The Ryuichi Kitamura Fund
Over the span of thirty years, Ryuichi Kitamura left an indelible mark on the transportation profession through his contributions in the areas of activity-based analysis, travel demand modeling, time-use research, dynamic analysis of travel behavior, travel survey methods, and transportation policy studies. Ryuichi’s profound influence on the field has shaped the life and work of legions of researchers who will carry forward his legacy for generations to come. With his passing the world has lost a wonderful researcher, teacher, mentor and human being.
The Kitamura family, together with the two universities at which Ryuichi spent his career – UC Davis and Kyoto University – have established the Ryuichi Kitamura Fund in support of graduate student scholarship and exchange of ideas in the field of travel behavior research. The fund will be administered by the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, as directed by a steering committee comprising representatives of the Kitamura family, the two universities, Ryuichi’s students, and the transportation community at large. Gifts to the fund at all levels are welcome.
Income from the fund will be used to recognize outstanding travel behavior scholarship by students anywhere in the world, and foster greater intellectual and cultural exchange between the East and the West, consonant with Ryuichi’s own career.
Once the fund reaches a sustainable level,it will help support the expenses of a young scholar in travel behavior research (or a closely-related field) at a university in the East to collaborate with researchers at any University of California campus with a transportation program, or conversely. Graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and untenured faculty are eligible for this support, with preference for students. Specifics regarding this program will be announced at a later date, when the fund balance is able to support it.
In addition, a cash prize will be awarded to the student winner(s) of the newly-established Transportation Research Board Kitamura Paper Award, following presentation of the paper to a UC Davis audience (can be done via webinar or teleconference). The amount of the prize will grow as the fund grows.
We would be honored if you would join us in supporting this effort. Through the generosity of the Kitamura family, Springer Publishing, and Cynthia Chen with Haiyun Lin, several mementos of Ryuichi are available as tokens of our appreciation for your gift (ITS-Davis staff will contact you regarding your preference):
- A book of photographs taken by Ryuichi -OR- a special issue of the journal Transportation compiled in Ryuichi’s memory (minimum donation $100)
- A collection of tributes and photographs of Ryuichi with other people, contributed by the international community shortly after his passing (downloadable PDF file only; minimum donation $50)
- A set of six note cards made from photos Ryuichi took (minimum donation $25)
Gifts can be made online, via wire transfer (contact Ms. Valerie Johnson at vljohnson@ucdavis.edu for details), or by sending a check drawn on a U.S. bank, payable to “University of California Regents” and mailed to the attention of:
Ms. Norma DeLiberty
ITS-Davis
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616 USA
We invite you to consider making a multi-year pledge in addition to an initial gift. To discuss such a gift, please contact Norma DeLiberty (development director at ITS-Davis), by phone at 1(530)754-6514 or e-mail at ndeliberty@ucdavis.edu.
If you would like additional information, don’t hesitate to contact Norma or any member of the steering committee. Thank you in advance for your partnership in memorializing Ryuichi’s legacy.
Steering Committee
Yoshiko Kitamura, Honorary Chair
Patricia Mokhtarian, University of California, Davis
Satoshi Fujii, Kyoto University
Ram Pendyala, Arizona State University
Toshiyuki Yamamoto, Nagoya University
Kostas Goulias, University of California, Santa Barbara
Cynthia Chen, University of Washington
Martin Lee-Gosselin, Laval University, Canada
Kay W. Axhausen, ETH - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich