Who We Are

Faculty

Dr. Chen joined the Engineering Systems and Environment Department's Civil and Environmental Engineering Program at University of Virginia in August 2015. Her research focuses on sustainable transportation systems (in particular modeling the impacts of new vehicle technologies systems on traveler behavior and the environment), travel demand modeling, transportation economics, and crash safety. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Chen worked in the consulting industry as a transportation planning engineer and has experience with roadway design, cost estimation, and traffic operation analyses.

Dr. Chen is involved in the Transportation Research Board (TRB), the American Society of Civil Engineers Transportation & Development Institute (ASCE TD&I), Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America), Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS).

Faculty

Dr. Harris is an Associate Professor in the Engineering Systems and Environment Department at the University of Virginia. He joined the program as an Assistant Professor in July 2012. He is also the Director of the CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION STUDIES (CTS) and the Faculty Director of the CLARK SCHOLARS PROGRAM. In his prior academic appointment at Michigan Technological University he was the Donald F. and Rose Ann Tomasini Assistant Professor in structural engineering. His research and teaching interests include image-based measurement techniques, crowd-sourcing, data analytics, condition assessment and structural health monitoring. Dr. Harris’ research approach often utilizes a combination of laboratory and field investigations and finite element modeling, with a core emphasis on non-invasive assessment strategies.

Dr. Harris is also involved in the American Concrete Institute (ACI), the Transportation Research Board (TRB), and the International Digital Image Correlation Society (IDICS).

Faculty

Arsalan Heydarian is an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a joint appointment in Systems Engineering. His research broadly focuses on smart design, construction, and operation of intelligent infrastructure with the objective of increasing their sustainability, adaptability, and resilience. By integrating advanced sensing, visualization, and decision making techniques, such infrastructure will be able to automatically monitor, manage, and operate themselves according to certain objectives (e.g., energy efficiency, meeting users’ needs) and/or situational changes (e.g., changes in outside weather, occurrence of extreme events). More specifically, his research will help lay the foundation for the next generation of infrastructure systems that can understand and adapt to dynamic user-behavior and environmental changes.

PhD Student

Austin Valentine Angulo is a PhD Student in the Engineering Systems & Environment Department and received both his B.S. and M.S. at UVa in the Civil Engineering Department specializing in transportation engineering. His research and studies focus on pedestrian and bicyclist safety, roadway design, connected and autonomous vehicles, human behavior, and sustainable transportation. Austin has been a recipient of the Dwight David Eisenhower Fellowship from 2016 to 2019 and the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need Fellowship in 2018 to 2019 and is pursuing a career in research and teaching in higher level education.

PhD Student

Erin Robartes is a PhD student at the University of Virginia in the Engineering Systems and Environment Department, pursuing a degree in Civil Engineering. Her research has involved studying bicycle safety in Virginia, analyzing available crash data sets and collecting statewide data on crashes and bicycle infrastructure development. She is now part of the Omni-Reality and Cognition Lab developing bicycle and pedestrian simulators to use in behavioral transportation research.

Erin leads the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) student chapter at UVA and is also involved with the Graduate Engineering Student Council (GESC), Engineering Systems and Environment Graduate Student Council (ESE GSC), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at UVA. 

PhD Student

Xiang Guo is currently a Ph.D. student advised by Professor Arsalan Heydarian at the Department of Engineering Systems and Environment, University of Virginia. He received the  B.S. and M.Sc. degree in transportation engineering. His research interests include human performance modeling, human–machine interaction, Virtual Reality and traffic safety. In the Omni-Reality and Cognition Lab, his research focuses on physical/physiological response of vulnerable road users both in VR simulators and in real road tests.