In Loving Memory of - Morgan State University

In Loving Memory of

Charles E. Via Jr. Professor of Civil and Environmental EngineeringVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USAHis Education• B.S. in Civil Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan, 1967• M.S. in Civil Engineering, Hokkaido University, Japan, 1969• Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, USA, 1974His Work Experience• Transportation Development Associates, Seattle Washington (1974-1977)• General Motors Corporation, Transportation Systems Division andInternational Logistics (1977-1982)• University of Delaware, Assistant Professor (1982-88); Associate Professor(1988-1994); Professor (1994-2005)• Virginia Tech, Professor (2005-2012)His Honors:• Co-chair, the 13th Mini-Euro Conference, Treatment of Uncertainty inTransportation Analysis, Bari, Italy, 2002 and 2006.• International Board of Directions Recognition of Achievement award, Instituteof Transportation Engineers, November 2002.• Recognition of Achievement, Mid-Atlantic Section Institute of TransportationEngineers, November 2002.• Slocomb Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Engineering, University ofDelaware, May 2003.• Charles E. Via Jr. Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, VirginiaTech, 2005.• Honorary Doctoral Degree, Aalto University, 2010His Areas of InterestTransportation Planning, Urban Transportation Systems, Traffic Engineering,Logistics, Treatment of Uncertainty and Data, Fuzzy Set theory, PossibilitiesTheory, Application of Soft Computing, Intelligent Transportation Systems1

2His Research PhilosophyI believe that transportation engineering provides us with an excellent platform to studyhow technology, science, humanity and social sciences interact. Mobility is one of theessential requirements for human activity. The present state of our cities and our way oflife depend very much on the way that transportation systems were developed over theyears. The shape and functions of the city are also changing dynamically with thetransportation systems. The study of transportation helps us understand the complexphenomena that underlies between mobility and socioeconomic activities of the people.Because the study of transportation deals with complex phenomena, organizing thecause-effect relationships systematically is essential. My approach to transportation is todevelop a sound reasoning base for proposed solutions by learning from the pastphenomena combined with the principles of economics, physics, mathematics, socialsciences, and the culture of the region. The aspect of dealing with incomplete knowledgeand incomplete data when making inferences is my current research interest. In manyinstances, the answer can lie between yes and no, and the unknown must be recognized.In other words, how to express what we know and what we do not know in an honestand forthright manner and to measure the strength of reasoning is my general theme ofresearch in transportation.Within this framework, I study the relationship between information and decision whenplanning urban transportation systems, Intelligent Transportation Systems, logistics, anddevelopment of transportation policies. My current research topics includeunderstanding the data needs for planning and operations of public transportation,development of simulation models for traffic flow both for automobiles and humanactivities, and measuring the quality and value of information. Further, most recently Iam interested in the idea of the agent based system, in which individual elements whichcomprises of a system has desires and “life” of its own. The elements may be differentstakeholders and interest groups. Instead of the top-down optimization, using thebottom-up approach in which the individuals play to maximize its own utility, onemight be able to see an organized pattern of the behavior of the entire system. The use ofthis concept has allowed me to formulate the traditional optimization topics oftransportation in the multi-objective context by considering the desires of individualsystem elements, which may yet be not completely certain.Traditionally in transportation engineering, uncertainty is addressed in the probabilisticframework. In the past two decades, a significant advance has been made to systematizethe approaches to uncertainty in Systems Science. Under this larger framework, differenttheories have emerged to deal with different types of uncertainties. Since transportationdeals not only with the statistical information but also with perception, desires,incomplete data, natural language, visual images, etc., and since the nature ofpropositions is not always well defined, the truth of a proposition needs to be analyzedcarefully, consistent with the type of data and the type of proposition. One of theimportant challenges facing civil engineers today is accountability. I want to advocateproper treatment of uncertainty in a scientifically credible manner in the process ofprediction, diagnosis, and control/regulation.3

Dr. Shinya Kikuchi, 69, Chaired Professor of Transportation Systems Engineering atVirginia Polytechnic Institute of Technology in Falls Church, VA, died on December6, 2012, at Christiana Hospital in Delaware.Among hundreds of students I have taught, my contacts with Shinya have beenspecial because during more than 40 years since he came to study at Penn, he was mystudent, then alumnus and one of the founders of our Alumni Club - TSEAC, he wasprofessional colleague, as well as personal friend, including families on both sides.From many memories of him that I have, I will select some that are most significantand memorable.Personal BackgroundProfessor Kikuchi grew up in Kobe, Japan and obtained Bachelor’s and Master’sdegrees at Hokkaido University in Sapporo. Interestingly, his grandfather studied atthe Rensselaer Institute of Technology many decades ago. That may have influencedShinya to go to the United States for his further studies: in 1970 he came to theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where he studied Transportation Systems Engineeringand obtained Ph.D. degree in 1974.Shinya worked hard to adjust to living alone in this country. After his doctorate hegot a job with a consulting firm in Seattle. To get there, he rented a car and drovealone across the country After three years he transferred to General Motors in Detroit,Michigan, where he worked for another five years.I met Shinya’s father in Japan in 1979, while Shinya worked for General Motors. Thefather asked me how Shinya was doing. My answer was that he was doing all right,but that he has more potential for a stronger professional career which he was not yetusing. “He could do more” was my answer.Shinya Kikuchi did decide to try to get into academia. He applied and got a positionat the University of Delaware, where he worked then 25 years. There he introducedmany initiatives. He founded a program in Transportation Engineering incooperation with other departments and their programs. He obtained funds to doresearch and attract students from many countries. It was obvious that in academicenvironment he was using much more of his intellectual potential that I knew he had.In 2005 Dr. Kikuchi transferred to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute of Technology asa Charles E. Via Chair Professor and director of its Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering Program.In his personal life, Shinya did maintain some contacts with his family and with someprofessional colleagues in Japan. However, he also found many friends in his newnative country, the United States. Here he met Laura and they got married during abeautiful event which we like to remember – it was 37 years ago! Through Laura hegot a new family in Peru, with which he developed stronger ties than with his ownfamily on the other side of the Pacific.45

Professional CareerAs he obtained academic freedom, Shinya becameintellectually much more active than he was in the industry.His teaching and research focused on TransportationPlanning, Traffic Engineering, many areas in UrbanTransportation, Transit Systems and Logistics. He alsoobtained reputation in Fuzzy Sets Theory, Methodology forAnalysis and Planning with Limited Information andUncertainties, many areas of Operations ResearchApplications in Transportation, and Soft Computing ofTransportation Problems. He published several bookchapters, about 80 papers and 75 reports in these areas.In addition to this assistance I gave to Shinya in hiscareer, I also called on him to join me in performingresearch, studies and several projects I did for theFederal Transit Administration, for SEPTA inPhiladelphia, and for other agencies. Thus, I invitedShinya and his team to join me in working on thefundamental project for operation of the newlycreated integrated network of Regional Rail after theCenter City Tunnel was built in Philadelphia.A few years later we produced for SEPTA comprehensive plans for Short-Term andone for Long-Term Improvements of the Regional Rail System. Shinya, Eric Bruun,myself and several other colleagues produced the study “Bus Transit System – ItsUnderutilized Potential” which strongly influenced FTA to develop its BRT effort.In his work at both universities, Delaware and Virginia Tech, Kikuchi’s main activitywas teaching. He collected students from many countries and prepared them forsuccessful careers in transportation industry and public agencies. Several of themtook academic positions, where they prepare further generations of transportationexperts in many countries.Kikuchi’s professional work is by no means limited to the events in Newark, DE andNorthern Virginia. He attended many professional conferences and presented lecturesat universities in Japan, Italy, Finland, Great Britain, China, India and other countries.He was co-founder of Annual Helsinki Summer School of Transportation at AaltoUniversity, which attract a sizable number of students from many countries.For his extensive work and results of his lecturing in many countries, Kikuchireceived several awards. To mention only a few, he received a British ResearchCouncil Scholarship in 1995 and Excellence in Teaching Award at the University ofDelaware in 2003. The highest professional recognition he received in 2010: HonoraryDoctoral Degree of Aalto University in Helsinki for his research and lecturingactivities.My Cooperation with Shinya KikuchiOne of the great awards we professors have is that we enjoy achievements of ourstudents after their studies with us. Shinya Kikuchi many times expressed hisgratitude to me for the knowledge he obtained as my student. Actually, Shinya wasone of my alumni with whom I cooperated extensively over the past several decades.During the early 1990s, Shinya commented that we do not have any organization ofalumni of our Transportation Systems Engineering Program at the University ofPennsylvania. At a reception for SEPTA’s General Manager Louis Gambaccini in 1996I talked to several of our alumni including Shinya. We decided that we should makean alumni organization. The result of that decision has been creation of theTransportation Systems Engineering Alumni Club – TSEAC, which has become themost active alumni organization in the field of transportation I know off. As one ofits founders, Shinya deserves credit for this remarkable development.Dr. Kikuchi’s Memory and LegacyAs we remember and celebrate Dr. Kikuchi’s life of 69 years, we should mention thathe is survived by his wife of 37 years Laura, and her extensive family in the U.S. aswell as in Peru. He also has a sister Mari Yamada and brother Rinya and theirfamilies in Japan.As a professional, Kikuchi will be remembered by all of us who have worked at TRB,ITE, ASCE and other organizations as a capable, dedicated and very activecontributor and participant in their meetings, making presentations and chairingcommittees. His other contributions are many papers in the areas I mentioned. Healso leaves lively memories of his scientific contributions presented to numerousaudiences and transportation organizations in many countries. However, I think thathis most significant contribution has been educating many students intotransportation experts. Their work represents a “multiplier effect” of Kikuchi’s workas university professor.6I advised Shinya in his searches for jobs when he received his Ph.D. and later as well.We planned his interview when he came to the University of Delaware and I gave astrong recommendation for him at Virginia Tech, when he got an excellent position inwhich he worked for the next seven years. He taught literally until his last days,which shows his dedication and enthusiasm for teaching!For many of us who were close to him through contacts and joint work throughdecades, Shinya Kikuchi remains in memory as a dedicated professor, capablescientist and transportation engineer, and a good personal friend. Let us share thatmemory!VukanR. Vuchic, Emeritus ProfessorUniversity of Pennsylvania, USA7

8BackgroundMy first contact to Professor Kikuchi was through one of his Finnish friends, to whom hehad given the task of finding out persons working with fuzzy sets in transportation anddecision making in Finland. At that time, in 1991, I had not done any work in this field,but the questionnaire made me interested in the subject. In 1992 I had the opportunity tomeet personally with Professor Kikuchi in the WCTR in Lyon, where his paper on theLevel of service analysis using fuzzy sets was given a best paper award by the WCTRsociety. I was immediately inspired by the human and friendly interest he showedduring our discussion.This way I got interested in fuzzy sets and neural networks and learned to knowProfessor Kikuchi. With his kind support I then had the possibility to spend a sabbaticalyear at University of Delaware in 1994-1995 and study the fundamentals of fuzzy setsand neural networks in transportation. I also had the possibility to participate in theresearch and teaching together with Professor Kikuchi.Research of fuzzy signal controlIn spring 1995, still in Delaware, I made a research plan and submitted an application tothe Academy of Finland for financing research on fuzzy traffic signal control. TheAcademy gave me a three year partial financing for the project and the financing thencontinued for two more periods until I became the President of Helsinki University ofTechnology in fall 2003 and had no more time for active research. Professor Kikuchiparticipated in the work as an outside expert and visited us for a few times during theproject. He also spent two months with us in Helsinki during his sabbatical in fall 2002.As a part of our project, one of my doctoral students spent a half year period at theUniversity of Delaware to make research and to learn more about the fundamentals offuzzy sets.Our research of fuzzy signal control started by repeating the classic simulation study ofPappis and Mamdani using the HUTSIM-simulation model, a simulation system we hadbeen developing from the beginning of 1990ies. The test succeeded and we continuedwith the case of pedestrian crossings and then moved on step by step to morecomplicated environments. The idea in the research was to use the HUTSIM simulationmodel as the test environment by developing into the program a fuzzy signal controllerin addition to the basic control methods (fixed time, traffic actuation with the extensionprinciple). This way we could compare the control methods in the same environment. Inthe development of the fuzzy signal control logic the HUTSIM traffic flow model wasused as the traffic situation model.The research was not only based on simulation, but resulted also in the construction of areal signal controller, which was assembled to an intersection in the Helsinki area for testuse. After some practical problems the controller worked fine and measurements fromthe field could be compared with simulation results. The simulations and field testsshowed that fuzzy control can successfully be used in traffic signals. The development ofthe fuzzy control principles included also public transport priorities and the control ofpedestrian flows at intersections.The results of the development of fuzzy signal control and the related developmentwork on the HUTSIM simulation model resulted in two Doctoral Theses, one (1)about the simulation and control system and the other (2) about control principlesand testing. In addition to the Doctoral Theses several Master’s theses and a greatnumber of international scientific journal and conference papers were publishedrelated to this research. Today the development of the fuzzy signal controller is doneby a company named RSM Ltd (Road Safety Management, see www.rsm.ie), whohas been developing the ideas towards a commercial product.Closing remarksThe development of the fuzzy signal control at Helsinki University of Technology isa good example of a long term research which started in early 1990ies with thedevelopment of the HUTSIM simulation model and widened to the development offuzzy signal control principles and to the construction of a real controller tested in thefield. The work which started with the development of HUTSIM and continued withfuzzy signal control concentrates today on ITS systems and data fusion in general.The work on fuzzy control was originally inspired by Professor Shinya Kikuchi whosupported it with his comments and ideas. He is also the main contributor to the ideaof Helsinki Summer School on Transportation, an activity we started in 2007 andwhich will be described by Professor Tapio Luttinen today.Shinya Kikuchi was a warm and friendly person and a great friend of Finland. Hewas open to cooperation and always ready to help others. He was fully committed tohis scientific work, to his teaching and to his students. He was a pioneer in theanalysis of uncertainty in transportation systems and in the use of fuzzy sets andneural networks in transportation.During the years of our cooperation my wife and I became close friends with Shinyaand his wife Laura. To Shinya, Laura was an important background support withoutwhom Shinya’s total and successful commitment to his work had not been possible.So, I want to express my personal condolences to her for the great loss she togetherwith us, the friends and colleagues of Shinya, has faced.For more informationHUTSIM and fuzzy signal control are described in the dissertations below.Kosonen I. (1999). HUTSIM - Urban Traffic Simulation and Control Model: Principles andApplications. DSc. thesis. Helsinki University of Technology, Transportation Engineering,Publication 100. Espoo, Finland. 249 p.Niittymäki, J. (2002). Fuzzy Traffic Signal Control - Principles and Application. DSc. thesis.Helsinki University of Technology, Transportation Engineering. Publication 103. Espoo. p. 71 +appendixes.More information about the research on fuzzy signal control in general is available from theTransportation Group at Aalto University http://civil.aalto.fi/en/research/transportation/.Information about the summer school is available at http://civil.aalto.fi/en/research/transportation/helsinki_summer_school_in_transportation/.Matti Pursula , ProfessorAalto University, Finland 9

10It is not certain for me when I met Professor Shinya Kikuchi for the first time. It iscertain it was in the month January, but the year is fuzzy, it might be 1996, but 1998 isalso possible. This range of possibility is just the way Shinya used to explain theintrinsic limitations of humans to handle facts of reality. Nothing is more certain thanuncertainty.I still remember how we met for the first time: it was after a presentation at the TRBannual meeting where he presented one of the fuzzy models of some transportphenomenon. In that time I just finished a study on Limits of Predictability. I foundthat many models in transport come with quasi accurate results, single values, whilein fact the results are uncertain due to the model itself, the limited representation ofreality and the often incomplete and unreliable input for the model calculation. Theresearchers who contributed to my study also showed that several models oftransport phenomena have a semi chaotic character: small changes of inputparameters could have a huge impact on the results.After Shinya gave his presentation at the TRB meeting where I met him, I wasimpressed by the approach he explained. My first reaction was that I had somedoubts about what he told. I challenged him to give more evidence of the validity ofhis approach. His reaction was typical for the man I learned more in the yearsafterwards. He just invited me to join him in writing papers, where his approach wasintegrated with the methods I used. His open mind and friendliness made him morethan a colleague and co-author, I consider him as a friend. In the years afterwards weworked together on some articles and conference papers. He stimulated me to rethinkan older publication on the removal of errors in traffic counts in a network.What I appreciate in the way he worked as a scientist is that he created opportunitiesfor colleagues, students and himself to develop new ideas and to present them todifferent audiences. He organized the Sunday workshops at the TRB meetings wherehe invited several scholars - also me - to present our ideas on the application ofartificial intelligence in transportation. He was also involved in the organization of ayearly summer school in Helsinki, where he invited me to give a contribution in theprogram. It was a pleasure to work with him. I am thankful for the opportunities hecreated for the development andShinya and I met each other regularly, yearly in January at TRB. He invited me tobecome involved in the committee ABJ70 on Artificial Intelligence. I admired hisenergy to stimulate the members to work together and contribute to the commission.We also met at the INSTR seminar every three years, the international seminar ontransport reliability. Reliability of transport was indeed in the core of the domain ofhis interest and we wrote a few papers together, for instance one on anxiety oftravellers generated by uncertainty. That was an important basis for a later studydone by one of my PhD students on uncertainty and travel information. He was alsooften present at the European Working Group Meetings in Italy and Poland. Itoccurred more often that we met each other on a conference that we both chose toattend, because we had similar interests. He told me at that time that he wasconcerned about his health.I have read his last paper he submitted to the present TRB meeting. It containsimportant new views on the evaluation of transport plans, plenty of thoughts forpractitioners and researchers to apply the concepts of fuzzy reasoning to evaluationof plans.Shinya Kikuchi is for me an inspiring colleague and friend; I enjoyed working withhim, to learn his original ideas on uncertainty. I am thankful for our friendship theopportunities he created for cooperation.Henk van Zuylen, ProfessorDelft University of Technology, NetherlandsIt is a great honor for me to write about my friend and colleague, Professor ShinyaKikuchi, a gentleman and scholar, engineer and planner, philosopher and guide.I had the pleasure of knowing Shinya since 1989, when I met him in Yokohama,Japan, at the World Conference on Transportation Research (WCTR). Ever sincethen we met regularly at the ASCE, TRB, WCTR, and the EURO Working GroupConferences. It was a joy to be with him, sharing ideas and thoughts on researchand teaching. In the early part of 2000, I was on a sabbatical at the University ofDelaware, and this gave me an opportunity to know him even more intimately as acritical thinker and researcher. He was kind and gracious to everybody who camein contact with him. In June 2002, we were together in Bari, Italy, when we werebusy with the EURO Conference. With these and scores of other meetings, wewrote papers and discussed research work together. I always counted on Shinya'sknowledge and experience and we were in touch constantly on topics such asFuzzy mathematics, technical education, and the philosophy of transportation. Thetransportation world has lost a great teacher and researcher.Farewell Shinya, my dear friend and colleague, I will miss you for the rest of my lifeC. Jotin Khisty, Emeritus ProfessorIllinois Institute of Technology, Chicago11

12On behalf of faculty of civil engineering of Hokkaido University, I would like toexpress our sincere condolences to his family, his colleague, and his friends.Every year, we were looking forward to seeing him at TRB annual meeting todiscuss hot topics of transportation engineering and hear his opinions about ourstudies. He would always encourage us, particularly our young researchers, tostudy looking at the world and attend TRB meeting every year. They have learnedlots of things from him. Nobody has anticipated at all that he would not be here thisyear. From now on, our young fellows would transfer to the next generation whatthey had learned from him. As long as this would be continued from generation togeneration, Prof. Kikuchi would be alive for ever in our mind.May he rest in peace.菊 池 先 生Takashi Nakatsuji, ProfessorHokkaido University15 年 前 ぐらいのTRBの 年 次 大 会 が、 菊 池 先 生 とお 話 しするきっかけとなりました。その 後 、TRBの 年 次 大 会 や 北 大 での 講 義 にて、 先 生 のお 話 を 拝 聴 する 機 会 が 多 数 ありました。 研 究 にて 直 接 議 論 させていただく 機 会 はなかったのですが、 議 論 の 要 点を 見 逃 さず、ユーモアのある 表 現 で、 的 確 なアドバイスを 与 える 先 生 にすっかり 魅了 されてしまいました。いつか、 先 生 のような 雰 囲 気 を 持 てるよう、 少 しでも 近 づけるよう、 努 力 を 続 けたいと 思 います。最 後 に、 先 生 のご 冥 福 をこころよりお 祈 りいたします。萩 原 亨I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Shinya Kikuchi a few times at HokkaidoUniversity in Japan and at Conferences. Every mdeeting with Professor Kikuchi wasa valuable opportunity to learn from his speeches and to discuss about severalaspects in the transportation field. His knowledge and simplicity in explaining anddiscussing research development and results was enormously enriching for mystudies and posterior research career.While we will hugely miss Professor Kikuchi among us, I hope that we may be ableto continue applying the knowledge learnt from him.Respectfully,Toru Hagiwara, ProfessorHokkaido University, JapanKatia Andrade , Ph.D.Hokkaido University, JapanIt is a great pity that Prof. Shinya Kikuchi passed away. I really miss him. The relationbetween Prof. Kikuchi and myself started in 1997. At that time, Prof. Kikuchi kindlyinvited me as a visiting scholar of University of Delaware through Prof. Yasunori Iida,Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University. It was a great opportunity for me and my wife,since it was my first experience to live and work overseas.I remember clearly the days I spent at University of Delaware in one year fromNovember 1997 with very warm feeling because of very kind assistance of Prof. Kikuchiand Ms. Laura Kikuchi. During my stay in University of Delaware, I worked with Prof.Kikuchi, Mr. Mitsuru Tanaka and Dr. Yasushi Tanaka for conducting the researchproject to evaluate the feasibility of Automated Highway Systems. One of the relatedresearch topics was analyzing the impact of ACCS (Advanced Cruise Control System)vehicles upon traffic flow stability. In the study, the fuzzy inference was utilized fordescribing car-following behavior of both ACCS and non-ACCS (conventional) vehicles.Some cases of simple simulations could suggest that ACCS vehicles might contribute toenhancement in stability of traffic flow. Fortunately, the corresponding papers on ouroutcomes were published in ASCE journal and the proceedings of ITS symposium,Japan. These papers became very good memorials for me to represent how we workedtogether with Prof. Kikuchi.After I came back to Japan in 1998, fortunately we could maintain and enhance ourrelationship. Prof. Kikuchi kindly gave me valuable chances to be involved ininternational academic frameworks. And he continuously encouraged me and mystudents to join the international academic activities in order to have proper knowledgeand experience for working overseas. For example, several students of my laboratorywere allowed to join the summer school in Helsinki. I believe that such experiencesmight be treasures for them during their student time.I am sure that Prof. Kikuchi is a ‘real researcher and professor’. He always studiedsomething new and tried to find out his original idea to make a progress in his research.I believe that he loves to do the researches in the field of transportation engineering andplanning. I also learned from him a lot in terms of supervising our students. Especially,I realize that it is very important for the faculty to review the idea proposed by studentswithout any prejudice. He suggested to me that any idea, which seemed to be tiny andhave less value at first sight, frequently had great value for making progress in ourresearch. Now it becomes one of my basic disciplines to supervise my students.I had my last meeting with Prof. Kikuchi in Kyoto last May. He seemed to be almostOK even though he was suffering and just had an operation. When he left, he made thesame greeting in Japanese with gentle smile as usual. ‘Hope to see you again soon’.Unfortunately we are not allowed to see him again. But I never forget his smile whichmakes me feel comfortable.At the end my speech, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Kikuchi forwhat he has done for us. ‘Arigato-Gozaimashita’, Prof. Kikuchi. I wish that Prof.Kikuchi is now spending very peaceful time in heaven.Nobuhiro Uno, Ph.D.Kyoto University, Japan13

Professor Shinya Kikuchi had always supported our research works and oftenpresented lectures on transportation engineering for students and faculty membersof Kitami Institute of Technology. His speech impressed many audiences. In recentyears, he had showed special interests in our driving simulator and we had been inthe midst of discussion with international cooperative study with the simulator. Wealways appreciate everything what he had done for us and would like to follow thefootsteps of his research.I am very sorry to hear of the passing of Professor Shinya Kikuchi and please acceptmy deepest condolences. He often invited me to his office and kindly gave me uniqueideas and knowledge about transportation engineering. After the discussion, healways bought me lunch and diner. It was a great pleasure to share the time with him.May his soul rest in peace.Kazuya Tomiyama, Ph.D.Some results of our cooperative researches are shown in:• Tomiyama, K., Kawamura, A., Nakajima, S., Alimujiang, Y. and Kikuchi, S.:Application of Human-Road-Interface for Pavement Rutting Evaluation, Pr oceedingsof First International Conf erence on Transportation Infrastructur e, 2008.• Alimujiang, Y., Kawamura, A., Tomiyama, K., Eisaka, T. and Kikuchi, S.: Road ImageDevelopment Based On Driving Simulator, Proceedings of First International Conference on Transportation Infrastructur e, 2008.Kitami Institute of TechnologyKoen-cho 165, Kitami, Hokkaido 090-8507, JapanProfessor Kikuchi’s lecturesalways impressed usWe are glad he enjoyed drift iceon Okhotsk sea.On behalf of Kitami Institute of Technology, I wish to convey our deeply feltcondolences on the passing of Professor Shinya Kikuchi. Professor was to me a closefriend from college. He frequently visited to see me and presented great lecturesand his advanced research results for the students and faculty members at KIT. Wewill always remember with gratitude, your contribution toward strengtheninginternational collaboration. Our deepest sympathy goes to his relatives in this timeof grief.Koichi Ayuta, ProfessorPresident of Kitami Institute of TechnologyI have known Prof Kikuchi for more than 22 years and I had the opportunity ofmeeting him several times in Washington DC and in Kitami. It was always apleasure to talk to him, learn from him and enlighten myself. His thoughts aboutresearch topics on driving simulator are still outstanding and brilliant. My heartfeltcondolences to the family of Prof. Kikuchi.Akira Kawamura, ProfessorPlease kindly convey my heartfelt condolence to the family of Professor ShinyaKikuchi on his sudden passing away. I have indeed lost an excellent scientist and agreat man. I was really indebted to him for helping me get started in researchactivities. With deepest sympathy.Kiyoshi Takahashi, ProfessorAbout 20 years ago, I came to know Dr. Shinya Kikuchi through one of the sessionsof Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting, where he presented a paper thatI was interested in. His fuzzy-set related technical papers had interested me and Iwanted to see him in person. Since that time we have maintained our friendship.More than once we have gone out to eat lunch together during Annual TRBMeetings and talked about Japanese researchers in the transportation field in theUnited States. Around the time we met, there were basically only three researcherswho were born in Japan, received a doctorate degree in the United States, andcontinued conducting research and teaching in the area of transportationengineering in the United States: Dr. Kikuchi of the University of Delaware, Dr.Ryuichi Kitamura of the University of California at Davis, and myself teaching atthe City University of New York. Since that time, almost every year, I have had anopportunity to meet with Dr. Kikuchi and he has given me useful advices. Dr.Kitamura passed away on February 19th, 2009, a few years after he had moved toKyoto University from UC Davis. When a friend of mine, who once was a studentof Dr. Kikuchi, informed me that he had passed away on December 7th last year, Iwas shocked and lost my words. Both of these great minds passed away relativelyyoung after battling with cancer. I feel a void in my heart now, but I cannotsuccumb to this feeling. I must follow their great examples and teach and trainyoung minds who will be the future leaders in the field of transportation.Mitsuru Saito, ProfessorBrigham Young University, Utah, USA1415

A life of a Scholar Professor Pursula already detailed Shinya Kikuchi’s significantinvolvement in Aalto University transport program and one of the initiators of AaltoUniversity Summer School in Transportation. Professor Pursula also “midwifed” myprofessional cooperation and friendship with Shinya about 10 years ago. Shinya invitedme to become an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Tech. Since then we have met regularlyand discussed all aspects of transportation and its university education. Besides havingthe opportunity to teach, Shinya involved me in advising students and participate in theirdoctoral committees. This was a truly educational experience for me.Prof. Shinya Kikuchi has always been a true inspiration and an exemplary model forall of us in the Transportation Research Board’s Artificial Intelligence and AdvancedComputing Committee (ABJ70). We really cannot find the right words that giveProf. Kikuchi’s justice in terms of describing how dedicated he has always been totransportation education and research. As just one example, our committee’s recentcompletion of its second TRB Circular on Artificial Intelligence Applications toCritical Transportation owes a lot to his leadership, hard-work and dedication,without which the Circular would have never seen the light.16Shinya was both a true scholar and a practical engineer who believed in the power ofexamples—setting them and showing them. He set a high scholarly standard in researchand teaching. He wanted to show good practical examples. His influence was worldwide.Aalto University Summer School started from his idea to show Helsinki PublicTransport as an excellent example of good practice. The participants of the first SummerSchool – the majority of whom were international -- still savor their hands-on experienceto drive Metro train on the test track.Throughout his long illness Shinya remained engaged in research, analytical in histhinking, and worked to the very end. It is ironic that among his many theoretical interestone of the last was to bring the notion of ‘I don’t know’, and ambiguity in general, totransport plan evaluation, and then to face that same issue with his doctors who ‘did notknow’ or gave conflicting prognoses until the end of Shinya’s life was all but certain.I want to pay homage to Professor Kikuchi. It was fitting that he died on Finland’sIndependence Day, a country that he loved, and contributed to its transport professionand was recognized for these contributions by Honorary Doctorate at Aalto University.He was a good friend, a true scholar, and I miss his company and the always inspirationaldiscussions.Antti Talvitie, ProfessorVirginia Tech, USAAalto University, FinlandI met Shinya Kikuchi in 2008, shortly after my appointment as Assistant Professor inUrban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech. In fall 2008, I sent him a brief emailintroducing myself as a new junior professor. I did not expect much of an answer froma senior professor and program director for the Department of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering. However, he immediately replied inviting me for lunch.What followed in the years since was a great collaboration across discipline linesbetween Urban Planning and Civil Engineering. This included joint dissertation andmasters capstone committees, encouraging students to take classes in each othersdepartment, joint funding proposals, and mentoring advice from a senior professor.Shinya was not only interested in bridging the gap between academic disciplines, buthis research also had an international perspective--applying lessons from Japan andEuropean countries to his work here in the USA. It is with great sadness that I lost acollaborator, mentor, and friend.Ralph Buehler, Ph.D.Virginia Tech, USAProf. Kikuchi has consistently played a central role in advancing and promoting ourcommittee’s work since the very first years when our committee was originallyformed. While Prof. Kikuchi contributions to the application of ArtificialIntelligence to transportation are numerous, one key area where he must beregarded as a true pioneer is in the areas of uncertainty modeling and in theapplication of possibility theory in transportation systems analysis. Reading Prof.Kikuchi’s papers one always get the sense that the writer is a true scholar who iseager to share his knowledge with his readers and to contribute to the advancementof knowledge.On a personal level, Prof. Kikuchi had an exceptionally pleasant personality. Hewould always greet you with a smile and always would have some nice words foryou. He was a humble man, despite his various academic achievements and stellarcredentials, and a true gentleman. Our committee will never forget his numerouscontributions. As a small token of appreciation for all what Prof. Kikuchi has donefor our committee, and for his years of service to TRB, TRB has approved grantingProf. Kikuchi Emeritus Membership status in our committee. Moreover, we haveestablished an Annual Best Paper Award Competition, which will be named “Prof.Shinya Kikuchi’s Best Paper Award”, and will be awarded annually to the bestpaper submitted to our committee. We pray that God may bless and repose his souland we offer our sincere condolences to his family.Matthew Karlaftis, Ph.D. and Adel W. Sadek, ProfessorTRB Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computing Applications (ABJ70) Committee17

18I greatly appreciate being invited to this gathering of Professor Kikuchi’s friends,colleagues and students and hope we can console each other about the great loss hispassing represents for his family, for the transportation field and for us personally. Iam deeply saddened by his death, which seems so tragically untimely; only a fewmonths ago he seemed full of energy, ideas and eagerness to accomplish more in acareer that was already quite outstanding.Although I have known him and his work for decades, I only got the opportunity towork with him in the last few years, after he came to Virginia Tech. I feel extremelyfortunate to have had that opportunity. We worked together on a couple of researchprojects, mostly about routing autonomous vehicles, and thus I managed to benefitfrom his vast experience and wisdom. I also learned to appreciate his admirableattitude toward work, education, research, students and colleagues, as well as his joy intackling interesting technical problems. Professor Kikuchi was extremely generousand helpful to me and to my students. Many of our students at the University ofMaryland got the benefits of his expertise through his publications, seminars andparticipation in our PhD dissertation committees.Professor Kikuchi and I had some shared interests in areas such as publictransportation, logistics and artificial intelligence applications. Certainly in those areas,it is quite clear to me that he was an eminent researcher and great intellectual leader.While mourning him, those of us who were his colleagues or students should be verythankful for what he accomplished in the world and what he taught us.I offer my deepest condolences to his family and to everyone who is saddened by theloss of this wonderful man.Paul Schonfeld, ProfessorUniversity of MarylandDr. Shinya Kikuchi had been a great friend, colleague, and collaborator since 2002,soon after I began my academic career at the Morgan State University in Fall 2001.Over the last ten years we jointly developed many research ideas in the fields ofpublic transportation, fuzzy logic, soft computing, and uncertainty in decisionmaking.In particular, I was inspired by his 2006 Transportation Research Part Bpaper (co-authored with Dr. Partha Chakroborty) titled "Place of Possibility Theoryin Transportation Analysis." That paper led to many interesting joint discussionsdealing with probability theory, possibility theory, propensity theory, and theirroles in complex decision-making.Over the past five years Dr. Paul Schonfeld of the University of Maryland (my Ph.D.advisor) and I actively collaborated on many projects with Dr. Kikuchi, notable amongwhich is a multi-year Department of Defense project titled "Software Simulated Testand Evaluation of Military Missions Using Positioning and Routing Algorithm." Inaddition, over the past ten years Dr. Kikuchi and I worked on many other researchprojects, advised students at each other's institution, co-authored several interestingresearch articles, and delivered seminars at each others' institution. Dr. Kikuchi alsoserved in one of the doctoral research committees at Morgan State University . Thatdoctoral research was titled "Models and Algorithms for Rail Transit Alignment usingGIS and Genetic Algorithm" and completed by my former student Dr. Sutapa Samantawho now works for the Maryland State Highway Administration. It resulted in severalhigh-quality presentations at annual TRB meetings and publications in prestigiousjournals, such as the Transportation Research Record (TRR), Transportation ResearchPart A, and the International Journal of Operations Research and Information Systems(IJORIS).At my invitation Dr. Kikuchi delivered a plenary speech at the 2nd WSEASInternational Conference on Urban Rehabilitation and Sustainability held at theMorgan State University in November 2009. His talk which attracted nearly 150researchers from all over the world was titled "Use of Uncertainty in Decision-Making." It has been permanently archived at:http://www.wseas.us/conferences/2009/baltimore/ures/ Plenary1.htm. Morerecently Dr. Kikuchi and I collaborated on a project titled "Connected Vehicle-Infrastructure Application Development for Addressing Safety and Congestion IssuesRelated to Public Transportation, Pedestrians, and Bicyclists.“Dr. Kikuchi was a true friend, a hard-worker, a truescholar who believed in high-quality scholarly work morethan anything else. He was one of the very few seniorfaculty with whom I loved to work and developinteresting research ideas. He did not want his nameattached to any piece of work in which he did notcontribute to his satisfaction. Drs. Kikuchi, Schonfeld, andI had many late night conference calls in connection withpapers and projects on which we jointly worked. On apersonal note, he loved Indian food and always took meto the Indian restaurant across the street from VT's FallsChurch campus. I will truly miss him and his company.Lastly, I am attaching a few pictures, one that was takenon September 7, 2012 with a few students of MorganState University working on the joint project titled "Connected Vehicle-Infrastructure ApplicationDevelopment for Addressing Safety and CongestionIssues Related to Public Transportation, Pedestrians, andBicyclists," and the other taken at his funeral on December12, 2012.Manoj K. Jha, Ph.D.Morgan State University 19

I would like to thank the TRB Committee on Artificial Intelligence and AdvancedComputing Applications for allowing me to participate in this Commemorative Sessiondedicated to Prof. Shinya Kikuchi. It is an honor for me to express the entire EuroWorking Group on Transportation, and my heartfelt personal thanks for the teachingwhich Prof. Kikuchi gave us in such a friendly fashion, during the years of our fruitfulcollaboration.For many of us, he was a shining example, from both human and professional pointsof view, and he fired much of our work with his decisive and stimulating enthusiasm.Many members of our group working on soft computing in the transportation sectorprofited by the advice, cooperation and constant stimuli which he always gave sogenerously. He was able to make even the most complex problems simple: what wasfascinating and attractive to him became the same for us, as he transmitted hisenthusiasm for research and extended his humanity to all those who were fortunateenough to know him well.To give an example of the contribution given by Prof. Kikuchi, I remember the recentwords of Michele Ottomanelli, in occasion of the opening of the Special Session onEmerging Theories and Applications in Transportation Science of the 17th Online WorldConference on Soft Computing in Industrial Applications, dedicated to Prof. Kikuchi:“The value of the person and of the scientist can be summarized in the fact that most ofthe authors of the papers accepted in this session worked or collaborated with him andwere linked by deep friendship as well. We can honestly say that this session couldn’thave taken place without his pioneering research and propulsion to share ideas anddiscussion”.My friend and colleague Mauro Dell’Orco of the Bari Politecnico has asked me to notehere the essential contribution made by Prof. Kikuchi in organizing the Euro WorkingGroup on Transportation Meetings in Bari, Italy, in 2002 and 2006. Prof. Kikuchiconstantly flanked Mauro in his difficult task, contributing to the great success of theConferences.Personally, I remember with great pleasure the lesson Prof. Kikuchi gave during the2009 Euro Working Group Meeting in Padova on “The Analysis of Uncertainty in theStudy of Transportation: The Possibilistic Perspective”, and during the seminar on“Advances in Uncertainty Treatment in Transportation System Analysis”, organizedduring his last visit to Padova in September 2011.It was on that occasion that I was also able to meet his wife Laura, and my colleaguesand I spent some pleasant moments with them during our visit to Verona. I would liketo take this opportunity of sending her my affectionate good wishes.I would like to conclude this brief memory by expressing once again, on behalf of theEWGT members and of myself, our deep gratitude for his lessons, for his dedication toresearch and for his teaching, which inspire and will continue to inspire us during ourdaily work. Thank you, Shinya.Riccardo Rossi, Ph.D.University of Padova, ItalyProfessor Shinya Kikuchi was one of the pioneers on application of Soft Computing inthe field of Transportation Engineering.I met him during my post-doctoral research at USA. He was host of me at NorthernVirginia Center of Virginia Tech in 2006. I worked with him for 6 months. This periodwas one of the best time that I have ever passed in my life.I learned many things about soft computing, fuzzy optimization and related issuesfrom him. He had a large scale vision and capacity. He was always supportive andenthusiastic. He encouraged me about my research subjects during my stay at VT. Hehad an ability to evaluate the research subjects in many and different points of view.In spite of his age and health problems he was working very hard and enthusiastically.He had liked to participate and organize the meetings especially TRB, ISTTT, EWGTand etc. He liked to meet the researchers to each other in the world. I met manyresearchers by this way.Besides his scientific capacity, he was very kind and sensitive person and a realgentlemen. He had cared about personal relations. He had liked to send postcards tohis friends in the world while he was travelling.I will always remember him both his scientific capacity and his sensitive personality. Ibelieve that many young researchers will inspire new scientific works from hisresearch and ideas.Rest in peace, respectable Professor. Transport Researchers will miss you…Yetis Sazi Murat, Ph.D.Panukkale University, Turkey20Lastly, I would also like to recall the great contribution Prof. Kikuchi gave towardenhancing the knowledge of young researchers, shown by his fond attachment to theHelsinki Summer School and his willingness to allow young students to work in hislaboratory. During the six months which Gregorio, my PhD student, spent at VirginiaTech, he still recalls Prof. Kikuchi's teaching, and his courtesy and humanity.21

22I write this on 8 th January, coincidentally, exactly 15 years to the day that I came to visitShinya for a 3 month stay at the University of Delaware. While most probably knew ProfKikuchi for his work on all things AI, we had first met through his pioneering work oncar-following, fuzzy decision making, and instrumented vehicle experiments (he was oneof the few in the 90s to construct and use one purely to study traffic engineering issues).Shinya proved to be an ideal host (with a rather ‘English’ sense of humour!) and alwaysinterested in the view points of others no matter how crazy they seemed, while also veryunderstanding of the practical difficulties that one has when living away from family foran extended time. That brief but important visit marked the start of a purple patch in mycareer, that I am sure would not have happened without his encouragement andenthusiasm.Since that visit we met up at TRB virtually every year, usually over a meal at a(seemingly) randomly chosen venue – which was always an adventure (… inedible IndianBuffets, and managing to lose several cars full of students while breaking our trip back toNewark at the labyrinthine IKEA outside of Baltimore spring to mind). Indeed TRBalways seemed to hold some manner of adventure with Shinya – I believe he was evenheld up at gunpoint on Calvert St in the early 90s (although with his sense of humour Iwas never sure if that actually happened!). Sadly, in the last 5 years, we saw each otherless and less, and even missed each other entirely last year due to his illness. I’m given tounderstand that TRB may move to a new venue in a few years and strangely, I welcomethis as, to me, TRB at the Hilton will always be associated with Shinya, and won’t be thesame.Mark BrackstoneUniversity of Southampton, UKShinya and I go back to 1988 when I began studying at Penn. He was at the nearbyUniversity of Delaware and visited frequently. We both had the same dissertationsupervisor, Prof. Vukan Vuchic, but Shinya finished way back in 1974. We have bothgone on to work on a variety of subjects but I think public transportation remained thefirst love of us both. So having the love of the same subject and the same supervisorwas our inner bond.Shinya regularly showed me his work in fuzzy logic and some recent interesting workon sound reasoning and decision making in light of incomplete information.Unfortunately, he isn't here this year to present it. While I like to think I know a lotabout transportation performance and investment analysis, he made it clear to me thatthere is still a lot I need to learn. Indeed, some of his recent work will be incorporatedinto the second edition of a textbook.But what I most want to mention is the Finland connection. When there was a recentretirement at Aalto University he gave a strong recommendation for me to be a visitingprofessor. Without this, I probably wouldn't have gotten the appointment. My parentswere both immigrants from Finland and this has been a great opportunity to reconnectwith my roots. For this, I am eternally grateful to Shinya.Eric Bruun, Ph.D.Aalto University, FinlandShinya and I were members of the Transportation Systems Engineering group in theDepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of Delawarefrom 1990 to 2005. In 2005 he left for Virginia Tech as a distinguished faculty.During the 15 years, we worked together building a strong graduate program inTransportation. Shinya loved Transportation. But he was also passionate aboutFuzzy Set and Uncertainty theories. He was one of the first (if not the first)researchers to apply Fuzzy Set theory to different problems in Transportation. Hebecame fully involved and engaged in many national and international organizationswho did work in this area. With my background in Probability Theory, he and I hadmany lively discussions/arguments. Almost every time we started comparing themathematical efficacy of Fuzzy Set theory as compared with Probability theory, butended with philosophical questions about god, creation, evolution and other spiritualissues. As is customary in academia, he and I didn’t always see everything eye toeye, but at the same time we never lost communication and remained colleagues andfriends until the end. There are many things I’ll miss about Shinya – our ping ponggames, lunches and dinners with our respective families, our travels together, and,his rigorous professional and academic standards that he left for us in Delaware. Hewas a valued member of our community, and will be missed by great many of hisformer students and colleagues.Respectfully submitted;Arde Faghri, ProfessorUniversity of Delaware, USAWhile I was a graduate student at Virginia Tech, my Ph.D. advisor Professor DusanTeodorovic introduced me to Professor Shinya Kikuchi (who was then at University ofDelaware). Since then I have interacted with Dr. Kikuchi on numerous occasions. Hewas the chair of TRB’s AI committee in which I was a member. His pleasant andhumble demeanor set the tone for our committee meetings. He also had a great senseof humor, which was evident in his polite appeals for paper review volunteers. I alsointeracted with him about his research and teaching activities at Virginia Tech. Therewere many occasions in which I sought his advice and he was more than willing toshare his wisdom.It goes without saying that Dr. Kikuchi has made numerous high impact contributionsto the field of artificial intelligence applications in transportation, especially in FuzzyLogic. Many of us in the AI community, me included, have directly benefited from hiswork. The impact of his research spanned several transportation domains includingplanning, traffic operations, and public transportation, to name a few.We will not only miss an esteemed senior colleague who served our profession wellbut also a great friend.Praveen EdaraUniversity of Missouri-Columbia23

Prof. Kikuchi started working with FHWA Intersection Safety Research staffmembers ever since his appointment to the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civiland Environmental Engineering (CEE) at Virginia Tech in August of 2005. From2005 to 2012, eight graduate students from the Virginia Tech Capital RegionCampus rotated through our staff research program, six of them were Prof.Kikuchi’s students.I have worked and am still working with his first and last graduate students.These students worked on a wide range of research topics – alternativeintersection designs (double crossover diamond intersection, displaced left turnintersection, restriction crossing U-Turn intersection, mini-roundabout), statisticalanalysis of crash data, eye tracking study, etc. They also participated in technicalsupport activities to state and local transportation agencies. Prof. Kikuchi’snationwide and global reputation enabled him to attract and keep talentedgraduate students. His students contributed tremendously to the success of ourintersection safety R&D program (including publication of about half dozenresearch papers), the one student who deserves particular mention is Dr. NopadonKronprasert, Prof. Kikuchi’s first and last Ph.D. student.Prof. Kikuchi is very knowledgeable about the future needs of moderntransportation system. He has a version of how to plan and design the futurepublic transit system with uncertainty factors built-in so that it can help deliver thedesired level of mobility for all models of travel, remember getting commuters touse the public transit system instead of driving their own vehicles in itself is ahuge contribution of reducing traffic congestion, pollution, and improving safety.Prof. Kikuchi is a role model for many us. He cared deeply about the wellbeing ofhis students. Despite his level of international recognition, he is humble andapproachable. He listened to the needs of his sponsoring agencies and alwaysresponded in a timely and positive manner. Nopadon Kronprasert and EleftheiaKontou, the two students who are working with me right now spent countlesshours with Prof. Kikuchi in the hospital room, and at him home; giving himcomfort and providing relieve to his wife – a testimony of the close relationshipthat Prof. Kikuchi developed with his students.Prof. Kikuchi, may you rest in peace, and let your students carry on your visionand dream.In memory of Professor Shinya KikuchiI first met Professor Kikuchi in 2009 at TRB Annual Meeting, where I presented a studyon the Twin Cities Streetcar system. I vividly remember when the session endedProfessor Kikuchi walked to me with a warm smile, expressed his interest in myresearch, and invited me to speak on a similar topic in his class.Later, I had a chance to stop by his campus office, and had a dinner with him. Wechatted about our research and life. As a young foreigner who just received a PHD intransportation, started an industrial job, and looked for opportunities to get back toacademia, I saw a lot of similarities between us, and regarded him as a mentor who canguide me in my career. After the dinner, at about 8:30pm when we departed in front ofhis office building, he was heading back to his office to my surprise. "I still have somework to do." He explained, "Look at this building - many lights are still on . We allwork hard here."A couple of months later, I was invited to speak in his class and dined with him onceagain. From then on we kept contact through correspondences. On September 27, 2012,only a couple of weeks before he passed away, he responded to my e-mail in which Imentioned of my ongoing work on multimodal studies in the Washington DC region.He says, "I am interested in hearing more about multi-modal bus terminal studies. Ilook for the opportunities for you to speak in my class in the near future." At that time Ididn't know he had been sick for a while. One can imagine how shocked and sad I waswhen I heard of his death!Although Professor Kikuchi passed away, I know he left himself in the lives of manypeople. His family will miss a dear member, his university a valuable professor andformer department chair, and his colleagues a precious friend. As a young man whogot to know him only a couple of years ago, I see his ardent support towards studentsand young professionals, and I see his hard work, dedication, and drive for academicexcellence. His memory will always be warm in my heart, because I know he is thetype of compassionate and intellectual person I strive to be.Feng Xie, Ph.D.Metropolitan Washington Council of GovernmentsWei Zhang, Ph.D.FHWA Office of Safety R&D2425

Professor Shinya Kikuchi and I met almost a quarter of a century ago in the fall of 1988just after graduating from IIT Kharagpur in India. I was then a master’s student inearly twenties with a confident but carefree attitude ready to experience America andalso to collect a Master’s degree on the way. He was then, and remained forever, anextremely hardworking, supremely disciplined and scholarly academic. Our approachto learning (if I had one) were diametrically opposite and in those initial days andmonths I did not like being in University of Delaware and I am certain he hatedhimself for offering me an assistantship to do master’s at the Department of CivilEngineering at the University of Delaware.Over the next year things changed and he through his diligence and an almost pious,hermit-like dedication to research and learning changed me completely. I started likingacademics again. I became disciplined and hard-working. That summer, together withVijay Perincherry and couple of others we taught ourselves the Theory of Fuzzy Sets. Irealized how scholarly Prof. Kikuchi was and my respect for him grew. I hoped thenthat he started seeing in me an acceptable student. I finished my master’s degree andcontinued to work with him for a Ph.D.In the five years I spent with him as a student I learnt the values of hard-work,modesty, simplicity of approach towards even the most complex of problems,fearlessness in accepting ones limitations, confidence in asserting what one knew, andthe importance of trying to get ones point of view across as clearly as possible. He wasmy Guru and I sincerely hope I have been able to become, at least in some smallmeasure, his true disciple.I have visited University of Delaware many times after moving to India in 1993. Theclose-to-two years that I spent between 1995 and 2002 brought us even closer and webecame good friends. In these years he got to know my family. Till his last days heaffectionately referred to my son as Bob because my son Promit, who is now fourteen,as a three-year old used to identify himself with Bob-the-Builder.There are so many memories. I can go on forever.Rest in peace, Professor Kikuchi; I will always miss you.Your student foreverPartha Chakroborty, ProfessorIndian Institute of Technology Kampur, IndiaHis Student from University of DelawareDear Dr. Kikuchi,It was a day in summer. You visited a Japanese university and you somehow gave achance to a young student to have a conversation with him in your busy trip schedule.It was perhaps a small thing to you just for chatting with a young student, but it was astart of big change for the student’s life.One day you gave him a chance to enroll in your university and work for you as aresearch assistant. He happily became your assistant, but it was very hard for him tosatisfy your needs. You were very tough and harsh to your assistants. He workedhard but you kept calling him “a bad student” and you often brought other students’names and explained how they are good students.However, one day, he saw that you were doing the same thing to the other goodstudent. At that time, he knew that it was the way how you cheer young students.Since then, he received your hard words as “get up and catch up” to move himselfforward. You were trying to teach something important other than academic studiesthere.He eventually graduated the university with a degree. Several years afterward, hevisited your office and found his thesis located next to other good students’ in yourbookshelf. He was so happy to see that and he felt like you finally approved him asyour good student. It was the last time I saw you, Dr. Kikuchi. It was only a fewmonth ago.If I did not meet you there in Hokkaido, I would not be here. If I did not study at youruniversity, I would not meet the great people in this field. If I did not work for you, Iwould not know how to work hard for my life. What you left for me is priceless. I willgo through my life with all of what you gave me. Thanks for all of your gifts to me.You were not only a great professor and but also a great advisor for my life. I missyou a lot.Thank you very much, Dr. Kikuchi. May your soul rest in peace.Sincerely,Mitsuru TanakaYour former student/research assistant from University of Delaware2627

I cannot express how much I miss Professor Shinya Kikuchi and how much I willcontinue to miss him. To me, he was a dear Professor, a trusted mentor, a great scientistand a magnificent human. I have learnt a lot from him; both in science and in life.I first met Professor Kikuchi in January of 2007. He had offered a TransportationUncertainty course and it turned out that I was the only student registered for thiscourse. I was surprised when he decided not to cancel the course, and gave me thecourse; alone. This was the first course I attended for Professor Kikuchi, but since then,he has become one of my dearest professors and trusted mentors. For six years, Ienjoyed learning from him, and I had thought I would continue to learn from him foryears to come. I attended all of the courses Professor Kikuchi offered at Virginia Tech,he was a member on my dissertation committee, I worked with him while preparingthe webinar series for ABJ70, and I had the honor of his company in many otheroccasions.I enjoyed numerous aspects about my encounters with Professor Kikuchi, whether inclass or outside. He was a continuous source of inspiration for me. He never told mewhat to think; instead he always challenged me with remarks that would inspire andexcite me, and cause me to think beyond the surface. With his remarkably kind smile,he once told my wife referring to me “I give him [me] something to think about, and itwould make him [me] go crazy”. He was a master of philosophy, an advocate ofperfection, and an idol of ethical behavior. Yet, he had a remarkable heart of kindnessand a unique character of modesty. I invited him for lunch several times thinking that Icould pay if I insisted harder than the preceding time, but I never succeeded.An anecdote which I will never forget happened at TRB last year. My dissertation finaldefense was scheduled a week after. I had been working with all my committeemembers and I had often felt they were proud of my work; I felt confident and I wasneither worried nor anxious. However, last year at TRB, I met Professor Kikuchi. I felthe was as happy and proud of me as he had always made me feel, until I asked him ifhe had read my dissertation and what he thought of it. Suddenly, his demeanorchanged and he answered with such a serious tone and facial expressions that made mefeel I had asked an unimaginable question “I cannot tell you anything”. For thefollowing few days and until I passed my defense, I was as worried and anxious as Ihad never been. Later on, when I recanted this story to him, he laughed like I had neverseen him laugh. I cannot explain his reaction in TRB last year. May be I just did notexpect his answer and imagined it all. But, I know that this memory always makes mesmile.No words can express how I feel about my dear, trusted professor and mentor, andnothing I say can ever convey how much I miss him and how I wish I could have spentmore time with him. He had always been there for me, even when I did not ask. I neverthought about the day I would want to speak to him and he would not be here. Icannot bid farewell to my professor, my mentor and my idol because he has touchedmy heart, my mind and my soul. He will continue to live in my heart, my memories,my thoughts, and my actions, and for as long as I live. But, I still wish he were here.Professor Kikuchi is an idol to me. I will always aspire to be everything he stood forand to inspire others the way he inspired and continues to inspire me. I hope one daywe would meet again and he would be proud of me.Aly Tawfik, Ph.D.His student at Virginia TechDr. Kikuchi was a great teacher and by his encouragement and positive example hemade a lasting impact on my academic and professional life and on the lives of manyother students.I started taking classes at Virginia Tech just before Dr. Kikuchi arrived. I wasapprehensive about applying for the master’s program because I did not have abackground in engineering. Dr. Kikuchi encouraged me very strongly to apply. As Iworked my way through the program, Dr. Kikuchi was very supportive. He wasalways friendly and encouraging and he was relaxed and patient when I needed helpwith a topic. I had a couple of classes with him and he served as mentor on myresearch project. It is no exaggeration to say he helped get me through a challengingcourse of study.I felt lucky to have such a good friend in the university, but, amazingly, this was notany special treatment. Time and time again I saw that he was kind and considerate,even gracious, with all of his students. He was busy building a program, completingresearch, mentoring and teaching--yet he always had a friendly smile and sympatheticear for everyone he met. I don’t know how he managed this, but I think he maintainedthe senses of curiosity, enthusiasm and wonder that we are all born with but many ofus lose as we move out of childhood. I will never forget his smile and the good humorthat Dr. Kikuchi shared with us in class.”Michael JollonHis student at Virginia TechI believe Dr. Kikuchi was a great professor, engineer, scientist, and a good friend ofmine. I was a big fan of his interactive teaching style. His contributions toward myPh.D. dissertation, which is in the final stage now, are tremendous; and without him itwould be very challenging for me to make significant progress in my dissertation. Dr.Kikuchi always enjoyed discussing cultural, political and transportation issues withhis students as he did with me, which was a unique tool to draw his students close tohim. I have learned many invaluable lessons which will help me become a soundprofessional. I really miss him and he will be missed by many students of VT andother universities.Mesbah IslamHis student at Virginia Tech2829

Of all the things Dr. Shinya Kikuchi is known for, I will remember him best as aphenomenal mentor and teacher. While all professors are experts in their field, Dr.Kikuchi also demonstrated a breadth of knowledge beyond his specific discipline. Inclass, as much as he focused on the technical aspects of a subject, he was also adamantthat we appreciate the political and historical significance of the concept. In theinterdisciplinary field of transportation, Dr. Kikuchi’s holistic teachings have beenfundamental to my understanding of different topics. Additionally, he challenged usto be active learners by fostering exchanges that forced us to understand the basis ofour answers. When we were wrong, he did not hesitate to provide constructivecriticism to help us improve our reasoning. Dr. Kikuchi was able to do this quite easilybecause of the passion he had for the transportation field – a passion so strong that westudents became easily infected.Kikuchi’s sphere of influence was not relegated to the classroom; he was alwayswilling to assist his students in ways that went above and beyond. Whenever theopportunity existed, he pushed me to apply for fellowships and other opportunitiesincluding the job I currently hold. He remained accessible, allowing meetingswhenever he was available and even providing his cell number for better access. Thisaccessibility continued even during his fight with cancer. When I asked him whether Icould meet with him to bounce some ideas about my long-term goals for life, heeagerly accepted and provided invaluable advice. The transportation field has lost agreat teacher and I wish that more students would have the opportunity to studyunder a professor like Dr. Kikuchi. His infectious passion for transportation andcompassion towards his students deeply enriched my life and his legacy will surelyremain strong at Virginia Tech.Jefferson KingHis student at Virginia TechWe encounter a number of teachers in our lifetime, but very few have the ability toinspire and influence us by the sheer warmth of their personality. Dr. Kikuchi sits onthat pedestal. His research and accomplishments in the field of transportation areeminent in the academic and industrial world, but what sets Dr. Kikuchi apart is theaffection and care he shows towards his students. His kindness and generosity hadalways made him very approachable to all. I found his rigorous passion for the subjectto be very contagious. The very thought of his pleasant visage sparks such fondmemories, in retrospect, I certainly learned quite a few skills subconsciously from him.I feel very fortunate to have known Dr. Kikuchi, who inspired many of us with hisgentle and humble nature. The news of his demise has deeply saddened me. Theworld will miss an amazing professor, a treasured mentor to many and above all, agreat human being.Kavya SambanaHis student at Virginia TechShinya Kikuchi is a big reason why I am the way I am today. I’d always been drawn totransportation engineering and had always been fascinated by the pedestrian side oftransportation operations, but it wasn’t until I met him and started taking classes fromhim that I really understood just how excited it was possible to be about non-autotransit modes.Dr. Kikuchi’s coursework opened my eyes to the vast potential that exists for walkable,transit-oriented development. Having grown up in the heart of suburbia, I’d alwaysthought of urban living as something of a sacrifice; that you had to give up somethingto live in the big city. Dr. Kikuchi’s teachings and his lifestyle helped me understandthat cities present opportunity, and it’s largely because of his encouragement that I’vefound a career doing work that I greatly enjoy while being able to live in a vibrant andexciting neighborhood. In fact, a meeting with him at TRB 2011 indirectly caused me tofind my current apartment, which happens to be right across the street from this veryhotel!It’s in ways like this that Dr. Kikuchi wasn’t just a teacher to me, he was also a lifeadvisor and a great friend. In my second-to-last semester of graduate school, I signedup to take Dr. Kikuchi’s “Decision Making in Transportation Engineering andPlanning” course. A combination of the course timing and the niche subject mattermeant that within two weeks of the class beginning, I was the only student left in theclass. But did Dr. Kikuchi cancel the class? No – he turned it into an independentstudy. And since I was in Blacksburg and he was in Falls Church, the independentstudy continued to meet for 90 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays using the videoconferencing system, as though nothing had changed. I was in a classroom all bymyself, and so was he. It was by far the most curious educational experience I everhad, but during our time together we were able to talk about all kinds of topics, bothtransportation-related and not. While I was initially puzzled by his insistence oncontinuing the lecture-style course as though nothing had changed, with time I beganto realize that Dr. Kikuchi was so dedicated to his profession that he’d go toextraordinary lengths to teach anyone who shared his interests, even if it was just aclass of one.I’ll always treasure our semester of one-on-one long-distance education, and mygreatest regret is that he won’t be able help enlighten class after class of students tocome by simply doing what he loved.Peter KauffmannHis student fat Virginia Tech3031

I first got to know Professor Shinya Kikuchi when I was a student in his Mass Transitcourse at Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia graduate school campus. I suspect that Iwas like most individuals who when meeting Professor Kikuchi for the first time, wereimmediately impressed with his demeanor: erudite, elegant and always outgoing. Hisenthusiasm and passion for transportation were infectious and in his lectures hetypically liked to distill complicated topics into accessible bite-sized concepts. Perhapsthe most definitive aspect of Dr. Kikuchi’s in-class teaching approach was his ability toenhance a formal treatment of the subject matter with occasional playful commentsthat enabled him to develop a rapport with his students. If a particular studentregularly answered his questions correctly, he might make the comment “you arealways wise…” after a correct answer, or before asking the student a question, “let’sget the wisdom of [name of student]”. If on the other hand, a student answered aquestion incorrectly, he would often furl his eyebrows and display a comicallyexaggerated look of befuddlement on his face before he would either give the studentan opportunity to correct his or her answer, or he would attempt to seek the“knowledge” of another student.Professor Kikuchi had a passion for thinking about the bigger picture of transportation(“systems thinking”) and a desire to search for unconventional solutions to problems(in the United States, we often refer to this approach as “thinking outside the box”). Heoften stressed the fact that transportation was a means to an end (in more ways thanone) and that relying solely on conventional solutions would ultimately reproduce thesame conventional problems.I was genuinely inspired by Professor Kikuchi and his approach to transportation.Before taking his course, I was enrolled in the university’s Urban Affairs and Planningdepartment, which is actually a division of the university's College of Architecture andUrban Studies. After having taken his course, I eagerly joined his transportationsystems program within the Civil Engineering department.Many of his former students will no doubt remember the geography and historyquestions he liked to quiz his students with in class. Not surprisingly, theseinterrogations made many of his students anxious and uncomfortable. Did he takepleasure in watching his students occasionally squirm in their seats? Did it reallymatter to him that his students knew that the capital of Belize was Belmopan or that hisstudents were aware of certain aspects of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” programs?Professor Kikuchi was well traveled and had an interest in history that he liked toshow off, to be certain. In private, however, he confessed to me that he was concernedthat his students (many of whom were the brightest students from top academicinstitutions throughout the world) were too myopic and not aware of the bigger pictureof transportation.The greatness of transportation, both as an academic discipline and as a practical fieldof the utmost relevance in our everyday lives, is that it often requires the highest levelof technical knowledge and expertise, yet at the same time requires geographical,economic and political awareness. Professor Kikuchi was concerned that many of hisstudents were poor communicators, somewhat disconnected from social concerns andonly comfortable with the technical aspects of transportation. Conversely he wasworried that the decision makers in the transportation industry often had only asuperficial understanding of the science of transportation, and also lacked a genuineappreciation for it. Professor Kikuchi cherished the importance of public participationand the inclusion of as many points of view as possible in the transportation planningprocess, but he wanted transportation engineers to stand up and be counted and toplay a more prominent role in shaping policy and the planning of major projects.I often used to chat with Professor Kikuchi in his office in Falls Church, and during ourconversations we would discuss a variety of topics. Inevitably the conversationswould always come back to transportation. On one occasion he showed me apamphlet produced by a local government agency, touting its new transportation plan.He was visibly frustrated. The pamphlet looked nice, it had attractive coloredphotographs and diagrams and popular terms such as “sustainability”, “equity” and“walkability” were used frequently throughout the text. What bothered him was thatthis transportation plan was almost exactly like the transportation plans of localities allthroughout the country. There was nothing really new about it – it was nicelypackaged convention problem solving. Professor Kikuchi was upset they weren’t morepro-active in trying to innovate and that they made no effort to, in his words, “try tochange the world”.A few weeks before his death, I helped Professor Kikuchi move some items from hisoffice to his home. Despite his illness, he was determined to spend any time he couldmanage working on transportation related issues. Sadly, his body language and thetone of his voice suggested that he knew that his days were numbered. While we weredeparting his office for the parking lot, I was able to ask him about transportation onemore time. Specifically I asked him what goal he would want his transportationstudents and colleagues in academia, government and private industry to work for ifhe had one wish granted to him. He hesitated and thought for a few moments before avery subtle smile appeared on his face. He said that he wanted the “full integration ofthe modes [of transportation]”. He didn’t have time to elaborate.I will forever be grateful to Professor Kikuchi for inspiring me and for helping tofurther my career in the transportation industry. It is because of my association withProfessor Kikuchi that I have had the opportunity to attend and participate inmeetings involving important decision makers in the transportation field and toconduct important research related to public transportation. Professor Kikuchi was mymentor, advisor and research supervisor, however, his death feels more like the deathof a beloved family member than that of a distinguished educator and researcher.32Andy AntonHis student at Virginia Tech33

“The first time I talked with Dr. Kikuchi was in 2006. I was a project manager workingin San Antonio, Texas. I met and spoke with him regarding my desire to return to VATech to obtain a PhD in Civil Engineering. From that first conversation to our last,Shinya was kind, encouraging and thought provoking. He never failed to offerprofound guidance to my academic advancement nor did he ever fail to make me thinkdeeper and further about topics we discussed.His class topics were varied and actually lead me to develop new directions in myprofessional engineering career. I would often call him when feeling lost writing up mydissertation and he was unfailing in his support and advice as to how to proceed.During his final year, our discussions expanded to more personal issues which I hopegave us both comfort.I know I am fortunate and a richer person as the result of interactions with ShinyaKikuchi and I know I am a stronger engineer because of his mentoring.The world became less bright with his passing, but his wisdom, knowledge andkindness will continue to grow through all of those whose life was touched andchanged through his presence.”Rob TuckerHis student at Virginia TechDr. Kikuchi was not afraid to dream big on transportation research, being always asupporter of multimodality. Prof. Kikuchi’s academic commitment to hard work madehim to teach even a few months before he passed. Even though I was his last full timestudent, knowing him just for a couple of months, his ideas concerning transportationinspired me and gave me food for thought. His class “Critical Issues inTransportation” was my favorite one as Dr. Kikuchi was able to capture students’attention by referring to challenging issues presenting always real world examples.His caring and love for his students, his passion for teaching and his dedication toconducting innovative research were unique. My very first months in United Stateshappened to be the last of his life but I am glad that I had the one in a life timeopportunity to conduct research with Dr. Kikuchi. He is deeply missed.Eleftheria (Ria) KontouHis student atVirginia TechI am wondering how many people in the world will have his/her second dear father.Our father is the first man in our lives we love without choosing, but my advisor,Dr.Shinya Kikuchi, is my second father who I choose to love and be loyal. If our nextlife exists, I wish to be your son or your student again.Nopadon (Nop) KronprasertHis student at Virginia Tech34