The first abertis Award for Transport Infrastructure Management, awarded by the abertis chair in France, was won by Guillaume Costeseque in the Masters category, while Judith F. Princeton and Bassem Besbes were joint winners in the Doctoral Thesis category.

The presentation ceremony took place at 10.30 am today, Monday 16 April, and was held at the Spanish Ambassador’s residence, at 15 Avenue Georges V – Paris 8e.

The winners

Divided into two categories of Masters and Doctoral Thesis, the abertis Award recognises research into transport infrastructure management. Nine students entered the Masters category this year, while six entered the Doctoral Thesis category. The 2012 winners selected by the judging panel were:

Masters Category

Guillaume Costeseque of the ENTPE, University of Lyon, for his project entitled “Analyse et modélisation du trafic routier : passage du microscopique au macroscopique” [“Analysis and modelling of road traffic: moving from microscopic to macroscopic”]. In this piece, Costeseque firmly establishes the mathematical transition between microscopic and macroscopic models. The relationship between the two is shown using real data, thus giving and new and detailed vision of traffic.

Doctoral Thesis Category: joint winners

Judith F. Princeton of the University of Paris Est, for “Pratiques innovantes d’exploitation des réseaux routiers en lien avec la mobilité durable” [“Innovative practices of road network operations in relation to sustainable mobility”]. The thesis puts forward a brand new way of evaluating motorway traffic operation. The idea is based on service level as the sole indicator of the impacts of congestion, safety and the environment. The novel approach is one which could be extended throughout all dynamic traffic operations on motorway networks.

Bassem Besbes of the French National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Rouen, for his work entitled “Intégration de méthodes de représentation et de classification pour la détection et la reconnaissance d’obstacles dans des scènes routières” [“Integrating representation and classification methods for the detection and recognition of road obstacles”]. This piece deals with the detection of obstacles using onboard devices. It is based on designing a local appearance model, together with a classification technique capable of precisely distinguishing objects. The thesis gives real added value to the development of detection techniques in the field of driving aids.

The abertis Award

On 27 January 2011, abertis and the abertis foundation announced the first French abertis chair, in collaboration with the École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) and the Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l’Aménagement et des Réseaux (IFSTTAR). Led by Professor Simon Cohen, the abertis chair activity is focussed on training and research in the field of transport infrastructure management, aimed at students, researchers, teachers and professionals in the sector.

The abertis chair has launched the abertis Award in Transport Infrastructure Management in a bid to encourage research in the area. This national award shall reward theses or final year projects that display innovative work both in terms of analysis and modelling.

The 2012 abertis Award judging panel comprised:

•    Panel President: Francisco Reynés, Chief Executive Officer of the abertis group.
•    Panel Vice-President: François Gauthey, Director General of the sanef group.
•    Panel Secretary: Sergi Loughney, Director of the abertis foundation.

•    Simon Cohen, Director of the abertis chair, Director of Research, Professor at the École des Ponts ParisTech.
•    Fabien Leurent, Professor at the École des Ponts ParisTech, LVMT Laboratory.
•    Said Mammar, Professor at the University of Evry, IBISC Laboratory Director.

•    Patrick Jacamon, Deputy Director General of the sanef group and head of operations.
•    Christine Allard, Communications Director of the sanef group.