National Transportation Center

Welcome!

The National Transportation Center (NTC) at Morgan State University advances U.S. technology and expertise in transportation, research, and technology transfer on the university level.

The NTC's theme is "Transportation: A Key to Human and Economic Development." The NTC's current areas of research focus are connected and autonomous vehicles, transportation and traffic modeling, safety and distracted driving, and equity. The Center also aims to increase the number of minorities and women in transportation.

About 

Officially known as the Morgan State University National Center for Transportation Management, Research and Development, the NTC was founded to further human and economic development by improving the nation's transportation systems through research, workforce development, and education. The Center is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's University Transportation Centers Program as well as the Council of University Transportation Centers.

The NTC was established by Congress under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991; reauthorized in 1998 by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century; and reauthorized again in 2005 by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act - a Legacy for Users. The Center celebrated its 30th year in 2022.

Research Activities

The grant-funded research conducted at the NTC focuses on connected and autonomous vehicles, safety, transportation and traffic modeling, optimization, equity, and the environment. To date, research conducted at the National Transportation Center and the Urban Mobility & Equity Center has been granted one utility patent; four provisional patents have been filed and a fifth is in the works. The National Transportation Center also won two national awards from the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC), one for leadership in workforce development and the other for technology transfer.

National Transportation Center researchers have published dozens of research projects, book chapters, academic papers, and newspaper articles over the past five years, and the organization's affiliate centers continue to publish high-quality research on a range of topics in the transportation field. Explore each of these centers and their valuable contrubutions to the transportation studies literature here.

Education Programs

Education and workforce development initiatives are an essential part of the NTC's activities. The Center's programs are a pipline designed to placediverse, highly-qualified transportation professionals into satisfying careers, starting with its long-running summer program for middle and high school students and ending with its graduate intern program at various state agencies.

Our initiatives have provided internships to more than 260 students, introduced more than 335 high schools students and 32 middle school students to the career opportunities in the transportation industry, and created a curriculum enrichment program for high school math and science teachers. Read more about the Center's education and workforce development activities here.

Help Our Research!

Associations & Partnerships

The NTC works closely with partners in the public and private sector to advance its research and workforce development activites. These partnerships include the Maryland State Highway Administration, the Maryland Department of Transportation, Baltimore City, Ford Motors, and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance.

The Center also work very closely with other universities and academic institutions to advance its research priorities.The consortium of universities established under the Urban Mobility and Equity Center, for instance, includes the University of Maryland, College Park and Virginia Tech in addition to Morgan State. The NTC has also co-sponsored two national transportation conferences since its founding.