The National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST) provides national leadership in advancing environmentally sustainable transportation through cutting-edge research, direct policy engagement, and education of our future leaders. The Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis) leads the NCST in partnership with California State University, Long Beach; Georgia Institute of Technology; Texas Southern University; the University of California, Riverside; the University of Southern California; and the University of Vermont.
The NCST was established in 2013 after being selected in a national competition to serve as one of five national transportation centers as part of the University Transportation Centers (UTC) program administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). In 2016, the NCST successfully re-competed for the opportunity to continue serving as one of the U.S. DOT’s seven National UTCs and is addressing the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act research priority area of Preserving the Environment. In 2023, the NCST successfully re-competed for a third time and continues to serve as one of the U.S. DOT’s five National UTCs, addressing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) research priority area of Preserving the Environment.
The NCST’s research, education, and engagement programs are organized around the following high-priority themes:
The NCST receives funding from the U.S. DOT, the California Department of Transportation, the California Air Resources Board, the California Energy Commission, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and sources in the States of Georgia, Texas, and Vermont.