José Holguín-Veras
Director, Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment (CITE) & William H. Hart Chair Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY, UNITED STATES
He is a world expert in freight transportation planning and policy and disaster response logistics
Spotlight
Areas of Expertise (6)
Urban Logistics and Freight Transportation
Impacts of Ecommerce
Sustainable Freight Transportation
Disaster Response Logistics
Transportation Planning
Management of Panic Buying
Biography
Professor Holguín-Veras’s research emphasizes the integration of state of the art economic principles into transportation modeling so that a complete picture can be developed as to the broader impacts of transportation activity on the economy and the environment; and the study of the behavior of the participating agents to support sustainable policies. His work includes a broad spectrum of research tracks ranging from: basic research on transportation modeling, research on the behavioral responses of agents to pricing and other sustainable policies, research on simplified modeling techniques, i.e., to estimate demand using secondary data. The latter techniques are bound to benefit developing countries because they minimize the need for expensive data collection efforts. His leadership positions at key international research organizations include: Vice-President for Logistics of the Pan-American Conferences of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Elected Member of the Council for the Association for European Transport, member of the International Organizing Committee of the City Logistics Conferences, member of three Technical Committees and invitational Task Forces on freight modeling at the Transportation Research Board. He is member of a number of editorial boards, Review Chair for freight transportation at the Transportation Research Board, and Transportation Editor at Networks and Spatial Economics.
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Education (3)
University of Texas at Austin: Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering 1996
Universidad Central de Venezuela: Magister Scientiarum, Civil and Environmental Engineering 1984
Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo: Civil Engineer, Civil and Environmental Engineering 1981
Media Appearances (6)
Delivery or dine in? Restaurateurs consider a future without masks
Spectrum News tv
2022-02-11
... Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy said the demand (for online food delivery) may drop off. “Nothing will replace the experience of going to a restaurant, the environment, having a drink, having good company, etcetera,” said Jose Holguin-Veras, director of the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation and the Environment at RPI. He co-authored a paper on the research that surveyed consumers about their habits prior to the pandemic, during the pandemic and their expectations after the pandemic. ...
15-Minute Grocery Delivery Has Come to N.Y.C. Not Everyone Is Happy.
New York Times print
2021-11-09
... Ultrafast grocery services also encourage people to place smaller and more frequent orders, resulting in more delivery trips and bringing more trucks to residential areas to restock hubs — all of which worsen congestion and pollution, said José Holguín-Veras, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who studies transportation issues. “It’s the price of convenience,” Prof. Holguín-Veras said. “But I feel like I’m going against a tsunami because once you get used to that, why do you want to walk to the local store or plan ahead to buy groceries for the week?” ...
Double-Parking Crackdown in NYC Would Pinch Businesses
The Wall Street Journal print
2019-04-25
New York City wants to tighten double-parking rules citywide to ease congestion, but delivery firms say the changes would lead to more tickets and increase business expenses because there are so few spaces to park legally.
‘Amazon Day’ Shipping Option Aims to Reduce Deliveries and CO2 Emissions
Fortune print
2019-03-01
For households that constantly order items on Amazon, the convenience can often be soured by having to deal with a barrage of packages arriving multiple times a week.
Online Shopping Was Supposed to Keep People Out of Traffic. It Only Made Things Worse
Time print
2018-12-18
At the tail end of a three-hour drive from upstate New York to Boston, Professor José Holguín-Veras stared morosely through his windshield at the signs of a transportation apocalypse. “I’m surrounded by trucks and nothing is moving,” he grumped into his cellphone. “This is what the future looks like.”
Japan's 1000-year-old-warning
Los Angeles Times online
2012-03-11
I am an engineer and a disaster researcher; I went to Japan after the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9.0 Tohoku earthquake to try to identify lessons there that could benefit future disaster-response operations. In late May, I was following the usual research routine of interviewing individuals involved at the various stages of the disaster response, and particularly those involved in the distribution of critical supplies as part of the relief effort.
Articles (2)
The impacts of time of day pricing on car user behavior: findings from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s initiative
Transportation2011 This paper discusses the key findings from a research project that assessed the impacts of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s Time of Day Pricing Initiative on the behavior of passenger car users. The survey data, comprised...
Preliminary Insights into Optimal Pricing and Space Allocation at Intermodal Terminals with Elastic Arrivals and Capacity Constraint
Networks and Spatial Economics2006 This paper discusses derivations, and implications of, formulae to compute optimal space allocation and pricing for storage at container terminals. The case discussed in the paper considers elastic arrivals and container dwelling times, which is a...
