CMMM Hosts Mannering, Watkins

University of South Florida (USF) Professor Fred Mannering and Professor Kari Watkins of the University of California, Davis presented their current research and long-term findings during events hosted by the Center for MultiModal Mobility in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Areas (CMMM).

Mannering, who serves as executive director of USF’s Center for Urban Transportation Research, delivered a Kirlin Distinguished Lecture on Oct. 1, focusing on blending artificial intelligence and machine learning with traditional science in the context of highway safety research.

As Mannering noted in his lecture, emerging AI and ML-based approaches—unlike their earlier statistical and econometric counterparts—have not incorporated the underlying behavioral science or factors such as endogeneity, unobserved heterogeneity, sample selectivity, and temporal dynamics. Using highway safety research as an example, Mannering argued in favor of a “Goldilocks” blend that combines the benefits of traditional and AI/ML approaches.

The second event, featuring Watkins, was held on Nov. 6 as part of the CMMM Seminar Series. Watkins, who directs a U.S. Department of Transportation-funded university transportation center, the National Center for Sustainable Transportation, drew from her more than 20 years of research, education, and mentoring to deliver key takehoms about what has and has not been effective in public transit policy.

Decades of research, she said, demonstrates that decisions about utilizing roadway space—for instance, constructing separate, protected bike paths instead of intermingling cyclists with other vehicles—can go a long way towards encouraging active mobility and addressing the perennial health, safety, and sustainability problems associated with transportation networks.

Both the Mannering lecture and the Watkins seminar were organized by CMMM, a Tier One Urban Transportation Center funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, as part of its mission to help improve the movement of people and goods across urban, rural, and tribal communities,

Published November 10, 2026