The Transportation Research Board (TRB) held its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. last January. The event brought together leading transportation experts, researchers, and professionals from around the world to exchange knowledge and ideas about the latest developments in transportation.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual meeting is a crucial gathering for transportation professionals, providing a platform for the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and the opportunity to learn about the latest advancements in the field. The event serves as a catalyst for the advancement of transportation research and the development of innovative transportation solutions that will help to create a better future for everyone.
The Centre de Recerca Matemàtica was present at this year’s TRB annual meeting. David Romero, from the CRM Knowledge Transfer Unit, and Lluís Alsedà, CRM Director, attended the meeting in Washington D.C. and had the opportunity to exhibit a poster presenting the Bus on-demand project developed by the CRM and promoted by Transports Metropolitants de Barcelona (TMB). They were accompanied by Josep Mensión, Director of the Bus Central Services Division at TMB.
The project studies the feasibility and advantages of using Demand-responsive transport (DRT) to replace local fixed routes within the city of Barcelona. It offers a service based on pre-established or dynamic routes and stops, which are adapted to the needs of origin or destination of the users. The aim is to optimize vehicle routes by maximizing the number of passengers and reducing travel time, by using cutting edge technology, custom made algorithms. These algorithms are inspired by aspects found on genetics and the natural selection mechanism, due to their adaptability, and that are also involved in the creation of Artificial Intelligence systems.
“Our goal by attending the TRB Annual Meeting is two-fold”, says David Romero, doctor in mathematics and member of the CRM KTU team. “On the one hand, we want to bring attention to the fact that there are mathematicians currently working on solving transport related problems, but we also want to explore what other challenges affecting society are out there that could be approached from a mathematical perspective to optimise procedures, whether it’s the use of certain materials to build roads or the impact of traffic lights frequency on traffic flow.”
The meeting offered an open forum to discuss the role of transportation in addressing global challenges such as climate change, equity, safety, and economic growth. Over the course of five days, participants attended technical sessions, workshops, and plenary sessions to hear presentations on cutting-edge research and innovative transportation solutions.
Transportation Innovation for a Better Future
In terms of what the future of the project developed together with TMB has in store, Romero believes that ‘’working with TMB brings a great opportunity for us to explore other problems and challenges affecting their activity, that could be improved or systematized. We would like to keep collaborating with them to strengthen our participation in international events from a research standpoint, such as the TRB Annual Meeting in the future.’’
The TRB meeting also featured several interactive sessions, including roundtable discussions, and networking opportunities. These sessions provide attendees with opportunities to discuss transportation challenges and explore potential solutions with their peers, with an emphasis on research and scientific advancement. In addition, the TRB showcases several exhibitions featuring the latest in transportation technology, products, and services. Events such as this stress the importance of collaboration and cooperation in advancing the transportation field and serves as an excellent opportunity to highlight the role that mathematics and math-based solutions can play when addressing global challenges to create a better future for all.

CRM Comm Team
Anna Drou | Pau Varela
CRMComm@crm.cat
Subscribe for more CRM News
From Real Problems to Mathematical Applications: A Chronicle of the XI Iberian Modeling Week
From July 7 to 11, the CRM became a hub for collaborative problem-solving during the XI Iberian Modeling Week, an international training initiative that brought together nearly 30 students from diverse academic backgrounds to tackle real-world...
The Way DNA Folds Might Help Explain How Cells Decide What to Become
A new study by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, Oxford, and CRM reveals how the 3D structure of DNA and a microscopic molecular tug-of-war shape the identity of every cell in our...
The CRM hosts a new edition of the Barcelona Introduction to Mathematical Research summer school
From June 30 to July 25, 2025, the CRM is organising a new edition of the Barcelona Introduction to Mathematical Research (BIMR), a summer school hosted at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The programme brings together 30 undergraduate...
Niclas Rieger defends his PhD thesis on data-driven climate analysis and marine pollution
Niclas Rieger defended his PhD thesis at the Institut de Ciències del Mar, culminating a research journey focused on extracting insights from both massive climate datasets and scarce environmental observations. Developed within the European CAFE...
A Day of Higher Structures in Symplectic and Poisson Geometry, with Summer Tapas at UPC Barcelona
The event "A Summer Tapas Invitation to Higher Structures in Symplectic and Poisson Geometry I", held on July 7, 2025, at EPSEB–UPC, featured talks by Alejandro Cabrera, Chenchang Zhu, Miquel Cueca, and Mario Garcia-Fernandez, offering a rich and informal exploration...
Luís Álamo, premi al millor pòster a la SFMC 2025 per un treball dirigit per Jezabel Curbelo
Luís Álamo, estudiant del màster FISYMAT de la Universitat de Granada, ha guanyat el premi al millor pòster a la conferència 3rd Spanish Fluid Mechanics Conference (SFMC25) amb un treball sobre estructures coherents Lagrangianes, basat en el seu...
Three CRM Researchers Invited to Speak at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians
From left to right: Xavier Cabré, Joaquim Ortega (photo by Xènia Fuentes, UB), and Xavier Tolsa. Three researchers affiliated with the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Xavier Cabré, Joaquim Ortega-Cerdà and Xavier Tolsa, have been invited to...
Gissell Estrada, beca Leonardo 2025 per explorar la migració col·lectiva amb matemàtiques i robots
L’investigadora Gissell Estrada Rodríguez, professora a la UPC i adscrita al CRM, ha rebut una Beca Leonardo 2025 per desenvolupar un projecte que combina matemàtiques i robòtica per estudiar la migració col·lectiva en sistemes vius i artificials....
JISD 2025 – Where Dynamical Systems Meet PDEs
JISD 2025, held at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) from June 30 to July 4, 2025, featured four advanced minicourses delivered by Dmitry Dolgopyat (on averaging and Fermi acceleration in dynamical systems), Serena Dipierro (on the theory of nonlocal minimal...
CERCA llança la campanya “Recerca amb orgull” per promoure la diversitat LGBTI+ en la ciència
La institució CERCA ha llançat la campanya “Recerca amb orgull” per promoure la visibilitat i la inclusió de les persones LGBTI+ en l’àmbit científic. Amb el lema “Als centres CERCA, fem ciència amb diversitat”, la iniciativa denuncia les...
ICMNS 2025: Ten Years of Mathematical Neuroscience, Celebrated in Barcelona
The 10th edition of the International Conference on Mathematical Neuroscience (ICMNS 2025) gathered more than 150 researchers from over 25 countries at the PRBB in Barcelona. Organised by the CRM and UPC, with the support of UPF, the event...
Hong Wang: On Solving Kakeya and Rethinking Restriction
At the Modern Trends in Fourier Analysis conference held at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, mathematician Hong Wang (NYU Courant) presented a new approach to the Stein restriction conjecture, connecting it with geometric incidence problems...