Decision Support for Dynamic Risks: Determinants of Model Adoption

Decision Support for Dynamic Risks: Determinants of Model Adoption

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, significant supply chain disruptions continue to impact the U.S. economy and have negative impact on transportation networks. Sudden changes in demand or freight availability contribute to increased volatility in freight prices. In turn, volatile freight rates impact the management of transportation networks and increase the difficulty of decision making. This research addresses this problem through the development of decision support tools to proactively respond to initial indicators that predict changes in driver availability and freight cost with the goal of supporting enhanced, early actions to mitigate the risk of disruptions and promote safer transportation network operations. Work on related prior projects has underscored the importance of forecasting sources of risk to improve the management of transportation systems and the need to understand the key decision components to maximize the value of information to the decision maker. The proposed research will rely on this prior work and make advancements towards the design of an implementable system by examining the end-user perception of decision support recommendations for transportation contracting decisions. The research will interview transportation professionals to identify factors that influence their current decision-making and factors that would affect their adoption of a decision support tool. The results of these interviews, in conjunction with prior findings in related research, will inform the design of features for a decision support tool. Design features will be identified for an initial prototype that is suitable for conducting future usability testing of the interactive features. This research continues progress towards the development of a dynamic decision support tool that can ultimately improve the quality of transportation management decisions and continue the legacy of leadership in America’s transportation networks.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $151,896.32
• Contract Numbers:

  69A3552348307

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Mid-America Transportation Center

  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  2200 Vine Street, PO Box 830851
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0851
• Project Managers:

  Bruner, Britain

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Missouri, St. Louis

  1 University Boulevard
  St. Louis, MO  United States  63121-4400
• Principal Investigators:

  Hupman, Andrea

• Start Date: 20260601
• Expected Completion Date: 20270531
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers Program

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Contracting; Cost control; COVID-19; Decision making; Driver monitoring; Freight transportation; Logistics; Predictive models; Risk analysis; Supply chain management; Transportation engineers; User interfaces
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Design; Economics; Freight Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01989352
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Mid-America Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: 69A3552348307
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: May 15 2026 2:13PM