Jonathan Dowds is a Senior Research Analyst at the University of Vermont Transportation Research Center and holds a M.S. in Natural Resources. His work at the TRC focuses on transportation sustainability, specifically the nexus between transportation and climate change.

His research addresses transportation sector energy use, climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation. More specifically, Dowds has focused on best practices in adaptation planning and advancing criticality assessments to prioritize adaptation and other transportation investments.

Much of his recent mitigation research has focused on opportunities to reduce transportation fuel consumption by institutional vehicle fleets. Dowds has studied the deployment of electric vehicles, including assessing the suitability of electric vehicles to meet individuals travel needs in a range of urban/rural settings and estimating the impact of vehicle charging on power systems infrastructure and emissions. He has also contributed on multiple projects that worked to optimize the state of Vermont’s snowplow fleet route system and quantified the benefits of adding additional garage locations for those vehicles.

Selected Recent Projects

• Passenger Fleet Electrification & Electric Power Generation under Multi-sector Cap-and-Trade Systems; Funders: National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST) and the Joint Clean Climate Transport Research Partnership (JCCTRP)
• Vermont Transportation Energy Profile – 2019 Edition; Funder: Vermont Agency of Transportation
• Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Planning: Agency Roles and Workforce Development Needs; Funder: The National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Snow and Ice Control (Sic) Performance Measurement: Comparing “Grip,” Traffic Speed Distributions and Safety Outcomes During Winter Storms; Funder: Vermont Agency of Transportation
• Identifying Best Practices for Snowplow Route Optimization; Funder: Clear Roads Research Consortium through the Minnesota Department of Transportation

Publications

• Dowds, J., K. Sentoff, J. L. Sullivan, and L. Aultman-Hall. Impacts of Model Resolution on Transportation Network Criticality Rankings. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2653, 2017, pp. 93–100.
• Dowds, J., P. Hines, T. Ryan, W. Buchanan, E. Kirby, J. Apt, and P. Jaramillo. A Review of Large-Scale Wind Integration Studies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 49, 2015, pp. 768–794.
• Sullivan, J. L., J. Dowds, D. C. Novak, and D. M. Scott. 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.
• Dowds, J., and L. Aultman-Hall. Barriers to Implementation of Climate Adaptation Frameworks by State Departments of Transportation. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2532, 2015, pp. 21–28.
• Hilshey, A. D., P. D. Hines, P. Rezaei, and J. R. Dowds. Estimating the Impact of Electric Vehicle Smart Charging on Distribution Transformer Aging. IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2013, pp. 905–913.
• Dowds, J., J. Sullivan, and L. Aultman-Hall. 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, No. 2341, 2013, pp. 76–82.
• Dowds, J., P. D. Hines, and S. Blumsack. Estimating the Impact of Fuel-Switching between Liquid Fuels and Electricity under Electricity-Sector Carbon-Pricing Schemes. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Vol. 47, No. 2, 2013, pp. 76–88.
• Aultman-Hall, L., J. Sears, J. Dowds, and P. Hines. Travel Demand and Charging Capacity for Electric Vehicles in Rural States. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Vol. 2287, 2012, pp. 27–36.