Keynote Speakers

In addition to serving as the Samuel Reynolds Pritchard Professor of Engineering in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Courtesy Professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Rakha directs the Center for Sustainable Mobility at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. His research focuses on large-scale transportation system optimization, modeling and assessment. He works on optimizing transportation system operations, including vehicle routing, developing various network and traffic signal control algorithms, developing freeway control strategies (speed harmonization and ramp metering), and optimizing vehicle motion (lateral and longitudinal control of connected automated vehicles (CAVs)) to enhance their efficiency and reduce their energy consumption while ensuring their safety. A key component of these control algorithms are the tools needed to predict the system evolution while capturing the inherent stochasticity in the system. In this area, Dr. Rakha and his team develop and apply modeling, artificial intelligence, and statistical techniques to predict the spatiotemporal evolution of the system. Additionally, Dr. Rakha and his researchers apply machine-learning techniques, as needed, in the development of the control systems that can adapt to the dynamic changes in the surrounding environment. In the area of large-scale transportation system modeling, Dr. Rakha and his researchers have expanded the domain of knowledge (in traveler and driver behavior modeling) and developed a suite of multi-modal agent-based transportation modeling tools, including the INTEGRATION microscopic traffic simulation software. This software was used to evaluate the first dynamic route guidance system, TravTek in Orlando, Florida; to model the Greater Salt Lake City area in preparation for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games; to model sections of Beijing in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games; to optimize and evaluate the performance of alternative traveler incentive strategies to reduce network-wide energy consumption in the Greater Los Angeles area; and to develop and test an Eco-Cooperative Automated Control (Eco-CAC) system. In the area of transportation system assessment, Dr. Rakha and his researchers continue to develop the theory and models needed to quantify the efficiency, safety, energy, and environmental impacts of these systems. In this domain, one of Dr. Rakha’s distinctive technical contributions is in the area of transportation energy modeling and optimization. Specifically, he and his team have developed various vehicle energy and fuel consumption models that are used world-wide to assess the energy and environmental impacts of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications and emerging Connected Automated Vehicle (CAV) systems. The models include the VT-Micro, VT-Meso, the Virginia Tech Comprehensive Fuel consumption Model (VT-CPFM), the VT-CPEM, and the VT-CPHEM models. Dr. Rakha is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), a Professional Engineer in Ontario, and a World's Top Industry Scientist in the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance (AIIA). He is an Editor for Sensors (the Intelligent Sensors Section), a Senior Editor for the IEEE Transactions of Intelligent Transportation Systems and an Associate Editor and the Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems: Technology, Planning and Operations and the SAE International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Energy, Environment, & Policy. Furthermore, he is on the Editorial Board of the Transportation Letters: The International Journal of Transportation Research, the IET Intelligent Transport Systems Journal, and the International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology.