# John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

The John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (colloquially, the Volpe Center) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a center of transportation and logistics expertise that is part of the United States Department of Transportation.

## A Brief History

A former NASA laboratory, the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) established the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) in 1970 to bring technical capability and a future-oriented outlook to pressing national transportation issues.
Renamed in 1990 in honor of the second U.S. Secretary of Transportation and Governor of Massachusetts John A. Volpe, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center has proudly and professionally served 20 Secretaries of Transportation (see United States Secretary of Transportation), their deputies and assistant secretaries, and more than 300 modal administrators.
Today, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center serves as a federal resource positioned to provide world-renowned, multidisciplinary, multimodal transportation expertise on behalf of U.S. DOT’s operating administrations, the Office of the Secretary, and other federal agencies, state and local governments, academia, and industry.
The U.S. DOT Volpe Center objectively addresses the most complex transportation challenges facing transportation and the nation, with specific emphasis on safety, transformation, and infrastructure.

## An Integral Part of U.S. DOT

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s extensive cross-modal partnerships have led to innovative solutions that advance national and global transportation systems. The Center anticipates emerging transportation issues and objectively addresses the nation’s most pressing and complex transportation challenges, particularly those that can be solved with an intermodal, systems perspective.
Through a vibrant culture of thought leadership and meaningful engagement in professional and technical organizations, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s multidisciplinary experts anticipate and address challenges, collaborate to drive innovation, and develop solutions that improve transportation systems across the United States and the world.

## Located in the Heart of Innovation

In September 2023, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center opened its doors to a new, state-of-the-art facility located at 220 Binney Street in Cambridge, MA, directly adjacent to the old facility. A proud member of the Kendall Square community since its inception, this new location firmly positions U.S. DOT in the epicenter of technology, innovation, and entrepreneurial startups.
The state-of-the-art facility enables the U.S. DOT Volpe Center to continue its innovative work of addressing the nation’s most complex transportation challenges. The new facility is home to federal staff, in addition to U.S. DOT Region 1 headquarters for the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as regional offices for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and United States Army North.

## Collaboration with Sponsors

U.S. DOT Volpe Center experts collaborate with project sponsors on more than 300 projects each year to create a safer and more efficient transportation system for everyone. By partnering with key administration and Departmental leaders, the U.S. DOT Volpe Center maintains a central, crosscutting role in U.S. DOT and with other key stakeholders, adding value through technical excellence, innovation, and a sustained commitment to public service.
The U.S. DOT Volpe Center is cost reimbursable, receives no direct appropriations, and is 100 percent funded by sponsored projects. Nearly 85 percent of the U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s work is sponsored by U.S. DOT partners.
Additional projects are sponsored by other federal agencies—including the United States Department of Defense, NASA, the United States Department of the Interior, United States Department of Agriculture, United States Department of Commerce, United States Department of Energy, United States Department of State, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, United States Department of Justice, and the United States Department of Homeland Security—in addition to state and local governments, academia, and industry.

## Areas of Expertise

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center is a global leader in applied transportation research, analysis, and technology. U.S. DOT Volpe Center professionals provide technical expertise and develop solutions to help sponsors solve complex transportation challenges. Its institutional knowledge provides a historical perspective that cannot be found elsewhere. The U.S. DOT Volpe Center anticipates emerging and future transportation issues and brings years of problem-solving experience to inform decision-making.
The U.S. DOT Volpe Center applies its expertise in the following cross-cutting technical areas:
* Safety
* Applied Research and Engineering
* Innovation, Automation, and Advanced Technology
* Infrastructure Modernization and Resilience
* Energy, Environment, and Economic Analysis
* Communication, Navigation, Surveillance, and Decision-Support Systems
* Freight and Supply Chain Optimization
* Global Competitiveness

## Innovative Lab and Research Space

The U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s new facility is designed to enhance the innovation, collaboration, flexibility, and partnerships that have sustained its dynamic culture for many years, while embracing emerging transportation needs of the future.
The U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s state-of-the-art facility includes laboratories, conference space, offices, open workstations, and joint use space that bring together multimodal staff from across U.S. DOT to encourage collaboration, foster connection, and the exchange of ideas.
The U.S. DOT Volpe Center’s innovative laboratory space includes:
* 6,000 square feet of usable space
* Scientists can test theoretical concepts in real-world simulations
* Accessible labs with advanced equipment and technology
* Human Factors Lab: Research in the Human Factors Lab seeks to understand how humans interact with systems, as well as how to understand risks, predict errors, and develop mitigations to improve transportation safety. Lab research allows staff to test new systems, procedures, or technologies in a controlled, configurable environment, before they become operational.
* Maritime Safety and Security Information Systems (MSSIS) Lab: The systems developed and hosted in the MSSIS Lab have been used by hundreds of government agencies for drug interdiction, rescue of mariners, fisheries enforcement, protection of endangered species, and many other purposes.
* NextGen Lab: The NextGen Lab serves as a critical facilitator of partnerships between NASA, DOD, and FAA, hosting a wide range of hardware, software, and networking capabilities that enable cutting-edge advancements and innovations in airspace modernization.
* Wake Vortex Lab: The Wake Vortex Lab provides large-scale remote data collection and processing capabilities that enable the analyses of data-driven assessments for safely mitigating wake turbulence separations. The assessments include the integration of new entrants from the wake perspective such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft, as well as wake mitigation procedures and system designs for traditional aircraft already in operation.
* QUIET Lab: The Quiet User Interface Environmental Test (QUIET) Lab has extremely low background levels, enabling interviews or human subjects and equipment testing free from acoustic contamination and compromise by ambient sounds (e.g., HVAC, lights, or other anthropogenic sounds). The QUIET Lab also facilitates the testing of specialized acoustic instrumentation in advance of deployment in remote environments.