Senior Research Analyst

Jim Sullivan is a Senior Research Analyst at the UVM Transportation Research Center. Prior to his research career at UVM, he worked in the private sector as a consulting engineer for 15 years. He holds a professional engineering license and is pursuing a Ph.D.

Jim leads projects in the research areas of land-use and transportation modeling, transportation energy and system efficiency, and winter maintenance. His modeling research includes applications of critical-infrastructure modeling platforms for testing of various measures of network performance under scenarios of disruption. Applications of risk-based methods for assessing critical infrastructure have included passenger-vehicle transport, freight transport, delivery of emergency services, and provision of snow and ice control, all under disruptive scenarios created by severe weather.

Additionally, Jim currently maintains and operates the statewide travel-demand model for Vermont under contract to the Vermont Agency of Transportation, along with a variety of research projects related to transportation demand, behavior, and energy use. Although Jim works on numerous critical research themes, the aspect he values most about his position with the TRC is the opportunity to work alongside various accomplished faculty members and colleagues.

Publications

  • Sullivan, James L. and Karen Sentoff, 2020. Identifying Roadway Physical Characteristics that Contribute to Emissions Differences Between Hybrid and Conventional Vehicles. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2020 (pending).
  • D.C. Novak, J.L. Sullivan, K. Sentoff, and J. Dowds, 2020. A framework to guide strategic disinvestment in roadway infrastructure considering social vulnerability. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 132, 2020, pp. 436-451.
  • Sullivan, James L., Jonathan Dowds, David C. Novak, Darren M. Scott, and Cliff Ragsdale, 2019. Development and application of an iterative heuristic for roadway snow and ice control. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Volume 127, 2019, pp. 18-31.
  • Novak, David C., James L. Sullivan, Jeremy Reed, Mladen Gagulic, Nick Van Den Berg, 2018. Performance-related specification and payment modifiers in highway construction projects. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 35 Issue: 10, pp. 2348-2372.
  • Dowds, Jonathan, Karen Sentoff, James Sullivan, and Lisa Aultman-Hall 2017. Assessing the Impact of Network Resolution and Origin-Destination Aggregation on the Stability of Transportation Network Criticality Rating. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2017, Vol. 2653.
  • Aultman-Hall, Lisa, Chester Harvey, James Sullivan, and Jeffrey J. LaMondia, 2016. The implications of long-distance tour attributes for national travel data collection in the United States. Transportation (2016), pp. 1-29.
  • Sullivan, James L., Jeffrey J. LaMondia, Chester Harvey, Carter Garrison, and Lisa Aultman-Hall, 2016. Analysis of the Long-Distance and Overnight Travel Tour Planning Process. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board Jan 2016, Vol. 2594, pp. 1-10.
  • Sullivan, J.L., J. Dowds, D.C. Novak, and D.M. Scott, 2015. Strategic Location of Satellite Salt Facilities for Roadway Snow and Ice Control. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board. Vol. 2482 (2015), pp. 32-40.
  • Novak, D.C. and James L. Sullivan, 2014. A Link-Focused Methodology for Evaluating Accessibility to Emergency Services. Decision Support Systems, Volume 57 (January 2014): 309-319.
  • Dowds, Jonathan, James Sullivan, and Lisa Aultman-Hall, 2013. Comparisons of Discretionary Passenger Vehicle Idling Behavior by Season and Trip Stage with Global Positioning System and Onboard Diagnostic Devices. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Volume 2341 (November 2013): 76-82.
  • Novak, David C., James L. Sullivan, and Darren M. Scott, 2012. A Network-Based Approach for Evaluating and Ranking Transportation Roadway Projects. Applied Geography, Volume 34 (May 2012): 498–506.
  • Sullivan, James L., David C. Novak, Lisa Aultman-Hall and Darren Scott, 2010. Identifying Critical Road Segments and Measuring System-Wide Robustness in Transportation Networks with Isolating Links: A Link-Based Capacity-Reduction Approach. Transportation Research Part A, Volume 44 (2010): 323–336.
  • Sullivan, James L., David C. Novak, Lisa Aultman-Hall and Darren Scott, 2009. A review of current practice in network disruption analysis and an assessment of the ability to account for isolating links in transportation networks. Transportation Letters: The International Journal of Transportation Research, Volume 1 (2009): 271-280.
James Sullivan

Areas of Expertise and/or Research

Primary

  • Network Disruption Analysis
  • Network Performance Measurement

Secondary

  • Roadway Snow and Ice Control
  • Transportation Climate Adaptation

Education

  • M.S., University of Vermont
  • B.S., Cornell University

Contact

Phone:
  • 802-656-9679
Office Location:

105 Mansfield House

Courses Taught

  • Course Instructor for CE 295: Transportation Planning and Modeling

An advanced elective covering the entire process of travel-demand modeling, the collection, analysis, & expansion of travel survey & land-use data, and mathematical methods common to transportation planning, including spatial multiple regression, cross-classification, Gravity Model application and calibration, curve fitting, binary and multinomial logit choice modeling, network path search, and network assignment.

  • Course Instructor for CE 133: Transportation Systems

A core course for juniors and seniors in civil engineering covering transportation planning, traffic flow and parking analysis, safety analysis and geometric design.