With his background in computer modeling and systems engineering, Mikel Murga provides strategic advice on sustainable transportation, which he combines with a strong interest in sustainable education. He teaches Transportation Modeling and Urban Transportation Planning at the Center of Transportation and Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Frederick Salvucci, former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation. Mikel also performs research for the Chicago Transit Authority and London’s TfL transit systems.
Mikel is also president and managing director of Leber Planificacion e Ingenieria, S.A, leading its Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering activities. The firm has received multiple awards for transforming cities and towns in the Basque Country with a comprehensive approach to sustainable urban transportation.
Mikel held engineering positions in France, the U.S., and Spain, where he gained wide experience in the design and construction of public infrastructure projects. These include strategic guidelines and a stream of innovative projects and actions that helped to reshape transportation performance, policy, and perspectives in Bilbao, the Basque Country, and across Spain, as well as a “New Light Rail in San Sebastian” Transport Policy for the Basque Country.
Mikel is a member of such professional engineering and transportation associations as the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Union Internationale des Transports Publics, Transportation Research Board, Colegio de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (Spain), and Colegio de Ingenieros Industriales (Bilbao). He earned a degree in Mechanical Engineer in 1969 at the University of Bilbao, a Masters of Science in Civil Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1976, and a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Santander in 1987. He was a Fellow at the Salzbur Seminar, “Protecting the Environment in Urban Areas.” His European and U.S. education and experiences strongly positions Mikel to advise ILAET on its ventures worldwide.
