Category: Fall 2014

For this academic year 2014-2015 we are proposing 3 different formats for the seminars:

1. Short Presentations
2. Long Presentations
3. Debates

Short Presentations

Short presentations are 8 min (strictly enforced) talks that can cover any transportation related topic. They are intended to be high level talks about individual research topics. At the end of each presentation there will be plenty of time for discussion, suggestions and comments.

The presenter would then moderate the Q&A session and get valuable feedback and the research topic presented.

Long Presentations

This are longer presentations that will cover a research topic in more depth.

It is intended for students willing to practice a presentation for a coming conference (such as TRB) or dissertation defense. Depending on time constraints and student participation they will be of 30 min or 1hr long.

Debates

We want to introduce discussions in the form of debates of transportation topics that affect our daily lives.

The format of the debate will be as follows:

1. Brief introduction by a neutral moderator
2. 10 minutes argument for the Pro or Position 1
3. 10 minutes argument for the Con or Position 2
4. 5 minutes rebuttal for the Pro or Position 1
5. 5 minutes rebuttal for the Con or Position 2
6. Questions from the moderator
7. Questions from the audience
8. Audience vote

During the first class we will present the list of possible topics and vote for two topics. After that each student enrolled will be assigned to a debate team and position to defend.

Graduate students from the department have also volunteered to mentor the student groups and will be available for questions on discussion to prepare for the debates.