Students

Current Collaborators

Yiduo Huang
Postdoctoral research associate
E-mail: yiduo2@illinois.edu
Yiduo recently received his Ph.D. degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a B.S. degree in civil engineering from Tsinghua University (2018), and an M.S. degree from UC Berkeley (2019). Yiduo's interdisciplinary research focuses on the optimization of layout design, routing, assignment, and evaluation models in robotic warehouses, multi-modal models for freight transportation, and the impact of pandemics on public transit systems. His work cast valuable insights into strategies for enhancing efficiency and sustainability of the transportation and logistics sectors. His current work at UIUC is partially funded by an ARPA-E project on intermodal freight, as well as the USDOT Region V UTC.
Caio Beojone
Postdoctoral research associate
E-mail: cbeojone@illinois.edu
Caio obtained his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from EPFL, Switzerland, in 2023. He also holds a B.S. and M.S. in Production Engineering from the São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil. Caio's research focuses on modeling and optimizing shared mobility services and operations in congested urban scenarios. His work has received attention and impact for its insights into the externalities of on-demand mobility towards urban mobility and large-scale fleet management of these services. His current work at UIUC is partially funded by the USDOT Region V UTC.
Yining Liu
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: yiningl5@illinois.edu
Yining came to UIUC in 2017 as a student of the B.S. + M.S. program between UIUC and the Central South University, China. He received his M.S. in Civil Engineering at UIUC in May 2019, and now is continuing his study at UIUC to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Transportation Engineering. His research interest lies in the modeling of urban transportation and infrastructure system, and shared mobility. His work has been supported by the Army Corps of Engineers, the US NSF (on shared mobility), the Illinois DOT (on transit ridership).
Jesus J. Osorio
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: jesusjo2@illinois.edu
Jesus holds an M.S. in Civil engineering and is currently pursuing Ph.D. in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is working as a research assistant in projects related to transportation systems evaluation, transit networks, freight logistics, intelligent transportation systems, highway safety, and previously traffic safety related to the application of Vision Zero principles. He received his BS degree from Valparaiso University prior to joining UIUC in 2017. His work has been supported by a number of Illinois DOT projects (on transit ridership, and smart work zone), as well an ARPA-E project on intermodal freight.
Shiyu Shen
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: sshen10@illinois.edu
Shiyu obtained her B.S. in Transportation Engineering from Beijing Jiaotong University in 2012, and M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UIUC in 2014. Prior to returning to UIUC to pursue her Ph.D. degree in 2021, she worked in the transportation industry with a focus on planning autonomous and shared mobility services. Her current research interest lies in transportation network modeling, mobility services, and autonomous vehicle systems. Her research has mainly been supported by the CIRCLE Center of the ZJUI Institute DREMES Program.
Yuhui Zhai
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: yuhui3@illinois.edu
Yuhui received his B.S. degree in civil and environmental engineering from UIUC in 2023, and he is now pursuing his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Transportation Engineering at UIUC. He has been partially supported by the Illinois DOT (on nontraditional dynamic messages), and USDOT Region V UTC.
Run Hu
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: runhu2@illinois.edu
Run received his B.S. from ZJUI (UIUC Institute at Zhejiang University) in 2023, and is now pursuing his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Transportation Engineering at UIUC. His current research interest lies in shared mobility, transportation network optimization, and safety. He has been partially supported by the Illinois DOT.
Ethan G. Light
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: ethangl2@illinois.edu
Ethan received his B.S. degree in civil and environmental engineering from UIUC in 2024, and he is now pursuing his graduate degree in Transportation Engineering at UIUC. He has been an undergraduate research assistant since his sophomore year. His current research interest is in natural disaster resiliency and emergency logistics. His work has been partially supported by the Illinois DOT.
Jiarui Yu
Graduate research assistant
E-mail: jiaruiy9@illinois.edu
Jiarui received her B.S. from ZJUI (UIUC Institute at Zhejiang University) in 2024, and is now pursuing her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Transportation Engineering at UIUC. Her current research interest lies in planning and operations of healthcare delivery for rural communities. She has been partially supported by the Jump Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation (Jump ARCHES) program.

Past Students and Visitors

Ruifeng She
M.S. (civil eng) 2018-2019, M.S. (applied math) 2019-2020, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2019-2023
Ruifeng's M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by funds from the NSF, USDOT Region V UTC, and the Illinois DOT.
Zhoutong Jiang
M.S. (civil eng) 2016-2017, M.S. (applied math) 2019-2020, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2018-2021
Zhoutong is now a research scientist at Facebook. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by funds from the Illinois DOT, ZJUI Institute, NSF, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the CIRCLE Center.
Antoine Petit
M.S. (civil eng) 2013-2014, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2015-2020
Antoine is now a data scientist at Macys, Inc. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was partially supported by funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and IDOT.
Liqun Lu
M.S. (civil eng) 2013-2014, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2015-2018
Liqun (Luke) is now a research scientist at Alibaba, Inc. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was partially supported by funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Siyang Xie
M.S. (applied math) 2013-2014, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2015-2018
Siyang is now a research scientist at Facebook. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by funds from NSF, CSX, and the U.S. DOT Region V University Transportation Center.
Zhaodong Wang
M.S. (applied math) 2013-2014, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2015-2017
Zhaodong is now a research scientist in the networking team at Facebook. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by funds from NSF, CSX, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Xin Wang
M.S. (applied math) 2010-2012, M.S. (civil eng) 2012-2014, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2014-2015
Xin is now an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by a Kwan Memorial Fellowship and a Clean Energy Education Fellowship, both from UIUC, and funds from NSF and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Leila Hajibabai
M.S. (industrial eng) 2012-2013, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2009-2014
Leila is now a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at North Carolina State University. She was previously with Washington State University, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by NSF, Lake County Division of Transportation, and CSX Transportation, Inc.
Taesung Hwang
Ph.D. (civil eng) 2008-2014, Post-doctoral research associate, May-Dec 2014
Taesung is now an assistant professor in the Asia Pacific School Of Logistics, College of Business Administration, at Inha University, Korea. His Ph.D. work at Illinois was supported in part by IDOT and EPA.
Seyed Mohammad Nourbakhsh
M.S. (industrial eng) 2012-2013, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2009-2014
Mohammad is now with BNSF Railway. He started as a senior operations research engineer in Sabre GLBL Inc. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was supported by NSF, Lake County Division of Transportation, CSX Transportation, Inc., and the ADM Institute for Postharvest Loss Prevention.
Yun Bai
M.S. (civil eng) 2008-2009, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2010-2012, Post-doctoral research associate, 2013-2014
Yun Bai is now an assistant professor at Hong Kong U of Sci and Tech - Guanzhou Campus. She was formerly with the Rutgers University. Her M.S./Ph.D./post-doc research at Illinois was sponsored by the NSF EFRI-RESIN program and the ADM Institute for Postharvest Loss Prevention.
Xiaopeng Li
M.S. (civil eng) 2006-2007, M.S. (applied math) 2009-2011, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2008-2011
Xiaopeng is now a full professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin Madison. He started as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Mississippi State University in 2012. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was sponsored mainly by NSF, Nextrans, and the Dwight David Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship from the Federal Highway Administration.
Fan Peng
M.S. (civil eng) 2007-2008, Ph.D. (civil eng) 2008-2011
Fan is now Senior Software Engineer at Uber Advanced Technologies Group. Previously he was a senior operations manager at Amtrak, Washington DC, and a manager in the Operations Research Department at CSX Transportation, Inc., Jacksonville, FL. His M.S./Ph.D. research at Illinois was sponsored mainly by CSX, NSF, and IDOT.
Chao Lei
Post-doctoral research associate, 2016-2020
Chao is now a full professor and "Shanghai Eastern Scholar" in the School of Transportation Engineering at Shanghai Maritime University, China. His post-doc research was sponsored by the Chinese-America Railway Joint Research Center, NSF, and the USDOT University Transportation Center.
Kun An
Post-doctoral research associate, 2015-2016
Kun is now a senior lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at Monash University, Australia. Her post-doc research was sponsored by the ADM Institute for Postharvest Loss Prevention, NSF, and the USDOT University Transportation Center.
Tri-Dzung Nguyen
Post-doctoral research associate, 2009-2010
Tri-Dzung is now a lecturer in the Southampton Management School at the University of Southampton, UK. His earlier research at Illinois was sponsored mainly by NSF EFRI-RESIN.
Seungmo Kang
Post-doctoral research associate, 2008-2010
Seungmo is now an associate professor in the School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at Korea University, Seoul, Korea. His post-doctoral research at Illinois was sponsored mainly by EBI (BP) and NSF.
Haolin Yang
M.S. (civil eng) 2018-2020, M.S. (applied math) 2021-2023
Haolin is now with Meituan.
Min Jiang
M.S. (applied math) 2019-2021
Min is now working with the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission.
Xi Chen
M.S. (industrial eng) 2013-2015
Xi is now with Yahoo, Inc. in Champaign, IL.
Christine Rhoades
M.S. (civil eng) 2013-2015
Christine is now with Bowman, Barrett and Associates, Inc. in Chicago, IL.
Ryan Smith
M.S. (civil eng) 2012-2014
Ryan is now with Strand Associates, Chicago, IL.
Daniel Mackowski
M.S. (civil eng) 2013-2014
Dan is now with SF Park, San Francisco, CA.
Weijun Xie
M.S. (civil eng) , M.S. (applied math) 2010-2013
Weijun is now an assistant professor at Virginia Tech after receiving his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech.
Eunseok Choi
M.S. (civil eng) 2009-2011
Sharan Dhanaraju
M.S. (civil eng) 2007-2009
Jang-Hyeon Jo
M.S. (civil eng) 2006-2008
Robert Tegge
M.S. (civil eng) 2007-2008
Robert is now with ZA Associates, Evanston, IL.
Wenjia Liu
Visiting Ph.D. student from Harbin Institute of Technology (China), November 2019-May 2021
Huanhuan Luo
Visiting Ph.D. student from Dalian Institute of Technology (China), September 2018-September 2019
Dong Zhang
Visiting Scholar from Dalian Institute of Technology (China), April 2018-April 2019
Di Huang
Visiting Ph.D. Student from Southeast University (China), March 2018-March 2019
Marti Montesinos Ferrer
Visiting Ph.D. Student from EPFL (Switzerland), September 2018-December 2018
Nikolas Geroliminis
Visiting Professor from EPFL (Switzerland), September 2017-November 2017
Saeedmanesh Mohammadreza
Visiting Ph.D. Student from EPFL (Switzerland), May 2017-September 2017
Han Liu
Visiting Ph.D. Student from Harbin Institute of Technology (China), December 2016-December 2018
Jia Yao
Visiting Scholar from Harbin Institute of Technology (China), November 2016-November 2018
Jian Wang
Visiting Scholar from Harbin Institute of Technology (China), August 2011-August 2012
Xiaolei Wang
Visiting Ph.D. student from Hong Kong Univ of Sci & Tech, February-July 2012
Jianxun Cui
Visiting post-doctoral scholar from Harbin Institute of Technology (China), April 2011-April 2012
Danfeng Ying
Visiting graduate student from Huazhong Univ of Sci & Tech (China), December 2011-April 2012
Yajuan Chen
Visiting graduate student from Huazhong Univ of Sci & Tech (China), December 2011-April 2012
Na Cui
Visiting Ph.D. student, February-May 2010; Visiting post-doctoral scholar, September 2012- December 2013
Ick Hyun Kwon
Post-doctoral visiting scholar, 2007-2008