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Center for Safe, Intelligent, Equitable, & Sustainable Transportation

The US and the world’s surface transportation systems are at a historic transformative point. With the introduction of new technologies, such as automated and connected vehicles, the interaction between motor vehicles, drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, road infrastructure, and traffic control devices are likely to change significantly in the coming few years. The advancements in automotive technology, innovations in communications and Big Data Analytics have unlocked new horizons for how our surface transportation systems are planned, designed, constructed, operated, maintained, and managed. Despite the steps that have been taken at the federal, state, and local levels to improve the safety and mobility on our roadways, there are still numerous non-technical and technological issues to overcome. 

The Center for Safe, Intelligent, Equitable, & Sustainable Transportation is a research center at the University of Cincinnati. The center focuses on utilizing the latest technologies to respond to the needs and concerns of the modern transportation system. The center provides advanced and high-tech solutions for the challenges facing our transportation systems, and aims to improve the economic competitiveness and quality of life in the Buckeye State. 

Purpose

The center’s main objective is to proactively investigate and create solutions for the operational and safety challenges created by various new and emerging transportation technologies.

Other center objectives include:

  • Ensure the preparedness, safety, and effective transition of transportation network emerging technologies.
  • Enhance the sustainability of surface transportation systems.
  • Help in creating visionary and innovative engineers, researchers, and scientists of the 21st century to transform transportation engineering.
  • Expand and improve the diversity of the transportation workforce and help in developing the knowledge and skills that will be needed for emerging transportation technologies.
  • Foster the partnership between the University of Cincinnati, various levels of the transportation agencies (federal, state, and local), and the private sector for rapid implementation of research into practices.

Research

  • Traffic Safety
  • Connected Vehicle
  • Naturalistic Driving Study
  • Big Data
  • Intelligent Transportation Systems
  • Driving Simulations
  • Human Factors
  • Highway Geometric Design and Traffic Engineering
  • Traffic Management
  • Optimization-Simulation Applications in Transportation
  • Artificial Intelligence Applications in Transportation
  • Transportation Modeling
  • Advanced Traveler Information Systems
  • Statistical, Data Mining and Econometrics Applications in Transportation Engineering

Faculty

Headshot of MOHAMED M AHMED

MOHAMED M AHMED

Professor, Interim Department Head, CEAS - Civil Eng

765F Baldwin Hall

513-558-4889

Dr. Mohamed M Ahmed, PE is the Professor and Director of the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Transportation Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC). Dr. Ahmed has over 21 years of practical and research experiences in the field of transportation engineering with a focus on traffic safety and transportation emerging technologies. His research interests include traffic safety analysis, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Connected and Automated Vehicles, Naturalistic Driving, and statistical and big data analytics. Dr. Ahmed has managed 32 research projects sponsored by a diversity of national and regional funding sources including the US-Department of Transportation (USDOT) - the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), among others with a total budget of more than $10 million (~$4 million share). Dr. Ahmed has published more than 250 high-profile scientific articles and technical reports, (Citations ~4600, h-Index 35). He supervised to graduation 25 PhD and MS students and currently advising 5 PhD, MS students, and Postdoctoral Associates. Dr. Ahmed is a leading traffic safety expert at both the national and international levels. He is an editorial board member with Journal of Accident Analysis and Prevention, member of the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) committees on Safety Data Analysis and Evaluation, and Transportation of HAZMAT, and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE) committee on Surrogate Measures of Safety.
Dr. Ahmed’s research develops models, techniques, and algorithms that can contribute to and improve the safety of human drivers and self-driving vehicles. Early on, his research on collision modeling and evaluation focused on applying Bayesian statistics to improve the predictive power and fit of existing safety models, as well as to address several key data and methodological issues. His work on speed management utilizing the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) Naturalistic Driving Study datasets focused on understanding driver behavior, risks and factors that influence speeding among other driver behaviors in various traffic and environmental conditions, and updating Variable Speed Limit algorithms and other Intelligent Transportation Systems to increase compliance with speed limits and improve safety. Moreover, he developed novel real-time risk assessment approaches to help ease traffic congestion and reduce crash rates on high-speed facilities. He and his students have received multiple research awards from the TRB (multiple Best Paper Awards), IATSS (Best Paper Award), ITE (Best Student of the Year), ITS Florida, and the College of Engineering & Computer Science Research and Teaching awards at UCF, among others.
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