My Research Interests:
Sustainable Transportation Systems
Land Use, Transportation and Air Quality
Vehicle Activity Data/Vehicle Classification
Sustainable Housing, and Community Development
Scenario-based Transportation Planning Policy Evaluation
Travel Demand Modeling
Mobile Source Emission Modeling
Computer Vision and Applications in Traffic Data Acquisition (most recent);
Awarded Research Projects:
- Adaptive Video-based Vehicle Classification Technique for Monitoring Traffic. Funded by Ohio Department of Transportation, Student Study Problem Program. FY 2013. $40,000.
- Traffic Data for Integrated Project-Level PM2.5 Conformity Analysis (co-wrote with my advisor), Funded by Ohio Department of Transportation, Partnered Research Exploration Program (OPREP). FY 2013-2014. $302,000.
Research Projects(Selected):
- Adaptive Video-based Vehicle Classification Technique for Monitoring Traffic, funded by Ohio Department of Transportation, 10/01/2014 to 10/01/2015.
- Case Studies of Sustainable Water Resources and Infrastructure Adaptation to Climate and Socioeconomic Changes, funded by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 09/30/2009 to 09/30/2014.
- Traffic Data for Integrated Project-Level PM2.5 Conformity Analysis, funded by Ohio Department of Transportation, 04/21/2012-04/21/2014
- Integrated Analysis Approach for Traffic Emission Impact, funded by Ohio Department of Transportation, 10/01/2010 to 01/31/2012.
- Integrating Traffic Operation with Emission Impact using Dual-loop Data, funded by Ohio Transportation Consortium (OTC), 09/01/2010 – 12/31/2011.
- Impact of Urban Traffic on Population Exposure to Air Pollution: An Integrated Approach, funded by University of Cincinnati Research Council, 08/13/09 – 07/14/10.
- Bicycle Trip Forecasting Model: Cincinnati Metropolitan Case Study, funded by Ohio Department of Transportation, 04/01/2012 to 04/01/2013.
- RET Site on Sustainable Engineering for Urban Needs: Research Experiences for Middle and High School Teachers, funded by National Science Foundation, summer (2009 – 2012).
- REU Site on Sustainable Engineering for Urban Needs: Research Experiences for Undergraduate Students, funded by National Science Foundation, summer (2009 – 2013).
My Research Statement:
My desire to tackle complex transportation, logistics, and environmental issues and to educate future generations of leaders led me to pursue a doctoral degree in transportation engineering. After my studies and work in the Philippines and China, I am longing to be a professional researcher and dedicate into the long-term well-being of the urban transportation system. I have selected this torrent as it would blend my desirability of becoming an excellent transportation educator, engineer, satisfy my curiosity about Sustainable Urban Engineering and stimulate my creativity to solve challenging problems.
All the way through my days pursuing for higher education in universities, I sought enthusiastically the professional knowledge in transportation engineering and planning as well as environmental issues. I have carefully chosen courses that will enhance my ability of design and carry out research. Because of my experience of studying in South-east Asia, I was able to perceive the importance of sustainable urban development in relation to the economical development. Studying same textbooks with the western countries prepared me the basic interdisciplinary knowledge in connection to the world. Working as an apprentice in an architect’s office exposed me into the real construction and civil engineering realm. Of course, my Ph.D. of civil engineering major in transportation made me a matured thinker and researcher. My mentor, who is a distinguished professor and engineer as well as educator, has fostered my ability of independent thinking and research skills. In the college research center, where most of our teaching and research activities were conducted, we were able to work on practical research projects with high concern regarding to the sustainable transportation infrastructure systems under unique settings. Aside from this, we also take our sight into the globalization and urbanization process of infrastructure development. My vision is getting keen to identify the correct from the delusive representational matters.
Interests in harmonious and functional urban transportation development long lasted from my teenage years and continued to thrive throughout my undergraduate studies. I recognize that effective traffic studies demands a comprehensive knowledge of the physical world while it also embraces creative and innovative alteration for the future. My doctoral research is sustainable urban infrastructure design and operation, with a specific focus on the multifaceted relationship between the transportation system and the environment, focusing on how urban infrastructure and environmental policies affect the long-term health and wealth of cities and scientific metrics, policies and technologies that promote the evolution of economically and environmentally sustainable urban regions. In particular, I am especially interested in the development of large transportation infrastructure in relation to the urban development projects, that are specifically designed to create urban environments which are not only safe and functional, but which are also harmonious, fluid, and environmentally, socially sustainable. I have a strong belief that the transportation planning as a fundamental of efficient running urban development systems. I look forward to working on developing more intelligent and interactive systems that provide real-time information and predictions of traffic conditions in the near future. Another trend that fascinates me is the progress of sustainable urban engineering, focus on how urban infrastructure and environmental policies affect the long-term health and wealth of cities and scientific metrics, policies and technologies that promote the evolution of economically and environmentally sustainable urban regions.
In general, issues related to metropolitan development, urban infrastructure, and environmental health are my concerns. I have set my research goals to be: conducting multi-disciplinary research addressing complex transportation challenge, developing and evaluating strategies that improve safety, mobility and sustainability in transportation systems, and the ability to construct, maintain, and operate transportation infrastructure, working cooperatively and collaboratively with other research organizations and disciplines, and investing in technologies that support transportation research.
In the last four years, I have conducted extensive studies about how transportation related emissions will impacts physical world and to adaptively optimize this complicated system from the planning perspective. This complicated system starts with building a baseline scenario in travel demand model. Once the model is calibrated and validated, scenarios may be proposed and consequences such as introduced traffic and its emission can be therefore quantified. Traffic efficient measures and emission inventories will be back feed to the adaptive planning. Likewise, the adaptive planning makes adjustments in land use and provide new inputs for the travel demand model. Such an iterative procedure will continue until convergence is met.
Another aspect of my research is loop data mining. Loop data obtained at freeways has been applied to generate traffic information for various traffic analysis applications. Typical information that could be derived from the dual-loop data includes traffic count, spot speed, occupancy, and others. Since the dual-loop detector consists of two single loop detectors which are placed apart at a fixed distance, the capability of measuring vehicle lengths makes the dual-loop detectors a potential real-time data source for vehicle classifications. Recent studies have proven that the measures of vehicle speed and length-based vehicle classification are greatly influenced by the traffic conditions, or phases of traffic flows, in particular under non–free traffic flow conditions. The primary requisite for applying the loop-based vehicle classifications under various traffic conditions is the capability to clarify the phases or states of traffic flows. My research is to identify typical variables that could not only be able to represent the distinctive characteristics of varied traffic phases, but also be quantitatively measurable from the dual-loop data.
In summary, my research is focused on interdisciplinary research of civil engineering and planning, environmental engineering, geography and many others. Because I care about the long-term health and wealth of the urban development, sustainability would always be the theme of my study.