"Nasty Traffic Snarls Alleviated" and "Air Quality on the Rise" could be tomorrow's headlines if telecommuting becomes the popular way to go to work, according to a UC Davis researcher. Patricia Mokhtarian, UC Davis civil and environmental engineering assistant professor, organized a session at this week's 75th annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C., to discuss factors influencing the appeal and marketing of home- and center-based telecommuting to employees and employers. Center-based telecommuting is a relatively new form that strikes a compromise between working at home and working from an office. It offers a less stressful lifestyle with social interaction and a non-distracting work place close to home, and it reduces travel costs and time. UC Davis graduate students David Stanek and Michael Bagley will discuss workers' preferences for home- or center-based telecommuting, and UC Davis graduate student Dennis Henderson will present findings that telecommuting reduces air pollution. The session is sponsored by the TRB Committee on Telecommunication and Travel Behavior, chaired by Mokhtarian.