Skip to main content
  1. Learning Catalog
  2. Strengthening Mobility and ...
  3. Strengthening Mobility and ...

Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program Ideation & Grant Application Best Practices Review

Thank you

This live web event has ended. Thank you for attending.

Description

This webinar is led by ITE TSM&O Council - Smart Communities Committee.

To learn how to register and see more information about the webinar including PDH credit certificate fees, please view the webinar course page here.

Webinar Description:
The US DOT's Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grants program was established to provide grants to eligible public sector agencies to conduct demonstration projects focused on advanced smart community technologies and systems in order to improve transportation efficiency and safety. The next Stage 1 NOFO is now open, with applications due on July 12, 2024 at 5PM ET. This webinar seeks to inform attendees of the SMART grants application process and procedures, explain what projects are eligible, and share advice for determining ideas for application submittal.

In addition, three agencies that have recently been awarded SMART grants will share their experiences, including how they decided to submit for the grant, questions they asked internally as they prepared their application, challenges they faced throughout the process, and opportunities they took advantage of that benefitted their application. We will hear each of their stories and discuss broader project ideation and best practices.

Learning Objectives:

  • Recognize the requirements of the SMART grants program application.
  • Understand the objectives of the program and determine which project types are best suited for this application.
  • Recall successes and challenges of previously awarded agencies and learn from their experiences.
  • Develop an understanding of what makes a strong grant application for the SMART grants program.

Policies:
The webinar recording will be made available on-demand it will have a shelf life of 60 days to register before it is archived. Participants are able to purchase and retrieve their PDH credit certificate until their access to the content expires. After the content expires and goes into archive, the PDH credit certificate opportunity is forfeited.

Contributors

  • Moderator: Beth Ostrowski, P.E., PTOE, Regional Practice Leader | KCI TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | Nashville, Tennessee, United States

    Beth Ostrowski, P.E., PTOE, serves as the Regional Practice Leader for the transportation group of KCI in Nashville, Tennessee. During her 15 years in practice, Beth has worked on a wide range of project types in both the public and private sectors. Beth loves solving problems, is passionate about helping her community, and doesn’t back down in the face of a challenge. She is most proud of the projects that have engaged communities and solved longstanding mobility challenges, even when tough community meetings were involved.

  • Madeline Zhu, Policy Advisor, SMART Grants Program | Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of Transportation | San Francisco, CA, United States

    Madeline Zhu is the Policy Advisor for the Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program at the US Department of Transportation. She leads the programmatic work for SMART, a $500 million discretionary grant program investing in transportation technology demonstrations, which is operated out of the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Research. SMART was created in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is the nation's largest investment in smart cities and communities. Prior to SMART, Madeline spent 8 years as a revenue and sales executive for transportation technology companies across the ITS and smart cities vertical including Swiftly and Lacuna Technologies. There, she worked with transportation agencies and cities of all sizes across the US and globally, from Boston, Miami-Dade County, and Los Angeles, to Johannesburg, Adelaide, and major cities in Canada. Some of her projects included cloud-based operations management tools for transit, standardizing and scaling the reach of real-time passenger information systems, and supporting the digital management of the largest micromobility fleet in the US. Prior to that, she developed new business models and partnerships between corporates, development organizations, and cities across Africa, which catalyzed millions of dollars of transportation infrastructure investment through new data tools. Madeline’s technical expertise includes digital infrastructure, passenger information tools, curb and new mobility, onboard hardware, and open data standards development and implementation. Madeline is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Cape Town.

  • Michael Eichler, Strategic Planning Advisor, Digital Modernization | Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | Washington, DC, United States

    Michael is a Strategic Planning Advisor with WMATA’s Digital Modernization organization. He is working to plan and implement a digital-first, customer-focused Metro. He has 14 years of experience working at the intersection of transit, planning, and data with WMATA. Michael is the vice chair of the TRB AP090 Standing Committee on Transit Data (https://www.trb-transit-data.org/) and a member of the Transit ITS Data Exchange Specification (TIDES) board of directors (https://tides-transit.org/). He holds a dual master’s degree in Transportation Engineering and City & Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in Systems Analysis & Engineering from the George Washington University.

  • Mark Plass, P.E., Chief Transportation Engineer | Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization | Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

    Mark Plass is the Chief Transportation Engineer with the Broward County (Florida) Metropolitan Planning Organization (BMPO) and is managing a SMART Grant through which a prototype digital twin will be developed to generate rapid, insightful analyses covering a variety of planning scenarios associated with redevelopment options and development of traffic management systems and associated operational strategies. Prior to joining the BMPO he worked as the Florida Department of Transportation’s District 4 (Ft. Lauderdale) Traffic Operations Engineer where he led development of the District’s transportation system management and operations (TSM&O) program. Mark holds a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering and an MS in Transportation Engineering, both from the University of Wisconsin, and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Florida.

  • John Thai, Principal Traffic Engineer | City of Anaheim | Anaheim, CA, United States

June 25, 2024
Tue 2:00 PM EDT

Duration 1H 30M

This live web event has ended.

Support Contact
kbroom@ite.org
202-785-0060
For additional support, please also contact ITE IT Director, Stephen Byrd at sbyrd@ite.org