour, where students explored labs, flew drones, and experienced autonomous driving simulators. Read more...
FEB. 2025: One of our outstanding CR2C2 students, Oladimeji Alaka, whose research poster titled “Investigating Automated Shuttle Readiness for Rural Areas: North Carolina Case Study” was recognized for excellence at the 2025 NCDOT Research and Innovation Symposium! Read more...
JAN 2025: The Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) is proud to announce its Fiscal Year 2025 Research and Education Exploratory Grants (REEGs) awardees. These projects are designed to address mobility and accessibility challenges in rural communities through innovative applications of automated vehicle (AV) technologies, regional transit integration, infrastructure readiness, and STEM education. Read More...
JAN. 2025: CR2C2 hosted an unforgettable networking and information exchange event during the annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting. Read more ...
JAN. 2025: The Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) is proud to announce its participation in the 2025 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting. Read more ...
JAN. 2025: CR2C2 Researchers presented their research works at the 2024 Transportation Research Board Meeting. Read more ...
NOV 2024: On November 16, the Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) hosted a data competition at North Carolina A&T State University. Read more...
NOV 2024: The Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) marked the beginning of the NC Advanced Mobility Symposium 2024 with an exclusive, interactive tour of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) facility at North Carolina A&T State University. Read more...
NOV 2024: The Center for Rural and Regional Connected Communities (CR2C2) had the pleasure of welcoming 15 high school seniors from Western Guilford High School for an immersive facility tour. Read more...
SEPT 2024: CR2C2 participated in the 2024 Advancing Minorities' Interest in Engineering (AMIE) Annual Conference and demonstrated the advanced transportation technologies. Read more...
SEPT 2024: CR2C2 officially launched the Data Competition for an Equitable Transportation System Design, inviting students to develop innovative, data-driven solutions addressing transportation equity challenges in Rockingham County. Read more...
AUG 2024: CR2C2 researchers made a significant impact at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Future of Transportation Summit by sharing groundbreaking research on autonomous and connected vehicle deployment, particularly in rural and underserved areas. Read more...
July 2024: CR2C2 had the pleasure of hosting 50 summer interns as part of Troy's Honorary Intern Social (THIS) program, organized by the North Carolina Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (NCSITE). Read more...
JULY 2024: CR2C2 Joined the NCA&T’s Transportation Institute to host the 2024 Summer High School Transportation Institute (STI) attendees. This year, the STI program hosted 17 participants, including rising juniors and seniors from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New York, Texas, Maryland, and Virginia. Read more...
JULY 2024: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Gov. Roy Cooper, and NC Board of Transportation Chairman Michael S. Fox visited unique rural transportation facility of CR2C2. During this visit, we showcased CR2C2's research on developing advanced technological solutions to serve rural and underserved communities . Read more ...
June 2024: The Alabama Transportation Institute hosted a Summer Transportation Institute for middle school students on June 24-27 to engage students in STEM activities that incorporated project-based and hands-on experiential learning, carefully curated to foster STEM identity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Read more ...
June 2024: CR2C2 researchers attended the ASCE International Conference on Transportation and Development by presenting groundbreaking projects that address critical challenges in transportation. Read more ...
JUNE 2024: In support of the HBCU Transformation Summit, the CR2C2 team hosted leaders from the other 16 Transformation Project member schools, Thurgood Marshall College Fund representatives, and other invitees to close out the Summit with a highly engaging and hands-on experience. Read more...
June 2024: Congratulations to the Aggie Autonomous Auto (A3) team from North Carolina A&T State University for their impressive achievements at the SAE AutoDrive Year 3 competition. Read more ...
JUNE 2024: The Alabama Transportation Institute hosted a transformative Summer STEM Institute for Teachers on June 14th and 15th, to equip the educators with the tools, strategies, and insights essential for delivering high-quality STEM education in their classrooms. Read more ...
JUNE 2024: The Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) has earmarked $400,000 in FY 2025 to fund projects under its Research and Education Exploratory (REE) Grants program. These competitive seed grants are available to faculty, researchers, and professionals within the consortium to research emerging concepts and novel approaches to addressing transportation challenges in rural and underserved communities. Work done under the REE Grants may lead to new, larger-scale projects under one of CR2C2’s Major Research Initiatives (MRIs) in later years. Submit your idea ...
MAY 2024: CR2C2 joined the Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity Research, Education, and Outreach (CREO) to host representatives from the City of Raleigh's Senior Leadership. Read more ...
MAY 2024: On May 20, NC A&T hosted Technology Day Ahead of N.C. Transportation Summit on May 20 at the transportation facility at Gateway Research Park North Campus. The pre-summit event of #NCTranspo2024 provided an opportunity to demonstrate cutting-edge transportation technologies developed or deployed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), universities and industry. Read more...
APRIL 2024: Joined by the Center for Advanced Transportation Mobility (CATM), the Center for Regional & Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) hosted a two-day Joint University Transportation Center (UTC) Symposium April 17-18, marking the first annual event since CR2C2’s launching and the final year of funded activities for CATM. Read more...
APRIL 2024: On Friday, April 12th, The Alabama Transportation Institute (ATI) hosted its inaugural Transportation Awareness Day, at the Hale County College and Career Academy in Greensboro, AL. This event aimed to provide elementary and middle school students in the area with unique opportunities to explore careers in transportation.By engaging with interactive exhibits hosted by transportation researchers and entities from across the state, 310 students in grades 5-8 gained valuable insights into the diverse array of career paths available within the transportation industry. Read more...
APRIL 2024: Alabama Transportation Institute, in collaboration with various educational and scientific entities, proudly hosted its first-ever Community STEM Festival at The Greensboro High School Gymnasium in Greensboro, AL. A total of 255 community members, including students, parents, educators, policy makers and STEM enthusiasts, attended the festival, underscoring the community's eagerness to embrace and explore science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Read more...
APRIL 2024: CR2C2 showcased autonomous car technology at the NC Piedmont Triad K-12 STEM Student Enrichment Ecosystem event, inspiring young learners at North Carolina A&T State University to engage with STEM education and envision a future in innovation and transportation. Read more...
MAR 2024: The City of Greensboro Senior Leadership team visited NCA&T's rural AV test facility on March 20, 2024. This gathering brings together department heads and representatives from the city manager’s office to visit the facility and also share timely information regarding city operations, programs and services. Read more...
FEB. 2024: From February 19th to the 23rd, NCAT celebrated Engineer Week! Our Outreach program played a pivotal role in engaging young minds and fostering interest in engineering. Read more...
JAN. 2024: Yardbird in Washington D.C. played host to CR2C2’s first in-person Networking and Information Exchange event on January 8, 2024. Read more...
JAN. 2024: CR2C2 Researchers presented their research works at the 2024 Transportation Research Board Meeting. Read more ...
OCT. 2023: On October 13th at the Greensboro History Museum, the first pilot program for the Aggie Auto Shuttle project bid farewell to its successful journey - for now. Read more...
OCT. 2023: UNC-Chapel Hill Students visited Aggie Autonomous Shuttles effort as a part of PLAN 637: Public Transit course. Read more ...
SEP. 2023: CR2C2 researchers launched Aggie Autonomous Shuttles to serve the underserved community in East Greensboro. Read more ...
SEP. 2023: Dr. Evangelos Kaisar co-organized a workshop on Smart Freight Transportation: Last-Mile Logistics Challenges in the “New Normal” at the 26th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems ITSC 2023 that took place in September 2023 in Bilbao Bizkaia, Spain. Read more ...
SEP. 2023: CR2C2 Researchers and NCDOT organized a workshop for first responders on Sep 13, 2023, to discuss the incident management plan for Aggie Autonomous Shuttles before their public deployment. Read more ...
SEP. 2023: A team from CR2C2 is organizing a workshop for first responders on AV incident management. The workshop is expected to provide hands-on experiences on different aspects of incident management for autonomous vehicles with a focus on Aggie Autonomous Shuttles ahead of their public deployment in Sep 2023. Read more ...
SEP. 2023: What are the challenges to developing connected autonomous vehicles for rural roads? Watch the PBS documentary about the effort of CR2C2 researchers to develop autonomous cars. Read more ...
AUG. 2023: Interested in joining our research team? We are hiring a postdoc in advanced transportation technology! Read more ...
AUG. 2023: The Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) is calling for project ideas to be awarded as Research and Education Exploratory (REE) Grants. Read more ...
JUL. 2023: CR2C2 supported the Summer Transportation Institute and hosted a record of 20 participants. The participants were rising juniors and seniors hailing from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, New York, Texas, Maryland, and Virginia. Read more ...
JUN. 2023: Around 40 high school students and teachers from Eastern North Carolina toured the CR2C2 facility. Saunders Science Scholars Program was modeled after Morehead’s family science enrichment program, which encourages young people and their families to get more involved with science. The program is part of outreach initiatives that address gaps in STEM education across North Carolina, specifically in rural communities such as Gates County. Read more ...
MAY. 2023: NCA&T hosted the Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV) Strategic Plan Workshop on May 24-25, 2023. The objective of the workshop was to engage stakeholders across North Carolina to update the CAV Strategic Plan to reflect the needs and goals of North Carolina as reflected within the industry. The Plan will have four distinct topics, including:
Operations and Maintenance
Education and Outreach
Multimodal and Freight
Legislative
During the workshop, attendees also had the opportunity to visit the transportation technology facility at NCA&T, including a state-of-the-art CAV simulator.
APR. 2023: A team from CR2C2 received $172k technology transfer funding. In this technology transfer funding, the team will pilot the autonomy-enabled Polaris GEM E6 vehicles in a microtransit service on a route that connects NC A&T’s campus to downtown Greensboro. This will be achieved through (1) Identifying the appropriate route and safe stops in coordination with stakeholders, (2) Developing the in-vehicle data collection systems and surveys to assess the acceptability of the Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and public perception of AVs, (3) Developing communication systems to connect AVs to a control room, to the cloud, and the users, (4) Developing user-friendly application software for users to request a ride and track the vehicles, (5) Building a map and address the technical challenges for deployment of vehicles throughout the identified route, (6) Actual deployment of the autonomous vehicles between NC A&T’s campus and downtown Greensboro, and (7) Analyzing and reporting the collected data and the deployment process. Read more ...
FEB. 2023: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State has been selected to initiate the Center for Regional and Rural Connected Communities (CR2C2) using a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation with up to four years of additional support, totaling $15 million. The consortium members will contribute $15 million in matching funds, making the total investment in this project $30 million. Read more ...
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