Rolf Moeckel

Short CV

From 1996 to 2002, Rolf Moeckel studied Spatial Planning at the Technical University Dortmund and, funded by a Fulbright Scholarship, at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2006, he completed his doctorate at the Technical University of Dortmund in land use modeling, where he developed the first firm microsimulation that was fully integrated with a travel demand model. After graduation, he spent six years with the consulting firm Parsons Brinckerhoff in New York, NY and Albuquerque, NM as a Principal Professional Associate. During those years, he designed and implemented numerous travel demand models, including traditional four-step models, activity-based models, mode choice models, and freight models. He also developed the microscopic land-use model SILO (www.silo.zone). From 2013 to 2015, he conducted his postdoctoral research at the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, where he tightly integrated the SILO with travel demand models. In 2015, Rolf Moeckel joined TUM as a Rudolf Mößbauer Professor, where he focuses integrated land-use/transportation modeling.

Selected Awards

• 2016, Scholarship for the TRB Chan Wui & Yunyin Rising Star Workshop during a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2
• 2007, Doctoral dissertation prize of the University of Dortmund, top thesis in Spatial Planning
• 2007, WCTRS Certificate of Honorable Mention: 2nd best paper of young authors under 35 at the 11th World Conference on Transport Research in Berkeley, CA, June 24 - 28
• 2005, CUPUM '05 Prize Paper, Best Paper Award at the 9th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management in London, June 29 - July 1
• 2005, Travel Award of the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the workshop on Integrated Land Use - Transport (LU-T) Modeling at University of Toronto, January 14 - 15
• 2004, Scholarship of the Westphalia Foundation (Germany) for participation at a Ph.D. Summer School in Aalborg, Denmark, August 21 - 28
• 2000, Fulbright Fellowship for study at University of Washington, Seattle, September 2000 - July 2001

Research Interests

Rolf Moeckel focuses on the development and application of transportation and land-use models. Such models are used to assess the impact of infrastructure investment and planning policies before they are implemented. Rolf Moeckel has authored three different land use models, ranging from highly aggregate to microscopic approaches. Furthermore, he has designed and implemented numerous person travel and freight models, ranging from traditional aggregate to advanced activity-based approaches. He pays particular attention to the spatial resolution of models, analyzing the impact of both network and zonal resolution.

Selected Publications

• Moeckel, Rolf; Mishra, Sabyasachee; Ducca, Fred; Weidner, Tara: Modeling complex Megaregion systems: Horizontal and vertical integration for a Megaregion Model. IJT 3 (1), 2015, 69-90.

• Moeckel, Rolf; Donnelly, Rick: Gradual rasterization: redefining spatial resolution in transport modelling. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 0 (0), 2015.

• Moeckel, Rolf: Modeling constraints versus modeling utility maximization: Improving policy sensitivity for integrated land-use/transportation models. Proceedings of the 94th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, 2015 .

• Moeckel, Rolf; Huntsinger, Leta; Donnelly, Rick: Microscopic trip generation: Adding fidelity to trip-based travel demand models. Proceedings of the 14th Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management, 2015, 7-10.

• Moeckel, Rolf; Fussell, Rhett; Donnelly, Rick: Mode choice modeling for long-distance travel. Transportation Letters 7 (1), 2014, 35-46.

• Moeckel, Rolf: Firm location choice vs. employment location choice in microscopic simulation models. Employment location in cities and regions (models and applications. Advances in Spatial Science Series), 2013, 223-242.

• Donnelly, R; Erhardt, G.D.; Moeckel, R.; Davidson, W. A.: Advanced Practices in Travel Forecasting. A synthesis of Highway Practice. NCHRP Report, 2010.

• Moeckel, Rolf: Simulation of firms as a planning support system to limit urban sprawl of jobs. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 36 (5), 2009, 883-905.

• Moeckel, Rolf: Business Location Decisions and Urban Sprawl. A Microsimulation of Business Relocation and Firmography. Blaue Reihe Band 126, 2007.

• Moekel, Rolf; Spiekermann, Klaus; Schürmann, Carsten; Wegener, Michael: Microsimulation of Land Use. International Journal of Urban Sciences 7 (1), 2003, 14-31.