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WTS GNY College Outreach Careers in Transportation Panel
2024-03-27 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Have you considered getting a PhD? Are you currently a graduate student? If so, join us for our WTS-GNY Careers in Transportation Panel where we will learn about the experiences of three PhD graduates and how their education has informed their work in the transportation industry. The discussion will be moderated by Chair of the WTS-GNY College Outreach Committee Christina Lindstrom. Please use the Zoom link below to register for the event.

SLH: Introduction to database systems and SQL
2024-03-28 12:00 - 13:00
Instructor: Ziyue Feng, New York University
Hands-on exercise: Yes
Beginner level: No prior experience required.
Schedule: Thursday, March 28th, 12:00 pm -1:00 pm ET
Description: Databases have become indispensable in our daily lives. In this one-hour session, we’ll cover the fundamental concepts of database systems and Structured Query Language (SQL). Additionally, we are going to have a hands-on session with SQL to help you become familiar with data extraction techniques.
RSVP Link: Here

Seminar: Control Engineering for Smart Cities: Curbing Uncertainty, Taming Nonlinearity, and Putting Theory to Work
2024-03-28 14:00 - 15:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Presented by Ahmad F. Taha, Associate Professor, Vanderbilt University
Seminar Abstract: Conservative projections estimate that a staggering 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. As a result of this and other megatrends shaping and defining the Anthropocene, future cities will need reliable urban infrastructure—systems that are orders of magnitude more superior in every metric than today’s aging, feeble ones. In short, today’s most critical infrastructure (i.e., energy, water, and traffic networks) are incapable of meeting future demand of cities. Transitioning to carbon-free power grids, climate-resilient, safe and equitable water systems, as well as autonomous and electrified transportation networks requires action—action that transcends sluggish political change.
Various strategies exist to address the above urban challenges. Compared to policy-driven strategies (e.g., regulation, opening new roads, building power plants, replacing deteriorating pipes), data- and system-theoretic strategies that rely on network science, applied math, control engineering, and wireless sensing and actuation technologies strike a much-needed balance between cost and efficiency. In this talk, I will present contemporary research problems in dynamic, urban networks that address two high-level challenges: human-centered uncertainty and physics-based nonlinearity. From a fundamentally new approach of looking at water system management to robust algorithms to controlling transportation systems and renewables-heavy energy systems, the talk will showcase how control and optimization theory produce answers to infrastructure challenges with monumental relevance.

Seminar: Realizing Benefits at Low Market Penetration of Connected Automated Vehicles
2024-04-02 13:00 - 14:00
Presented by Prof. Brian Park, UVA:
In this talk, I will present connected vehicles and connected-automated vehicles research demonstrating the potential for improving traffic operations at low market penetrations. The first presentation is a “day one operation” of connected vehicles, the transit signal priority (TSP) case, which works even if only buses are connected vehicles. A key advantage of connected vehicle-based TSP (referred to as TSPCV) is its capability to implement (i) cooperative control, (ii) green reallocation, and (iii) handling multiple buses approaching from conflicting directions. Both simulation-based study results and a proof-of-concept field implementation featuring traffic signal controllers and connected vehicle communications will be presented. The second presentation is motivated by adaptive cruise control (ACC) not being widely used, not taking advantage of connectivity, and human drivers wanting to be in charge. When a human driver speeds up or down depending on their perceived safety in terms of spacing or time headway to their preceding vehicle, the accelerations or decelerations are not optimal due to human nature. Thus, an algorithm called human-in-the-loop connected cruise control (hCCC, “h-triple-C”) is developed. It implements optimal acceleration or deceleration based on (i) the human driver’s intention to speed up or down and (ii) a feedforward signal from its preceding vehicle. The hCCC algorithm was tested using a driving simulator and compared with human drivers. These two presentations showcase exemplary research conducted for the early stages of connected vehicles and connected-automated vehicles, with significant potential for real-world deployment.

Engineering Careers with IKOS
2024-04-04 12:30 - 13:30 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Join for a lunch presentation followed by a Q&A session and networking. Hear firsthand from IKOS professionals about their experiences, projects, and career paths within the company and gain insights into IKOS’ company culture, values, and commitment to excellence.

Webinar: Digitized Lifetime Concrete Corrosion and Humidity Health Monitoring of Bridges, Parking Decks, and Garages, and Other Important Structures
2024-04-11 14:00 - 15:00
Concrete corrosion represents a high risk to the reliability of critical infrastructure and is the cause of substantial maintenance, refurbishment, and rehabilitation costs. As demonstrated in two specific case studies, a fully iot-enabled, remote, corrosion monitoring system contributes to smart infrastructure monitoring of the next generation. The case studies represent cast-in-place concrete bridge decks and post-tensioned bridges in the EU. The sensors are fully embedded within the concrete structure, and they track the key parameters of humidity and temperature and detect actual corrosion, not potential. As a result of RFID technology, the passive sensors enhance the durability and lifetime of the structure, monitoring and delivering valuable data allowing detection of corrosion risks long before they become visible. Externally mounted gateways gather the information and transmit the data online to enable a remotely accessible, cost-effective monitoring and alarm system. Therefore, exploratory inspections can be reduced or eliminated, the service life of the infrastructure extended, and rehabilitation costs significantly reduced.

Presented by Kline Engineering’s Dan Kline. Co-hosted by Rutgers and the RIME Bridge Resource Program

SLH: Building Interactive Maps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
2024-04-18 12:00 - 13:00
Instructor: Hannah Bonestroo, New York University
Hands-on exercise: Yes
Beginner level: No prior experience required. Basic website development knowledge is preferred.
Schedule: Thursday, April 18th, 12:00 pm -1:00 pm ET
Description: In this one-hour course, you will learn how to create a basic interactive online map using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. These essential web development tools will allow you to showcase your research findings to a wider, non-technical audience. While this course will only cover the very basics, we will discuss how further mastering these tools can open up a world of opportunity for data visualization.
RSVP Link: Here

SLH: Analyzing scope and limitations of using GeoAI Toolbox available in ArcGIS Pro/Online
2024-04-25 12:00 - 13:00
Instructor: Komal Gulati, North Carolina A&T State University
Hands-on exercise: Yes
Beginner level: Basic GIS and AI knowledge is preferred.
Schedule: Thursday, April 25th, 1:00 pm -2:00 pm ET
Description: Geospatial Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI) offer transformative capabilities for handling and analyzing geospatial data. This course will introduce you to the essentials of GeoAI, including its significance and range of applications, followed by a detailed walkthrough of the ArcGIS Pro environment and the GeoAI Toolbox. You’ll gain hands-on experience in leveraging deep learning for geospatial analysis, from preparing training datasets to executing model inferencing, culminating in a practical exercise aimed at detecting infrastructure vulnerable to landslides in the island of Grenada.
RSVP Link: Here

Seminar: The Intersection of Cloud Computing and Civil Infrastructure
2024-04-25 14:00 - 15:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Over the coming years, bridges and other physical infrastructure will experience unprecedented demands due to climate driven changes and trends in freight. These increasing demands are set against a backdrop of infrastructure deterioration as many assets reach the end of their intended life. This presentation will examine not only these trends but also technology that can be leveraged by the engineering community to better analyze, understand, and overcome these challenges.
The objective of this presentation is to familiarize the engineering community with technology tools that have become well established in adjacent industries and are poised to play a large role in the field of civil infrastructure. These include cloud computing, programming languages, data visualization and machine learning. These tools are examined in the context of two upcoming challenges for our industry: climate threats and increasingly heavy freight. Ultimately, the engineers who know these problems inside and out should have the tools and skill sets to know the data inside and out.
Presented by HNTB’s Erik Zuker, PE, and Rob Wildish, EIT. Co-hosted by Rutgers and the RIME Bridge Resource Program

NYU Technology Opportunities & Ventures (TOV) Info Session
2024-06-18 11:00 - 12:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Important in person info session!
NYU’s Technology Opportunities & Ventures (TOV) office will be hosting an info section on patent and commercialization on June 18. TOV is the technology commercialization unit of NYU and is the office who helps university researcher protect the and promote their outputs. Come learn about how the office functions and how to utilize it for your research.
If you can’t attend in person- stream via Zoom

Seminar: Leveraging AI to Improve Safety for Personal Mobility Device Users
2024-07-25 13:00 - 14:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Presented by Prof. Reuben Tamakloe, Research Assistant Professor, KAIST
Abstract: Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs) have seen a remarkable rise in popularity, becoming a preferred mode of urban transportation. However, this surge has brought significant safety concerns, highlighted by increased PMD-involved crashes. Research shows that PMD user behavior and the physical environment, especially in urban areas, play crucial roles in these crashes. This emphasizes the need for a comprehensive investigation into the factors associated with injury outcomes in PMD-involved accidents. Notably, there is a research gap in analyzing the determinants behind fatal or severe PMD crashes, particularly those where the PMD rider is at fault. Additionally, it is unclear how micro-scale streetscape features influence the fatality of these crashes, making it difficult for safety researchers and urban planners to efficiently address the road safety problems associated with PMD users.
With advancements in computing power, safety researchers can now utilize state-of-the-art machine learning tools to understand the factors contributing to fatal/severe crashes and develop solutions to reduce their occurrence and severity. In this study, we apply unsupervised machine learning tools and computer vision to explore the factors associated with fatal or serious injuries in homogeneous groups of crashes caused by PMD riders. Furthermore, we use computer vision and automated machine learning tools to investigate the impact of streetscape quality features namely greenness, openness, enclosure, walkability, and imageability—developed based on micro-scale built environment features such as sidewalk proportion, vegetation proportion, and building/wall proportion—on the injury outcomes of PMD-involved crashes.
Our analysis revealed intriguing insights, indicating unique factor associations in homogeneous PMD-involved crashes connected with fatal/severe injury. Additionally, the study identified a strong link between these streetscape features and injury outcomes. From the non-linear factor impact analysis, opportunities to enhance PMD rider safety by improving the built environment were identified. Policymakers can apply these findings to improve PMD rider safety, contributing to greater environmental sustainability.

Webinar: Prof. Morteza Bagheri, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST)
2024-08-16 11:30 - 12:30
Hosted by Morteza Bagheri, Associate Professor, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST)
Recently, the United States has faced several significant freight train derailments involving hazardous materials (HAZMAT), raising serious concerns about rail safety. This seminar investigates various approaches to mitigate the risks associated with HAZMAT transport by rail. Through this seminar, we aim to explain the critical importance of effective risk management in HAZMAT transportation and emphasize the necessity of collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure everyone’s safety.

CUE Minors Info Session
2024-09-17 12:30 - 14:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
The Civil and Urban Engineering Department is hosting a Minor Preview event on Tuesday, September 17th from 1230-2pm. This is a great opportunity for you to learn about the minors offered in our department that are available to all of you, no matter what your major is!
Registration is required, see link below.

Transportation & Urban Systems Fall Welcome Event
2024-09-17 17:00 - 18:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Come meet your fellow students and faculty, learn about upcoming courses, programs, and research opportunities in transportation and urban systems, and eat snacks!

Mass Transit & Climate Change
2024-09-26 09:30 - 11:00 | Kimmel Center, Room 914, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Public transportation plays a critical role in the fight against climate change. Transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for about 28% of the U.S. total. Of that, public transportation contributes little, but it plays a critical role in enabling mode shift. Reducing emissions and improving air quality in all modes, including transit, is also important to counter the effects of climate change. With excessive flooding and extreme heat on the rise, climate change is challenging our transportation networks. In response, the MTA recently published its Climate Resilience Roadmap, a comprehensive framework to fortify the transit system against the impacts of climate change. With increased funding, FTA is expanding public transportation’s role in mitigating climate effects, making a record investment in low- and no-emission technology, promoting more equitable transit-oriented development and fostering resiliency through grant programs. The NYU Rudin Center for Transportation presents an expert panel to discuss strategies that will enable our transit system to adapt and expand.
Panelists
Veronica Vanterpool, Acting Administrator, Federal Transportation Administration
Jamie Torres-Springer, President, MTA Construction & Development
Tom Prendergast, Executive Vice President & New York Metro Chief Executive, AECOM
Moderator: Sarah M. Kaufman, Director, NYU Rudin Center for Transportation
This event is sponsored by AECOM, with additional support from NYU C2SMARTER, a Tier 1 University Transportation Center, and the NYU Climate Change Initiative Seed Grant.

Student Learning Hub: Comprehensive Urban Data Collection Using Drones: From Licensing to Advanced Sensor Applications
2024-10-11 13:00 - 14:00
Instructor: Tu Lan & Vivaldi Rinaldi, New York University
Beginner level: No prior experience required.
Schedule: Friday, October 11, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET
Description: Drones are becoming an invaluable tool for urban data collection, offering a wide range of applications from traffic monitoring to environmental analysis. This course introduces participants to the full scope of using drones for traffic data collection, starting with the necessary FAA licensing and airspace regulations, followed by practical guidance on drone operation and control. We’ll explore the different sensors and gimbals that can be equipped on drones, such as cameras, thermal imaging, and LiDAR, and their respective applications in collecting urban data. This session provides a comprehensive understanding of how drones can be utilized for diverse data-driven urban analyses.

NYC V2X & AI Symposium
2024-10-17 10:00 - 2024-10-18 17:00 | Pfizer Auditorium, 5 MetroTech, Brooklyn, NY, 11201, United States

Student Learning Hub: Where Are All the Robots, and Why Aren't There More of Them?
2024-10-23 13:00 - 14:00
Instructor: Irving Fang, New York University
Beginner level: No prior experience required.
Schedule: Wednesday, Oct 23th, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Description: In the talk, we will discuss some of the latest progress in robotic applications over the last few years and the technology behind them. We will also discuss the current obstacles to an even wider spread of robots and the technical details involved.

TransportationCamp NYC 2024
2024-10-26 09:30 - 17:00 | 370 Jay Street
TransportationCamp NYC will be held on Saturday, October 26th at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn. Join us to discuss all things transportation and connect with professionals, students, and enthusiasts alike!
TransportationCamp is an unconference – every session is planned, proposed, and led by attendees like you. It’s the perfect opportunity to share your transportation passion with a diverse gathering of individuals from our multidisciplinary industry.
TransportationCamp welcomes all attendees, whether you’re a planner, software developer, engineer, student, transportation professional, community member, policymaker, or just excited about mobility!

KAIST CEE x NYU CUE Research Seminar
2024-10-28 14:30 - 16:00

Webinar: Spatio-temporal Adaptive AI for Urban Mobility Modeling
2024-10-30 10:00 - 11:00
Abstract: Rapidly developing mobile and sensor networks are accumulating massive volumes of human mobility data in cities. Predictive modeling on these data is a fundamental problem in building decision support systems for various urban and transportation applications. In the real world, such spatio-temporal data show multifold heterogeneity over space and non-stationarity over time, which makes the prediction task especially challenging. My research focuses on developing adaptive AI algorithms (e.g., meta learning) to enhance the robustness of mobility prediction models. Making robust predictions across space and time lays a foundation for not only next generation mobility services, but also emergency response to adverse events, including traffic accidents, pandemic lockdown, and natural disasters.
Bio: Zhaonan Wang joined NYU Shanghai in Fall 2024 as a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor jointly appointed by Urban Studies and Computer Science. Zhaonan obtained his PhD degree in 2022 from the University of Tokyo, advised by Ryosuke Shibasaki; during his PhD study, he also visited the research group led by Flora Salim, Cisco Chair at UNSW CSE. After graduation, Zhaonan did his postdoctoral research on Spatial AI under the supervision of Shaowen Wang and Jiawei Han at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (CyberGIS Center & NSF I-GUIDE). Zhaonan’s research interests lie in the interdisciplinary area between urban & AI, and he’s been published in top-tier AI and data science venues, including AAAI, KDD, WWW, CIKM, ICDE, AIJ, TKDE. He’s also been invited to serve as a Program Committee member and awarded travel grants for multiple times. During his PhD, Zhaonan won a MEXT (Japanese government) scholarship in Top Global University Initiative, Top-10 candidates in KDD Cup 2019 Humanity RL Track, and best resource paper runner-up at ACM CIKM 2021. He also had close collaboration with industry, including the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST in Japan)’s AI Research Center, Yahoo Japan, and Toyota.

Webinar: Tension Stiffening Related to Cracking and Deflection of Reinforced Concrete
2024-11-06 17:00 - 18:00
Hardy Cross once wrote that “strength is essential and otherwise unimportant” to emphasize it makes little difference what other attributes a structure has if it is not sufficiently strong. Looking at this from a different perspective one could say that “strength is essential and otherwise unimportant … when serviceability governs” to ensure the structure performs adequately under the day-to-day service conditions once we know the structure has adequate strength. In fact, certain types of structures such as elevated slabs and fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) reinforced concrete members are often stronger than needed once serviceability requirements are satisfied, and in these types of cases the structure is designed for serviceability first and then checked for strength. Hence, safety and serviceability related to cracking and deflection play an important role in the design of concrete structures.
This presentation is focused on deflection of reinforced concrete. The role of cracking, tension stiffening and shrinkage in understanding deflection behavior of reinforced concrete is explored. In particular, emphasis is placed on the pitfalls of ignoring the concrete shrinkage. Rationale and justification are provided for the recent adoption by most codes in North America of a new approach for the effective member stiffness used to calculate deflection. Work is presently underway with colleagues from Rutgers to extend this approach to prestressed concrete.
Presented by Peter H. Bischoff, Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada
Peter H. Bischoff is an Honorary Research Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, where he has contributed to teaching and research in reinforced and prestressed concrete. He is a fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) and has served on numerous ACI Committees during his career. Dr. Bischoff is a recognized expert in serviceability of concrete structures related to deflection and has received several awards for work in this area. He has also been involved in development of a design code for fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) and UHPC that has been implemented into the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code S6.

Seminar: Alternative Fuel Vehicle Evacuation and Refueling Infrastructure Location Planning
2024-11-07 14:15 - 15:15 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Abstract: Climate change exacerbates the frequency and impacts of hazardous events, such as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires. During emergencies that require preemptive evacuation, drivers using alternative fuel vehicles can be vulnerable under conventional evacuation routes that do not provide access to refueling and charging stations on their way to safety. In this talk, I will discuss a novel evacuation routing problem considering multiple fuel vehicle types. An evacuation tree problem with hop constraints that capture each vehicle fuel type & refueling/charging needs as they are routed to safety is introduced. Large-scale network numerical experiments in South Florida are conducted and planning insights are presented. Even though refueling and charging infrastructure is deployed to meet habitual travel demand, in the second part of my talk I will focus on the extension of the alt-fuel evacuation problem to decide the location of emergency refueling and/or charging infrastructure on the transportation network.
Bio: Dr. Kontou is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on planning sustainable transportation systems. She earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, focusing on transportation systems, from University of Florida, and holds a M.Sc. from Virginia Tech, and a Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens in the same field. She was a postdoctoral research associate at the National Renewable Energy Lab and the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Kontou is a 2023 NSF CAREER awardee, a 2023 CUTC-Cambridge Systematics New Faculty Award recipient, a 2022 Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Faculty Scholar, a 2021 US Frontiers of Engineering Invited Participant, and a Levenick Sustainability Teaching Fellow at the University of Illinois. She is a member of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Alternative Transportation Fuels and Technologies and an Associate Editor of the Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment journal.

STEM Day 2024!
2024-11-08 10:00 - 15:00 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201

Webinar: Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Infrastructure Safety with Robust Vibration-based Monitoring
2024-11-08 10:30 - 11:30
Abstract: The idea that the majority of bridges have reached the end of their service life has become widely accepted. The need for continuous monitoring of a large number of structures has become both a duty and a burden for administrations and operators. While technological advancements enable the acquisition of numerous structural parameters, effectively harnessing the vast amount of data generated is not a straightforward task. Therefore, an automated tool that can conduct end-to-end analysis with minimal effort and cost is crucial. The presented solution is applied to a monumental reinforced concrete arch bridge, and instrumented with tailored monitoring system, from sensors to the cloud-based dashboard. Modal parameters such as vibration modes, modal shapes, and damping are determined using the Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) algorithm, specifically 2 nd order blind identification, in an automated process. The analysis is performed through robust software for automatic modal identification, providing high quality results purified by any environmental effects. Finally, by enhancing the potential of the cloud for measurement data storage, the implementation of advanced data management tools is being considered as interesting emerging future prospects.
Bio: Giacomo Imposa is a structural engineer with a PhD in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) from Iuav University of Venice, Italy, specializing in dynamic identification of masonry structures and bridges. His academic pursuits have primarily unfolded in Italy, with a notable stint in Portugal, in Guimaraes, where he was hosted by Prof. Lourenco, the most important expert in the world regarding Heritage buildings. At Kistler, since January, Giacomo has been globally engaged in advancing new bridge-related applications concerning structural monitoring in his capacity as a business developer. His responsibilities encompass the entire measurement chain, spanning from sensors to data, encapsulated through bridge reporting.

STEM Day 2024!
2024-11-08 10:30 - 14:30
Details to come!

Student Learning Hub: Online Optimization Meets Urban Transportation
2024-11-08 13:00 - 14:00
Instructor: Tao Li, New York University
Beginner level: No prior experience required. Basic optimization knowledge would be helpful but not required.
Description: Urban transportation networks are complex and dynamic, and as a result, offline planning alone may not ensure effective real-time management. Therefore, this course introduces online optimization methods with a focus on transportation applications. We’ll start with gradient descent in conventional convex optimization, move to online gradient descent, and briefly explore multi-agent online learning and associated equilibrium convergence. We’ll also discuss challenges in deploying online optimization in urban transportation.

NYU SPS Distinguished Speaker Series: Nicholas Lalla
2024-11-14 19:00 - 21:00
Nicholas Lalla is an urbanist, executive leader, and author working at the intersection of economic development and emerging technology. He partners with cities to build strategies and initiatives that catalyze inclusive growth. Lalla founded Tulsa Innovation Labs, an organization deploying more than $200 million to build northeast Oklahoma’s innovation economy. He previously led Cyber NYC for the New York City Economic Development Corporation, a cybersecurity initiative the New York Times called “among the nation’s most ambitious.” Earlier in his career, at the Urban Land Institute, he launched a national resilience program for cities
combatting the effects of climate change. Lalla has written for Newsweek, Fast Company, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and Next City, among other outlets. His book Reinventing the Heartland is forthcoming from HarperCollins. He can be found online at nicholaslalla.com.

Student Learning Hub: Causal Inference – Difference in Differences Regression and Its Application in Transportation Research
2024-11-15 13:00 - 14:00
Instructor: Yanchao Li, New York University
Beginner level: No prior experience required.
Schedule: Friday, Nov 15th, 2024 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Description: In this course, we will discuss the Difference-in-Differences (DiD) method, a causal inference tool widely used across various research fields to estimate the impact of policy changes or other interventions while controlling for confounding factors. You will learn about its application in transportation research, with a recent study evaluating the effectiveness of congestion policies as an example.

Distinguished Speaker Series: Dr. Henry Liu
2024-11-19 11:30 - 12:30 | C2SMART Center Viz Lab, 6 Metrotech Center, Room 460, Brooklyn, 11201
Earning public trust in highly automated vehicles, and greater understanding of how they operate, is paramount as automakers and their suppliers push to put cars and trucks on the road that can safely operate without a driver. While complex automated vehicle safety testing programs are being implemented across industry, they are generally proprietary, and their structure remains hidden from public view. To fill in this gap, we developed the Mcity Safety Assessment Program, a two-part protocol for testing the behavior competence of automated vehicles before their widespread use on public roads. The first part of the assessment is a “Driver’s License Test” that measures the basic behavioral competency of an automated vehicle through random scenario generation. The second part is a “Driving Intelligence Test” that challenges AI-based algorithms with a diverse set of scenarios representing those that most often result in crashes, injuries and fatalities. Mcity believes the Mcity Safety Assessment Program could serve as the blueprint for a publicly inspectable behavioral safety framework, helping industry bring automated vehicle technology to market in a manner that truly benefits society. In this talk, we will also highlight Mcity 2.0, a facility funded by the National Science Foundation, that aims to build a digital infrastructure providing researchers remote access to the Mcity mixed reality testing environment for highly automated vehicles.
