The NextGen Transportation Lab is dedicated to addressing the challenges of today while anticipating the mobility needs of tomorrow. Our research is centered on building data-driven, technology-enabled, and human-centered transportation systems.
Selected Projects
A Multidisciplinary Approach for Tow Truck Operator Safety (R01 Grant)
Funded by:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
The automobile towing industry has an alarming average annual mortality rate of 43 fatalities per 100,000 workers, which is 15 times higher than the combined annual fatality rate of all other private industries. The objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the underlying factors that contribute to struck-by incidents, informing the development of actionable countermeasures and mitigation strategies. The central hypothesis is that the behaviors of tow truck operators and passing drivers significantly contribute to struck-by incidents, influenced by factors such as laws and regulations, law enforcement, and immediate road and traffic conditions. The proposed research is a critical step in the systematic study of tow truck operator safety, as very little research has been conducted on this topic to date. The results of this research have the potential to make a significant impact by identifying safety interventions that can be translated into actionable items for policymakers, towing industry leaders, and occupational safety promoters to improve the safety of tow truck operators.
Near-Miss Reporting among Roadside Responders
Funded by:
AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety
Traditional methods relying on crash data to identify incidents involving roadside responders, such as struck-by or secondary crashes, provide some information about the risks, but fail to capture information regarding near-miss incidents that occur far too often. These near misses, in which roadside technicians narrowly avoid crashes or harm, often go unreported and undocumented, creating a significant data gap. The lack of reliable information on near-miss incidents hinders efforts to understand the working environment of roadside responders and protect them while they assist other road users. Near-miss reporting systems are therefore invaluable tools for collecting this crucial data. Despite the existence of several reporting systems tailored for roadside responders and for workers in other domains, these platforms exhibit notable deficiencies in both the quality and quantity of reports submitted. These shortcomings highlight the necessity for a more robust and effective system. To address this critical issue, this project aimed to identify the elements required for a successful near-miss reporting system specifically designed for roadside responders.
Countermeasures to Protect Roadside Responders
Funded by:
AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety
Roadside service and incident response personnel, including law enforcement officers, emergency responders, and towing and service operators, have a high incidence of severe occupational injury while responding to traffic incidents and providing roadside services. Many countermeasures exist that can afford protection to these roadside workers; however, more research is needed to understand the effectiveness of different countermeasures.
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a specific countermeasure deployed on service vehicles—a vehicle-mounted variable message sign (VMS)—in promoting safer behaviors in passing motorists. Additionally, the study gathered information about workers’ perceptions and adoption or use of different countermeasures. Finally, information was gathered from online news articles regarding the circumstances surrounding different types of roadside incidents.
Mobility Data Initiative: Supporting NextGen Mobility Research for Small Communities
Supported by:
CR2C2 - Region 4 University Transportation Center (UTC)
Mobility COE - Center of Excellence on New Mobility and Automated Vehicles
Small and mid-sized metropolitan areas (SMMAs) are often under-resourced and underrepresented in transportation research and planning, particularly in the context of next-generation mobility and travel demand modeling. Unlike larger metropolitan regions, SMMAs typically lack the capacity to develop detailed agent-based models (ABMs) needed to plan for future mobility technologies and services. This ongoing project addresses that gap by developing synthetic, high-resolution population and travel demand datasets for more than 400 small and mid-sized urban areas across the United States. These datasets are designed to align with aggregate demographic and travel characteristics of local populations, enabling transportation practitioners and researchers to more easily adopt agent-based modeling frameworks.
Results are currently in progress and will be released in open-access formats, complete with documentation and metadata to support broad public use.
Rural Healthcare Access Research
Funded by:
National Science Foundation
Various programs have been established to extend and promote healthcare services to low-income rural Americans facing financial barriers. These programs offer a wide range of healthcare services at little to no cost. However, despite the availability of these services, challenges arise in bringing patients to healthcare providers in a timely manner for healthcare. Many individuals in rural communities are unable to receive recommended services, primarily due to transportation challenges. These challenges, in turn, significantly impact their care-seeking behaviors and hinder their access to timely healthcare. Patient no-shows not only delay diagnoses but also result in lost revenue for healthcare providers due to under-utilization of medical facilities and staff resources. To address these issues, the ongoing mobility transformation fueled by on-demand services may offer affordable transportation solutions to improve healthcare access and reshape care-seeking behaviors among people in under-served communities. The primary objective is to explore the impacts of on-demand mobility services on these behaviors among under-served individuals. The project is expected to set the groundwork for implementing on-demand mobility solutions to enhance healthcare in these areas.
Electric Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Workforce Development
Funded by:
National Science Foundation
With the rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) on the road, there will be numerous new job opportunities for EV maintenance and repairs for the next several decades. However, there is a significant shortage of adequately trained automotive technicians in the United States who are well-prepared to maintain and repair EVs. The existing automotive technicians have limited career development opportunities due to the fact that they have full-time jobs and limited time and resources to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for maintaining and repairing EVs. In addition, EV maintenance and repair require professional knowledge from multiple domains, which makes it challenging for existing training methods to create immersive and effective learning experiences for automotive technicians. In this project, an interdisciplinary team of researchers will work with multiple industry and educational partners to explore and test the practical foundations of an experiential learning approach for helping existing automotive technicians upskill their knowledge and skills for future EV technologies.