William Barbour is a research scientist at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. He currently works on the I-24 MOTION testbed, seeking to establish a preeminent study area for automated vehicle technologies on an open roadway in Tennessee.

Dr. Barbour received his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University, an M.S. degree in sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.S. in Biosystems Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Barbour has previously worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and CSX Transportation. He has also received graduate funding support from the Roadway Safety Institute and Federal Highway Administration.

William’s career and research interests focus on the application of novel and advanced computational techniques to transportation systems engineering; examples include big data analytics, machine learning, optimization, and artificial intelligence. He has applied these interests in the freight rail transportation domain through ongoing industry collaboration with Class I railroads, where improvements in network operations can lead to capacity and efficiency gains for the system. William’s other domain interests include pedestrian and cyclist accessibility, public transit planning, and transportation policy.

In addition to research, William teaches with Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth. In summer 2019, he planned and taught two sections of his new class, Sensors and Big Data Analysis, to gifted high school students from across the United States and abroad at the Vanderbilt Summer Academy. The class included hands-on experiences for students in sensor prototyping, data collection, and data analysis. An abbreviated version of the class will be taught again in fall 2019 at the Weekend at Vanderbilt University program.

Website: William's Website

• Ph.D, Civil Infrastructure Systems, CEE, Vanderbilt University, 2020
• M.S., Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC, 2017
• B.S., Biosystems Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2015

Derek Gloudemans is a PhD. student in computer science at Vanderbilt University. His undergraduate degree was in civil engineering from Vanderbilt University, where he graduated summa cum laude. Derek has work experience from the Indiana Department of Transportation.

Derek’s career and research interests focus on the usage of computational techniques to address large-scale and multiparameter problems traditionally solved using human intuition, with a particular emphasis on computer vision. Current work focuses on leveraging creating real-time methods for tracking objects across multiple continuous camera fields of view. Past projects have included fast joint object tracking and detection algorithms, utilizing computational techniques to analyze social distancing compliance, algorithms for vehicle turning movement counting at intersections on edge compute devices, and fault detection in the freight rail sector using machine learning. Derek is also interested in the intersection of artificial intelligence, data science, and public policy.

• Ph.D, Computer Science, CEE, Vanderbilt University 2023 (expected)
• B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 2018

George Gunter is a PhD student in Civil Engineering and the Insitute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. He earned his B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. His research interests are broadly in applications of cyber-physical systems to civil infrastructure, specializing in smart and connected transportations sytems with a focus on traffic cmodeling and control.

• Ph.D, Civil Infrastructure Systems, CEE, Vanderbilt University 2023 (expected)
• B.S, Civil Infrastructure Systems, CEE, University of Illinois 2019

Yue Hu is a PhD candidate in computer science at Vanderbilt University and the Institute for Software Integrated Systems. She earned her M.S. in Systems Engineering at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in University of California at Berkeley. She earned her B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tongji University, China. She previously joined FaceBook as a machine learning engineer intern.

Yue’s research is focused on machine learning, data mining, deep learning on graphs, and anomaly detection, with application on real world systems. Her current research include using sensing technologies, large mobility datasets, and advanced analytics to understand urban traffic congestion and predict traffic conditions at city scales.

Website: Yue's Website

• Ph.D, Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, 2022 (expected)
• M.S., Systems Engineering, University of California at Berkeley, 2018
• B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tongji University, China, 2017

Junyi Ji is a Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering and the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. He earned his M.S. in Transportation Engineering at B.S. in Traffic Engineering from Southeast University, China. Junyi's primary interest is to better understand and predict the microscopic and macroscopic traffic flow characteristics, and to formulate new control strategies to improve efficiency, stability and safety of highway systems. His current research is focusing on smoothing traffic trajectories at scale with application on the I-24 MOTION testbed. Junyi’s other domain interests include data-driven approaches in sustainable transportation (road safety, active mode traffic, and environmental impacts). Sustainablity is his pursuit.

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, CEE, Vanderbilt University 2026 (expected)
• M.S., Transportation Engineering, Southeast University, China, 2022
• B.S., Traffic Engineering, Southeast University, China, 2019

Matt Nice is a PhD student in Civil Engineering and the Insitute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. He earned his M.Eng in Cyber-Physical Systems at Vanderbilt University. He earned his B.S.E. at Tulane University. His research interests are broadly in transportation cyber-physical systems. That includes autonomous vehicles, sensor networks, and human-in-the-loop systems. He is focused on empirical successes from research ideas.

• Ph.D, Civil Infrastructure Systems, CEE, Vanderbilt University 2024 (expected)
• M.Eng., Cyber Physical Systems, Vanderbilt University 2019
• B.S.E., Biomedical Engineering, Tulane University 2018

Yanbing Wang is a doctoral student in Civil Engineering and the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. She earned a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2018 from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Yanbing is a recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Graduate Transportation Fellowship, and has won the Sidney P. Colowick Graduate Scholar Award from Vanderbilt University.

During her undergraduate studies, she co-founded a non-profit organization, Bridges to Prosperity, and helped rural communities in Guatemala and Panama construct pedestrian bridges that allow safe access to local amenities.

Yanbing's research focuses on nonlinear system identification, state estimation and control with the application on traffic flow study and individual driving behavior. She previously joined Toyota as a research intern to design personalized adaptive cruise control systems on vehicles. Most recently she is working on automatic trajectory data reconciliation from the I-24 MOTION testbed, with the vision of extracting high-quality traffic measurements in the context of mixed autonomy traffic.

Website: Yanbing's Website

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2023 (expected)
• B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018

Yuhang Zhang is a PhD student in Civil Engineering and the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. He earned his M.S.E in Civil and Systems Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University and his B.E. in Civil Engineering from Central South University, China. His research interests lie primarily in intelligent transportation systems and his current research is focusing on smart traffic management utilizing artificial intelligence.

• Ph.D, Civil Infrastructure Systems, CEE, Vanderbilt University 2026 (expected)
• M.S.E., Civil and Systems Engineering, Johns Hopkins University 2021
• B.E., Civil Engineering, Central South University, China, 2019

Zhiyao Zhang is a Ph.D. student in Civil Engineering and the Institute for Software Integrated Systems at Vanderbilt University. He earned his B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Xiangtan University, China.

Zhiyao's current research interest is to deploy reinforcement learning on both infrastructure and vehicle sides. He is now working on developing model-based reinforcement learning methods for traffic flow management with smart infrastructure on the I-24 SMART Corridor project.

Zhiyao previously focused on reinforcement learning for energy management. He has decided to study traffic because he thinks cars are cool and driving is fun!

• Ph.D., Civil Infrastructure Systems, CEE, Vanderbilt University, 2027 (expected)
• B.E., Electrical Engineering, Xiangtan University, China, 2022

Caleb Van Geffen is a masters student majoring in Civil and Infrastructure Systems (CIS). He graduated from Vanderbilt University as well with a B.S. in Computer Science and has been working in the lab since his sophomore year of undergrad. He currently works in the lab as a graduate research assistant and runs on the Vanderbilt Cross Country team. He most recently worked in the Cyber division at KPMG in Summer 2021 before starting his masters.

His research interests involve the intersection of computer science and transportation in order to make smarter, more informed decisions. Caleb is currently staffed on the I-24 Smart Corridor ATCMTD project to assist in building an AI system to respond to incidents on the interstate in real-time. He worked on data-driven methods for e-scooter parking to benefit urban areas when he was an undergraduate.

• M.S., Civil and Infrastructure Systems, CEE, Vanderbilt University, December 2022 (expected)
• B.S., Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, 2021

Gracie Gumm is an undergraduate student in civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. She is currently working as an undergraduate research assistant in Prof. Dan Work's lab at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems.

Gracie’s career and research interests include the intersections between emerging technologies and public policy surrounding transportation infrastructure. She is currently collaborating on a project to determine the effects of autonomous and connected vehicles on fuel consumption. Previously, she worked to collect field data regarding the flow on I-24 during peak congestion hours.

Outside of research, Gracie is involved on campus as a founding and executive member of Girls Who Code. Additionally, she works as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant through Vanderbilt's Program for Talented Youth for the course Computer Science: Tools for Enhancing Cybersecurity.

• B.E., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2023 (expected)

Lisa Liu is a rising sophomore studying Computer Engineering at Vanderbilt University. She is working on the I-24 Motion project. On campus, she is currently involved in Vanderbilt Robotics and Nashville Navigators.

• B.E, Computer Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2025(Expected)

Xinxuan is an undergraduate studying Computer Science and Mathematics at Vanderbilt University. He is working as an undergraduate research assistant in Prof. Dan Work’s lab on Vehicle Detection Tasks. His research interests include applications of machine learning and computer vision.

• B.S, Computer Science; B.A, Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, 2023(Expected)

Ao(Leo) is a senior at Vanderbilt University with majors in mathematics and computer science and minors in economics and scientific computing. He is passionate about using quantitative methods to study and improve intelligent transportation systems. In the past, he has worked with Yue on machine learning based anomaly detection algorithms for traffic and urban sensors. His current research focuses on predicting the impact of traffic incidents using graph neural networks.

• B.S, Computer Science; B.A, Mathematics(Honors), Vanderbilt, 2022(Expected)

Josh is a second-year undergraduate student studying Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. Currently, Josh is working under Professor Work to research how traffic may be minimized through the use of AI. In the future, Josh hopes to study the optimization of both efficiency and robustness on newer algorithms.

• B.S, Computer Science; B.A, Applied Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, 2024(Expected)

Brandon is an undergraduate researcher from Chicago, Illinois double majoring in computer science and mathematics. He'll be working on the I-24 Motion project, mainly focusing on computer visualization. Outside of the lab, he loves weightlifting, Spikeball, and listening to music.

• B.S, Computer Science; B.A, Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, 2025(Expected)

From Seoul, South Korea, Arthur is an undergraduate student in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. He is working as an undergraduate researcher in Prof. Dan Work's lab at the Institute for Software Integrated Systems.

Arthur's research area is currently focused on visualizing data created from the I-24 MOTION testbed under the supervision of Ph.D. Student Yanbing Wang and Dr. William Barbour. Outside of research Arthur is involved in 2 team projects as a Full Stack Developer and a Product Manager : creating an automated inventory management system for a local non-profit organization as a Change++ member, and creating a dining hall review application for Vanderbilt Students. Arthur is currently working with the Vanderbilt Student Government and hopes to launch this application by the end of the year.

• B.S., Computer Science, Vanderbilt University, Winter 2022 (expected)

From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Zi is an undergraduate studying Computer Science and Mathematics at Vanderbilt University. He is working as an undergraduate research assistant in Prof. Dan Work’s lab under the supervision of Ph.D. student Yanbing Wang. Outside of research, Zi is a developer at Change++, the co-director of Development team at VandyHacks, and a member of the Vanderbilt climbing team.

• B.S, Computer Science; B.A, Mathematics(Honors), Vanderbilt University, 2025(Expected)

Shepard is a senior undergraduate majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics with a minor in History of Art. He is currently working under Derek Gloudemans on vehicle detection on the I-24 Smart Corridor. Specifically, he is tackling the problem of detecting vehicles during nighttime. His research interests are primarily focused in computer vision. Shepard also has a passion for historical fencing.

• B.S, Computer Science; B.A, Mathematics, Vanderbilt University, 2023(Expected)

• Ph.D. Applied and Computational Mathematics, Temple University, 2013.
• B.S. Applied and Computational Mathematics, HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, 2007.
• Position after completion: Union Bank, NA

• Position after graduation: Virgin Hyperloop One
• Ph.D, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC 2017
• M.S., Mechanical Engineering, KAUST 2012
• B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University 2011

• Position after graduation: Assistant Professor, University of Minnessota
• Ph.D, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, University of Illinois, 2018 (expected)
• M.S., Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, University of Illinois, 2015
• B.S., CEE, Minor in Statistics, University of Illinois, 2013

• Position after completion: Boston Consulting Group.
• Ph.D, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC 2017
• M.S., Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC, 2014
• B.S., Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2012

• Position after graduation: Apple, Inc.
• Ph.D, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC 2015
• M.S., Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, CEE, UIUC, 2013
• B.S., Transportation Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, 2010

• Position after graduation: M.S. program, Computer Science, UIUC
• M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, UIUC, 2012
• B.S., Transportation Engineering, Jilin University, 2010

• Position after graduation: Uber
• M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering UIUC, 2015
• B.S. Computer Science (Machine Intelligence), Purdue, 2013

• Position after graduation: DMC Engineering
• M.S., Mechanical Engineering, 2013
• B.S., Mechanical Engineering, UIUC, 2011

• Position after graduation: Apple, Inc.
• M.S., Aerospace Engineering, UIUC, 2013 (co-advised with Prof. Cedric Langbort)
• M.S., Aerospace Engineering, ISAE SUPAERO, 2011

• Currently taking a gap year exploring the globe in 2022
• M.S., Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, CEE, Vanderbilt University, 2021
• B.E., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2020

• Position after graduation: Enercon Services
• M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, UIUC, 2014 (co-advised with Prof. Junho Song)
• B.S., Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012

• Position after graduation: PhD program, Civil Engineering, UIUC.
• M.S., Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC, 2013 (co-advised with Prof. Barbara Minsker and Prof. Dan Roth)
• B.S., Civil Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, 2011

• Position after graduation: Ph.D. program, University of California at Berkeley
• M.S., Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC, 2018 (expected)
• B.S., Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems, CEE, UIUC, 2015

• Position after completion: M.S. program, Technology Management, UIUC
• B.S., Electronics Engineering, University of Los Andes, Colombia, 2010