Dr. Grant Schultz has won the UTRAC Trailblazer Award for outstanding achievement in transportation research.
Dr. Grant Schultz, a Civil Engineering professor here in our department, has received the UTRAC Trailblazer Award for 2022. The Utah Department of Transportation Research & Innovation Division presents this award to a researcher, UDOT employee, contractor, or other professional who has made outstanding contributions or achievements in transportation research in Utah.
Dr. Schultz has a longstanding record of academic excellence. He received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Civil Engineering from BYU and then went on to receive his PhD in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Before he became a professor at BYU, he spent 3 years at Texas A&M Transportation Institute and 7 years as a consultant in Utah and Idaho.
Since then, he has taught study abroad courses in China and Europe, chaired the ITE Transportation Education Council, and is the current Chair of the TRB Standing Committee on Access Management. Alongside these activities, he participates in annual traffic research and supports UDOT’s goals for safety management.
Dr. Schultz has received over $3 million in UDOT research funding. One of his first projects was published as “Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Blank-Out Overhead Dynamic Advance Warning Signal (BODAWS) Systems” and this research has impacted intersection safety across the state. Advance warning systems are placed to warn motorists of impending signal changes, and they have proven to shape motorist behavior.
One of Dr. Schultz’s largest projects is UDOT Crash Prediction Models. He has spent years developing Hot Spot Identification and Analysis Tools for UDOT that use crash prediction and severity models to identify intersection crash hot spots across the state. This allows UDOT to prioritize their use of safety funds.
To watch Dr. Schultz be presented with his award and to hear about some of his research in more detail, go to https://youtu.be/xMeyYWo-bnk.