A sizable new federal grant should help more graduate transportation students finish UC Davis with the essential tools of their trade, including communication and teamwork skills, adaptability, and multidisciplinary, applied research experience. The National Science Foundation will announce today that it will pay $2.6 million over the next five years to the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis to support its innovative, interdisciplinary graduate programs in transportation planning and technologies. The lead faculty member on the project, called an Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship, is associate professor Patricia Mokhtarian. Just 17 university programs were selected from among 622 applications to share in the total $40.5 million awarded. ITS was the only transportation center selected, and one of only two programs funded in California. The other is at the University of Southern California, in urban environmental studies. The goal of the grants is to help universities produce more engineers and scientists who possess the skills essential for jobs in industry, government and academia. The grants were created, in part, in response to recommendations of the National Academy of Science's Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, which advised in 1995 that the training graduate students receive does not produce the workers that employers need. Media contacts: Patricia Mokhtarian, Civil and Environmental Engineering, (530) 752-7062, plmokhtarian@ucdavis.edu; Sylvia Wright, News Service, (530) 752-7704, swright@ucdavis.edu.