The Socially Aware Mobility project takes a collaborative and dynamic approach to the research process. Along with a multidisciplinary research team, an advisory board comprised of strategic local partners provides feedback and guides the research process. The project works in coordination with the Smart Cities and Inclusive Innovation initiative at Georgia Tech.
Researchers
The Socially Aware Mobility project includes collaborations with faculty from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the School of City and Regional Planning at Georgia Tech. The project is led by Pascal Van Hentenryck, A. Russell Chandler III Chair and professor at ISyE. He manages a team of post-doctorate and graduate students conducting the primary research for the project. Alongside this team, Van Hentenryck also runs a Vertically Integrated Partnership, “Reinventing Mobility in Atlanta” project, which incorporates undergraduate and senior design students into the research.
Pascal Van Hentenryck
Pascal Van Hentenryck is the A. Russell Chandler III Chair and Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the associate chair for innovation and entrepreneurship at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Prior to this appointment, Van Hentenryck was a Professor of Computer Science at Brown University for 20 years, the leader of the Optimization Research Group at National ICT Australia (about 70 people), and the Seth Bonder Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan. Van Hentenryck is an INFORMS Fellow and a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Several of his optimization systems, including OPL and CHIP, have been in commercial use for more than 20 years. Van Hentenryck’s current research is focusing on artificial intelligence and operations research with applications in energy systems, transportation, resilience, and privacy.
Patricia L. Mokhtarian
Patricia Mokhtarian is the Susan G. and Christopher D. Pappas Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has specialized in the application of rigorous quantitative methods to the study of travel behavior for more than 35 years. Key research interests include the impact of telecommunications technology on travel behavior, the influence of the built environment on travel behavior, attitudes toward travel itself, multitasking, and the use of machine learning to impute attitudes. She has authored or co-authored more than 200 refereed journal articles, technical reports, and other publications. She is a Past Chair of the International Association for Travel Behaviour Research, and serves on the editorial boards of seven transportation journals.
Subhrajit “Subhro” Guhathakurta
Subhro Guhathakurta joined Georgia Tech in 2011 as the director of the Center for Geographic Information Systems and professor in the School of City and Regional Planning. He was previously associate director of the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning at Arizona State University (ASU) and among the founding faculty members of ASU’s School of Sustainability. Professor Guhathakurta was instrumental in developing the Urban Modeling and Simulation Lab in ASU’s College of Design. He also serves as the lead member of several research centers at ASU including the GeoDa Center for Geospatial Analysis and Computation, Decision Center for a Desert City, and the project on Sustainable Urban Systems, Technologies, and Infrastructure.
He is an author of 5 books and monographs and over 70 scientific papers. His article on the interface between urban modeling and planning theory was awarded the Chester Rapkin Award for the best paper (1999) in Journal of Planning Education and Research. His editorial contributions include books such as "Integrated Urban and Environmental Models: A Survey of Current Applications and Research" (Springer-Verlag, 2003) and "Visualizing Sustainable Planning" (Springer 2009). He has held visiting appointments at the Center for Urban Spatial Analysis at University College London, the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, and at the Center for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. More recently, he held the German National Science Foundation (DFG) Mercator Guestprofessorship at Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Yafeng Yin
Dr. Yafeng Yin is a Professor at Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He works in the area of transportation systems analysis and modeling, and has published more than 100 refereed papers in leading academic journals. Dr. Yin is the Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Department Editor of Service Science, and Associate Editor of Transportation Science. He also serves on the International Advisory Committee of the International Symposium of Transportation and Traffic Theory (ISTTT).
Dr. Yin received his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2002, his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China in 1996 and 1994 respectively. Prior to his current appointment at the University of Michigan, he was a faculty member at University of Florida between 2005 and 2016. He also previously worked at University of California at Berkeley between 2002 and 2005, and Tsinghua University, Beijing, between 1996 and 1999. Dr. Yin has received recognition from different institutions, including the Doctoral Mentoring Award from University of Florida, Outstanding Leadership Award by the Chinese Overseas Transportation Association (COTA), and the Stella Dafermos Best Paper Award and the Ryuichi Kitamura Paper Award from Transportation Research Board.
External Advisory Board
At the cutting edge of the Socially Aware Mobility project is the integration of strategic partnerships in the research process. The project is guided by an advisory board consisting of members from MARTA, Midtown Alliance, the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the City of Atlanta. Their input and feedback will guide the research project into producing feasible and worthwhile solutions that will change the Atlanta region for the better. This board is supported by Candace Foster, a master’s student at the School of City and Regional Planning, who serves as a communications liaison.
Mike Carnathan
Mike Carnathan is the Manager of the Research & Analytics Division at the Atlanta Regional Commission and is one of the founders of Neighborhood Nexus, which is a community intelligence system for the Atlanta region, providing data, tools and expertise as a catalyst to create opportunity for all of the region’s citizens. The goal is to foster a data-driven decision-making culture in the Atlanta region and beyond. Mike oversees the compilation of thousands of variables and indicators that tell the data story about the Atlanta region. And story-telling is key. One of Mike’s chief challenges is to help community groups tell their story better through a data-driven approach.
Mike has worked with numerous community groups, including the Annie E Casey Foundation, Families First, United Way, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, along with a host of statewide and local education agencies and other community groups to help them better understand the neighborhoods in which they work.
In addition to being a data geek, Mike has a varied background that includes public relations and journalism. This experiences comes in handy as one of the critical uses of data is to tell the right story about our community to help community leaders make better decisions.
A native of Georgia, Mike holds degrees in History and Journalism, along with a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Georgia.
Cynthia Chen
Cynthia Chen is a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle (UW). At UW, she directs the THINK (Transportation-Human Interaction-and- Network Knowledge) lab where she and her students study the sustainability and resilience of a city through the lens of human beings’ interacting with the physical infrastructures and the built environment. The work of THINK lab is highly interdisciplinary, drawing on the latest methods and ideas in disciplines from social and natural sciences to engineering.
Dr. Chen graduated from University of California, Davis with a PhD in civil and environmental engineering in 2001. Dr. Chen has served on a variety of TRB (Transportation Research Board) committees including for example, Transportation Network Modeling and Travel Survey committees. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and her work has been supported by many federal and local agencies. She is an associate director of the USDOT-supported TOMNET (Teaching Old Models New Tricks) center and an associate editor for Transportation. Between 2017 and 2019, Dr. Chen served as a program director of the Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical & Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) at the National Science Foundation.
David Emory
David Emory is the Director of MARTA's newly-established Office of Technology Strategy and Innovation. He is responsible for long-term strategic planning around technology initiatives throughout MARTA, including both rider-facing information services and internal business applications.
Troy Galloway
Troy Galloway is a Transportation Engineer at Arcadis US. Prior to this appointment, he was the ITS and Traffic manager in the city of Atlanta.
Rob Goodwin
Rob Goodwin joined the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in 2018 as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis, whose mission is to provide accurate, actionable, and timely information to help MARTA make better, faster, and more strategic business decisions. Prior to joining MARTA, Rob worked for over twenty years in transportation planning, modeling, and performance at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, and the State Road and Tollway Authority. Rob earned his Ph.D. in Applied Physics and Masters in Atmospheric and Space Science from the University of Michigan.
Emily Horne Dwyer
Emily Dwyer is the ITS Supervisor for GDOT managing the comprehensive maintenance contract and other ITS deployments throughout the state. In her five years at GDOT, Emily has served in several additional roles, including Assistant State Signal Engineer, where she managed timing and maintenance for several districts. In this time, Emily has been responsible for managing the Qualified Products List for Traffic Signal and ITS Equipment. Prior to starting at GDOT, she was a designer for several years in the DC Metro area. Emily is a professional engineer and a proud Georgia Tech alum.
Dan Hourigan
Dan Hourigan brings 14 years of diverse urban planning and program management experience in leading Midtown Alliance’s transportation & sustainability initiatives. Dan is currently responsible for developing and implementing projects and programs that make Midtown highly accessible and “green.” Within this role, Dan led the planning efforts that created the Midtown EcoDistrict – the South’s first urban eco-district. Dan was instrumental in helping form the Midtown Improvement District and in launching Midtown’s transportation management association. Prior to his work with Midtown Alliance, Dan worked in marketing and logistics positions. Dan received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Dayton and a Masters of City Planning from Georgia Tech. Dan is accredited as a LEED Green Associate and is a graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute and the Midtown Leadership Program. He is an avid cyclist and serves on the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition.
George McDonald
George's work in SRTA's Office of Transportation Performance & Innovation since 2018 focuses on improving reporting processes for the Xpress commuter bus system and metro Atlanta's toll lanes through automation and programming. He also analyzes data to help assess performance for ongoing projects at SRTA, in addition to helping to coordinate SRTA's efforts with bicycle and pedestrian needs in the region.
Prior to SRTA, George interned in the Mobility Services Division at the Atlanta Regional Commission.
George holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. in Earth & Atmospheric Sciences from Georgia Tech.
Guy Rousseau
Guy Rousseau is the Traffic Models & Travel Surveys Manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the MPO for Atlanta, Georgia, which he joined in 1998. He is responsible for model development activities and travel survey design. Before coming to ARC, he was the Principal Traffic Engineer for the City of Atlanta Department of Public Works, with responsibilities for travel modeling and traffic simulation.
Prior to that, he was a transportation modeler for the MPOs in Dayton, Ohio, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and New Orleans, Louisiana. He is a member of various TRB Committees and NCHRP projects. He was the Chair of the SHRP 2 C10A project on advanced travel demand modeling and fine-grained, time sensitive networks. He is a Committee Member of the NAS/ TRB Synthesis Study on the Determination of the State of the Practice in Travel Forecasting (Special Report 288), as well as the AASHTO/CTPP Oversight Board. He has participated in various Model Peer Reviews of metropolitan travel forecasting for several MPOs (New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, St-Louis, Memphis, Sacramento, Chattanooga, Austin, etc.) and State DOTs (Utah, North Carolina, Georgia, etc.).
He holds a BS Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Montreal, an MS Degree in Civil Engineering from Laval University in Quebec City, and is ABD from Tulane University of New Orleans in Civil Engineering.
Josh Rowan
Josh Rowan has been appointed Commissioner of Atlanta’s new Department of Transportation (ATLDOT) formed to significantly accelerate and diversify projects with better options for getting around Atlanta safely, affordably and equitably.
Born Texan, raised New Mexican, and lived his adult life as a Georgian, Josh attended Covenant College (Lookout Mountain, GA) as a basketball walk-on, earning a scholarship before transferring to the Georgia Institution of Technology (Georgia Tech).
Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Josh remained in Atlanta and spent the first five years of his career working with a local highway contractor. There, he learned the road building business from multiple perspectives – laborer, foreman, estimator, and project manager. Later, as a consultant in Cobb County, Josh was introduced to the management of large capital construction programs. For nearly two decades, Josh has worked in the public sector as a program manager for transportation, transit, education, healthcare, and law enforcement capital construction programs throughout the eastern United States, as well as Mozambique and Tanzania. Most recently, he served as General Manager for the City of Atlanta’s Renew | TSPLOST Program.
Throughout his career, Josh has been actively engaged in the Atlanta community, serving for a decade as a reserve deputy in Cobb County. He is currently a board member for Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta and the Construction Infrastructure Systems Engineering Board at Georgia Tech. In addition, he is an emeritus member for Georgia Tech’s External Advisory Board for the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also mentors for the 100 Men to Mentors Challenge and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta.
Jacob Tzegaegbe
Jacob Tzegaegbe is currently an Expansion Principal at Via. Via is a privately held company that is re-engineering public transit, from a regulated system of rigid routes and schedules to a fully dynamic, on-demand network.
Jacob was Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ Senior Transportation Policy Advisor. In this role, he was tasked with leading the creation of Atlanta’s first Department of Transportation and developing a mobility strategy for the future of Atlanta. Prior to joining City Hall, Jacob worked at McKinsey & Company consulting for large corporations and governments around the world.
Jacob holds a Bachelors and Masters in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also completed two Masters degrees at University College London focused on Urban Economic Development and Mega Infrastructure Delivery.
Cain Williamson
Cain Williamson is the Chief Planning Officer at the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority (The ATL). The ATL is an authority of the State of Georgia charged with developing and maintaining a comprehensive regional transit plan and facilitating coordination among metro Atlanta’s transit operators on issues of policy, planning, and service delivery as well as funding and financing transit infrastructure and operations. In his role as CPO, Cain leads the development of The ATL’s Regional Transit Plan, regional fare policy, and regional coordination on transit technology issues. Prior to joining the ATL, Cain spent 20 years at the Atlanta Regional Commission where he led numerous multimodal planning and policy initiatives.
Karen Winger
Karen holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication and a master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts. While at the university, she took a job as a student bus driver and so began her transit career. She comes to Gwinnett County with more than 20 years of experience with systems all over the country, including work in Massachusetts, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Her experience includes both public and private-sector positions relating to operations, planning, compliance, business development and contract management. In 2014 she was selected as one of Mass Transit's Top 40 under 40, which is a national recognition of young talent in the transit industry. In 2017 she was recognized as Georgia Transit Associations Manager of the year. Karen has been an active member of the Women's Transportation Seminar for over 10 years and is a member of the American Planning Association.
