The University of Memphis is a metropolitan research university located at the hub of the Lower Mississippi Delta’s intermodal freight transportation network. In recognition of this strategic position, the University has established the Intermodal Freight Transportation Institute (IFTI) to provide an administrative home for a wide range of multi-disciplinary research and curricular initiatives as well as public-private partnership endeavors collectively designed to provide national leadership on issues related to intermodal freight transportation.

IFTI engages in work in the thematic areas of safety and security, efficiency and productivity, business continuity and recovery, capacity and congestion, and finance and policy systems. It manages the activities of three affiliated centers as well as partnerships with the Vanderbilt Center for Transportation Research (VECTOR), other regional academic institutions, and key public and industry organizations. There are presently three centers affiliated with IFTI that involve researchers from a wide range of engineering and business disciplines: 1) the Center for Intermodal Freight Transportation Studies; 2) the Center for Advanced Intermodal Technologies; and 3) the CN - E. Hunter Harrison Institute for Intermodal Safety and Emergency Preparedness.