January 27, 2022

CEE doctoral student Maged Shoman

Civil and environmental engineering doctoral student Maged Shoman won the research poster competition at the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) Heartland annual meeting in November 2021.

His poster, “Evaluation of Connected Vehicles Data for Congestion & Incident Detection,” highlighted how this pilot project used data from actual roadway experiences instead of estimated data points. He worked on this project with his advisor, Assistant Professor Yaw Adu-Gyamfi.

“This is the first study I am aware of to integrate real-world connected vehicle data rather than simulated data,” he said. “We analyzed the short-, medium- and long-term trends on freeway segments and arterial roads to compare which data source – simulated or real-world– was better when recognizing road congestion.”

A connected vehicle means a vehicle which can “talk” with other vehicles through specialized hardware in hopes of reducing traffic accidents and congestion. This technology is different from radars, cameras and other sensors currently in use.

Shoman wants to merge emerging technologies with data to make transportation smarter and produce a better driving experience.

“I’m passionate about using data mining and machine learning techniques to solve large-scale, complex challenging transportation problems” he said. “I plan to continue to make our transportation safer, smarter and more sustainable.”

Shoman anticipates earning his doctorate this year. He is still deciding whether to pursue a career in academia or consider the industry interest that followed his research presentation.

“Several organizations and companies offered me opportunities at the event,” he said. “I plan to stay in the research and development field, so if something aligns well with that, then I’d be open to those options.”

In addition to this research poster honor, Shoman won the research poster competition at the 2020 TEAMStL Transportation Virtual Fair and was also named the Outstanding PhD Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering in March 2021. His current research project involves developing traffic analysis platforms powered by artificial intelligence.

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