June 17, 2025
Sayedomidreza “Omid” Davami, a PhD student in civil engineering, won third place in the research poster competition at the ITS Heartland 2025 Annual Meeting.
Mizzou Engineers bring their research in the lab to the national stage and are recognized for their visionary work. This spring, Sayedomidreza “Omid” Davami, a PhD student in civil engineering, won third place in the research poster competition at the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) Heartland 2025 Annual Meeting.
Davami presented his poster, “Computer Vision Deep Learning-Based Solution for Truck Parking Information Management System.” With this poster, Davami’s team proposes a new approach to optimizing truck parking availability.
When truck drivers have issues finding parking spaces, it wastes valuable time and fuel resources. Further, when drivers are tired after a long day on the road, adding extra time looking for a parking space increases opportunities for road fatalities caused by fatigue.
Davami’s research provides a solution to this problem.
“We utilized real-world CCTV images from department of transportation websites to train our deep learning model and enhance its accuracy,” he said. “Our computer vision deep learning method provides significantly more accurate data about truck parking availability to drivers. This enhanced accuracy leads to reduced costs, time savings and, most importantly, decreased road fatalities.”
ITS Heartland brings together researchers from across Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma to discuss innovative solutions to transportation problems.
“I’m thrilled that I presented my research as a poster presentation,” Davami said. “In addition to the award, I also gained invaluable feedback from industry professionals in the transportation field. This experience has been instrumental in refining our research direction.”
Davami conducts research under the guidance of his advisor Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, an expert in traffic operations, intelligent transportation systems, civil infrastructure systems, big data analytics and artificial intelligence.
The team aims to implement the technology in truck parking lots nationwide. They are currently working to establish partnerships with several state departments of transportation to deploy the algorithm.
“Our overarching goal is to make the world a better place to live,” Davami said. “This project contributes to that vision by promoting cleaner air through reduced fuel consumption from more efficient parking searches and, more importantly, by helping save human lives through improved road safety.”
Conduct innovative research and present your findings to industry experts. Choose Mizzou Engineering!