One of the most challenging aspects of transportation research is developing pertinent, accurate, reliable, verifiable, reproducible, and generally understandable measures to describe, analyze, and evaluate initiatives proposed and designed to improve transportation system, sub-system, and component performance.

Cases in point include strategies associated with transportation demand management, transportation supply management, traffic system management, sustainable transportation best practices, balanced transportation networks, inter-modal integration, walkability, and congestion pricing. All of these ideas or approaches have considerable conceptual appeal as means to improve transportation system, sub-system, or component performance.

However, and despite the fact that these and numerous other ideas and approaches for achieving improved transportation system performance have been known for decades, only limited progress has been made in achieving robust measures of their effectiveness, efficiency, equity, economy, or impacts for policy, program, plan, and operational purposes.

This session provides a venue for presentations on designing, proposing, prescribing, or demonstrating new or different and more robust ways of measuring how, and how well transportation systems, sub-systems or components are performing. New measures that incorporate a geographic dimension are of particular interest.

To promote the broad exchange of information on research problem statements, research issues, research designs, and research findings, presentations are invited for any mode (walk, cycle, transit, private motor vehicle, telecommuting, rail, water, air, and pipeline), may involve people or freight, can be curiosity-based or client-based, and can be exploratory or confirmatory in nature.

I. Call for Abstracts: The Applied Geography Specialty Group (AGSG) announces the second student paper competition. The paper must demonstrate geographic principles that help solve real world problems at a working level expected of upper division undergraduate geography students and applied geography master’s students. The student must show how their work supports, or could support, a paying or non-paying customer – employer, business, or non-profit, civic group, etc. Papers addressing the 2008 Applied Geography Service Project, ‘Child Pedestrian Safety’, are especially encouraged for entry in a special award category. The student papers can range from a class project or term paper to one that has been given at any professional meeting. Participants may present in the AGSG Student Session at the AAG annual meeting.

Participants are encouraged to present during the AGSG Student Session using the short presentation format.

Please register for the AAG Annual Meeting prior to establishing your intent to participate in the competition. Waivers may be granted to individuals not able to attend the Annual Meeting.

To establish your intent to participate, send an abstract of no more than 250 words as an email attachment in PDF format and your personal identification number (received from the AAG after applying online at www.aag.org) to the organizer Mindy Butterworth no later than 30 November 2007 at aag.agsg@gmail.com .

II. AWARDS: AGSG intends to make awards in two categories: Undergraduates and Graduate. The planned awards in each category are $150 per category for the first place, $100 for second place, and a $50 award for third place. Prize amount and distribution may be adjusted depending on the volume and quality of submissions. All authors will be recognized for their participation during AGSG Student Session.

III. PAPER SUBMISSIONS: Submissions shall not exceed 4000 words. Simple Title Page, Table of Contents, and List of References will not count toward word limit. Excessive use of appendices to circumvent word limit may disqualify papers, but supplemental data tables and graphics may be included in an Appendix not to exceed 4 pages. Font size shall be 12-point Times New Roman and all page margins shall be one inch. Send one copy in PDF format to each of the judges no later than 1 March 2008. E-mail addresses for judges to will be provided prior to deadline.

IV. GENERAL INFORMATION: Along with the two categories of submission we have organized an AGSG Student session for the Boston meeting. First place winners will offer a 10-minute summary and the other winners will offer a 5-minute summary of their work. The session will also include an Interactive Applied Geography panel to discuss critical issues of professional geographic practices of interest to students. Panel Topics include, but are not limited to, transition from student to applied geographer, improving the tradecraft being an applied geography instructor or professor, developing applied geography education capabilities, and understanding what government and industry expect of recent graduates in applied geography.

Carbon Lock-In: Barriers and Enablers of a Climate-Friendly Future

Stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system requires accelerating the pace of technology improvement and deployment. The critical role of new technologies is underscored by the fact that most anthropogenic greenhouse gases emitted over the next century will come from equipment and infrastructure built in the future. As a result, new technologies and energy sources have the potential to transform energy system while meeting climate change as well as energy security and other important goals. The need for large-scale GHG emission reductions also requires going beyond technology R&D to strategies that target the rapid and large-scale absorption of low-carbon technologies into the economy. Most technological innovations do not survive the transition from invention to marketplace success. While they may be technically feasible, various obstacles prevent them from gaining market share. While some of these barriers are classic market failures, others are the result of public failures – past policies that contribute to the lock-in of incumbent technologies. This paper characterizes the barriers to technology deployment, in general and to the market uptake of climate friendly technologies in particular. Along with enablers of change, these barriers form the basis for recommending policy solutions.