Research

Transportation Systems Modeling and Analysis

Connected Vehicle System Analysis

• Analytical modeling of information propagation in a connected vehicle system
• Analysis of information diffusion in a connected vehicle system with communication congestion
• Analysis of the interplay between traffic flow and information flow
• Information provision strategies
• Traffic flow evolution after network disruption

Traffic Flow Evolution After Network Disruption

• Theoretical models for characterizing traffic flow evolution after network disruption
• Approximation models to enhance the applicability of traffic flow evolution models
• Formulation of travelers’ travel choice evolution on the basis of behavioral game theory
• Paradox and irrational behavior

Transportation Network Evacuation

• Dynamic resource allocation problem for transportation network evacuation
• Shelter location and contraflow operations
• Bender’s decomposition scheme for large-scale network evacuation problems

Traffic Management and Operations

Energy Optimal Control for Mixed Traffic Flow

• Optimal speed trajectory for electric vehicles on signalized arterials
• Analysis of electric vehicle energy consumption on a signalized corridor
• Energy-optimal traffic control in a connected-vehicle environment
• Optimal signal control to maximize energy efficiency of mixed traffic
• Charging station location for electric vehicles

Congestion Pricing

• Bounded-flow congestion pricing problem and projection-based solution algorithms
• Estimation of time-dependent value of travel time and value of reliability
• Income-equitable toll pricing
• Regularization for the minimum toll booth problem
• Benefit-cost analysis of HOT lanes

Infrastructure System Resilience

Transportation Network Reliability Assessment

• Transportation system vulnerability assessment using historical disaster data and GIS information
• Stochastic optimization model to strengthen transportation system reliability
• Resource allocation model for humanitarian supply to enhance the system recovery process after disaster

Interdependent Infrastructure Network Resilience

• Resilience investigation of interdependent infrastructure systems using data from the Mekong Delta
• Development of an optimization model to enhance interdependent infrastructure systems’ resilience

Team Members

Ph.D. Students

• Ms. Xiaoyu Ma, PhD, Aug. 2019 - August 2024
  • Dissertation: Intelligent Information Provision for Emerging Transportation Systems
  • First employment: Postdoc @ Carnegie Mellon University
  • Won the 2023 WTS Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship
  • Won the 2022 Founders Award of Excellence
  • Won the 2021 Belsky Award for Computational Sciences and Engineering
• Mr. Yu Wei, PhD, Aug. 2018 - May 2023
  • Dissertation: Fostering Cooperative Intersection Crossing for Connected and Automated Traffic on Urban Corridors
  • First employment: Transportation Modeler @ The Corradino Group
• Mr. Chunheng Jiang, Computer Science (Co-advised with Prof. Jianxi Gao) May 2018 - May 2022
  • First employment: Machine Learning Engineer @ Google

Visiting Scholars

• Mr. Pengcheng Wang, PhD, Oct. 2018 - Oct. 2019, Beihang University
• Mr. Yi Zhang, Dec. 2017 - Dec. 2018, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications

Undergraduate Research Assistant

• Ms. Carrie M. Conton, Summer 2019, Mechanical Engineering
  • Won a travel award to present her research at UTRC’s Transportation Technology Symposium
  • Enrolled into the Masters of Urban Planning at Texas A&M University Fall, 2024

High school Research Intern

• Ms. Saanvi Sharma, May 2024~present
  • Project won a grand prize in the engineering category at Synopsys Science Fair 2024

Research group photo

HEX Lab members in 2019 (from left to right): Dr. He, Carrie M. Conton, Pengcheng Wang, Yu Wei, and Wenjing Zhang.

We gratefully acknowledge the funding support of the following agencies:

NSF, DOE

IBM

SEMPACT, CITE, CoE-SUFS Centers

And our collabrators:

CLR Analytics, Price Chopper, CDTA