U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| BROCHURE |
| This brochure is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
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| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-15-023 Date: December 2014 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-15-023 Date: December 2014 |
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About Exploratory Advanced Research Exploratory advanced research focuses on longer-term, higher–risk research with a high payoff potential. It matches opportunities from discoveries in science and technology with the needs of specific industries. The uncertainties in the research approach and outcomes challenge organizations and researchers to be innovative problem–solvers, which can lead to new research techniques, instruments, and processes that can be applied to future high–risk and applied research projects. |
Federal legislation establishes an Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program for transportation to address longer–term, higher– risk, breakthrough research with the potential for dramatic long-term improvements to transportation systems–improvements in planning, building, renewing, and operating safe, congestion–free, and environmentally sound transportation facilities. The Federal Hig hway A dministration's (FHWA) EAR Program secures broad scientific participation and extensive coverage of advanced ideas and new technologies through three key processes:
FHWA engages stakeholders in the EAR Program from evaluating potential research topics through transition of research results.
FHWA identifies and scopes topics through extensive initial-stage investigation. The EAR Program has supported scanning trips and meetings involving hundreds of national and international experts to assure use of the most recent advances in science and engineering.
FHWA uses expert panels to ensure the technical quality of sponsored research. The panels are composed of Federal, State, academic, and international scientific and engineering experts who are vetted to avoid conflicts of interest. The panels frequently include members from multiple disciplines to assure that cross applications and novel approaches to research are fully assessed.
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International Collaboration Access to international expertise is critical for the EAR Program. In some research areas, governments, industries, and universities in other parts of the world have developed important advances that could be applied to U.S. highway transportation. The FHWA EAR Program has engaged inter national experts by sponsoring scanning tours, convening forums, inviting expert reviewers, and offering postdoctoral research fellowships. FHWA expects to continue these ad hoc collaborations and to formalize longerterm relationships. |
The EAR Program funds research across a range of issues that are critical to the transportation industry:
Connected Highway and Vehicle System Concepts—Emphasizes the longer—term needs to reach critical FHWA safety and mobility goals by developing the theory and assessing feasibility for systems that leapfrog current technological approaches for linking infrastructure with future vehicle and personal mobility technology.
Breakthrough Concepts in Material Science— Leverages new approaches in materials science to produce innovative new highway materials with characteristics that enable enhanced functionality (including multifunctionality), constructability, sustainability, cost effectiveness or operating characteristics of highway infrastructure and system monitoring sensors to enhance highway safety, reliability, and resilience.
Human Behavior and Travel Choices—Leverages research concepts from the social sciences, including psychology and economics, along with more traditional research for improving safety, reducing congestion, and improving the livability of the Nation's communities
Technology for Assessing Performance — Seeks novel approaches and breakthrough technology that will revolutionize the use of performance management in the highway sector.
New Technology and Advanced Policies for Energy and Resource Conservation—Cuts across infrastructure, operations, and societal and complex natural systems to support innovative methods for reducing highway industry costs and moving toward sustainability.
The EAR Program strives to develop partnerships with the public and private sectors because the very nature of EAR is to apply ideas across traditional fields of research and stimulate new approaches to problem solving. Through seven solicitations, the EAR Program has awarded 75 projects involving both government and academic researchers. These projects represent the investment of $72 million in FHWA funds and leverage $26 million in matching funds.
The EAR Program bridges basic research (e.g., academic work funded by National Science Foundation grants) and applied research (e.g., studies funded by State departments of transportation). Research may include improved understanding of phenomena that can accelerate or allow for new lines of applied research. An example is a project called "Driver Behavior" in Traffic," in which investigators characterize driver behavior using naturalistic driving data and agent-based modeling techniques for development of effective strategies to improve transportation safety and operations. This work will assist in future safety research.
In addition to sponsoring EAR Program projects that advance the development of highway infrastructure and operations, the EAR Program is committed to promoting cross–fertilization with other technical fields, furthering promising lines of research, and deepening vital research capacity.
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Research Leading to Environmentally Sustainable Transportation The EAR Program funds research that will help the transportation industry to reach sustainability goals, for example:
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Disseminating new findings. Each EAR Program-sponsored project includes a transition plan for finding appropriate research follow-up activities through disseminating new findings and pursuing the potential for continued research. Where the findings suggest the value of further investigation, the EAR Program identifies appropriate activities to engage interested stakeholders who may want to continue the research. For example, when new technologies developed in a project are meeting anticipated objectives, there may be interest in applied research at FHWA or among State departments of transportation, Transportation Research Board cooperative research programs, or private industry. Other research projects may lead to unexpected findings or clarification about questions and approaches, which could suggest continued investigation under the EAR Program.
Building capacity. The EAR Program also furnishes value by increasing the capacity of organizations and individuals to conduct research. For example, the EAR Program supports the National Research Council Research Associateship Program, which provides postdoctoral and senior scientists and engineers with opportunities to conduct research on projects that complement other EAR Program research.
To take advantage of a broad variety of scientific and engineering discoveries, the EAR Program involves both traditional stakeholders (State department of transportation researchers, University Transportation Center researchers, and Transportation Research Board committee and panel members) and nontraditional stakeholders (investigators from private industry, related disciplines in academia, and research programs in other countries) throughout the research process. Since 2006, the EAR Program involved stakeholders throughout the following program activities:
Identifying and scoping topics as part of over 50 meetings and scanning trips.
Reviewing proposals and projects. More than 200 experts provided assessments of proposals, ongoing projects, or possible new projects. Most reviewers are from academic institutions and, in descending order, State and local departments of transportation, other Federal agencies, private companies, and the international community.
Conducting research. The program has awarded 75 research projects on 43 different topics between 2007 and 2014. The research awards include work by multidisciplinary teams at 56 academic institutions, 35 private companies, 12 State and local agencies, and 10 Federal laboratories.
For more information, see the EAR Program Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch. The site features information on research solicitations, updates on ongoing research, links to published materials, summaries of past EAR Program events, and details on upcoming events.
Visit the EAR Program website at www.fhwa.dot.gov/advancedresearch
