May 2, 2014
Dr. H. Oliver Gao: Associate Professor @ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
Dr. Gao is an Associate Professor in the graduate fields of 1) Civil and Environmental Engineering (Transportation Systems Engineering), 2) Systems Engineering, 3) Cornell Institute of Public Affairs (CIPA), and 4) Air Quality in Earth and Atmospheric Science at Cornell University. His research focuses on transportation systems, environment (especially air quality and climate change), energy, and sustainable development. He also studies sustainable food systems, quantifying and mitigating green-house gas emissions from food supply chains. He is a member of Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation and Air Quality (ADC20), a member of Transportation Research Board Committee on Maintenance Equipment (AHD60), an academic member on the FACA Committee of US EPA MOVES model development, and a member (invited) on the editorial board of the international journal Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. Gao received his graduate degrees (Ph.D. in CEE, M.S. in Statistics, and M.S. in Agriculture and Resource Economics) from the University of California at Davis in 2004, M.S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1999, and duel undergraduate degrees in Civil Engineering and Environmental Science in 1996 from Tsinghua University, China. Before joining Cornell, Gao was a quant in the mathematical and econometrical modeling division at the Rohatyn Group, LLG, a Wall Street hedge fund specializing in emerging markets.
Transportation, Environment, and Energy Systems From Transportation Planning/Management to Air Pollution and Public Health-Are We Doing the Right Thing, and Doing it Right?
Transportation related air pollution, GHG emissions and energy problems are a significant issue in China, the U.S. and across the world. The World Health Organization estimates that urban air pollution causes 200,000 deaths per year worldwide and that it will be responsible for 8 million premature deaths from 2000 to 2020. Sacrificing transportation needs for environmental quality is simply infeasible since transportation provides a vital wheel for economic development. How do we meet the transportation needs in the age of development without sacrificing environment and energy sustainability? In this talk Dr. Gao takes a phased approach looking into the depth and their inter-relationships of the following six intermingling topics that span across transportation, air quality, and energy systems: cleanup of the transportation system, mathematical modeling in search for cost - effective environment abatement strategies; equity and environmental justice in green transportation programs; transportation emission and ozone pollution: emphasizing the need to integrate transportation and air quality modeling; PM2.5 pollution from transportation; and environmental impacts of alternative transportation fuels.