Biography

Dr. Yinhai Wang is a professor in transportation engineering and the founding director of the Smart Transportation Applications and Research Laboratory (STAR Lab) at the University of Washington (UW). He also serves as director for Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans), USDOT University Transportation Center for Federal Region 10, director for the Northwestern Tribal Technical Assistance Program (NW TTAP) Center, and director for Washington State Transportation Center (TRAC). He is currently chair of the AI and Advanced Computing Applications Committee at Transportation Research Board (TRB), vice president of the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC), chair of the Committee on Technical Advancement at American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and the Connected and Automated Transportation Special Section Editor for ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering Part A: Systems. He was the 2018-2019 president of ASCE Transportation & Development Institute (T&DI), founding co-chair of the ASCE Connected and Automated Vehicle Impact Committee (2017-2022), an elected governor for the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society (ITSS) (2011-2013, and a member of the IEEE Smart Cities Steering Committee (2013-2018). His active research fields include traffic sensing, AI methods and applications, transportation data science, edge computing, transportation safety, traffic operations and simulation, and smart urban mobility. He received the 2023 ASCE Francis C. Turner award and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Innovation in Education Award for 2018. His research work has also been recognized by numerous paper awards, such as the 2022 Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE International Conference on Digital Twins and Parallel Intelligence, IEEE International Smart Cities Conference’s Best Paper Award for 2020, and ASCE Journal of Transportation Engineering Best Paper Award for 2003. He is a professional engineer registered in Washington, a member of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, a Distinguished Member of ASCE, and a fellow of both IEEE and ITE.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 1998
• M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 2002
• M.S.C.E. in Construction Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 1991
• B.S.C.E. in Structural Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 1989

Previous appointments

• Washington State Transportation Center, Mar. 2024 -
• USDOT Northwestern Tribal Technical Assistance Program Center, Nov. 2022 -
• Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium, USDOT University Transportation Center for Federal Region 10, Seattle, WA, USA Director, Jan. 2012 –
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Professor, Sept. 2011 –
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Associate Professor, Sept. 2007 – Aug. 2011
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Assistant Professor, Sept. 2003 – Aug. 2007
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Research Assistant Professor, Dec. 2002 – Sept. 2003
• University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Acting Assistant Professor, Aug. 2002 – Nov. 2002

Research Statement

Over the past years, smart city sensors and personal mobile devices have become increasingly available. Together with the classical traffic detectors, these sensors and devices generate a tremendous amount of data that are extremely valuable for traffic management, forecast, and control. How to collect traffic data accurately, manage the data effectively, analyze the data efficiently, and produce the most useful information to address traffic safety and mobility challenges are of the utmost importance for transportation professionals. Thus, my research effort has been dedicated in developing (1) new traffic sensors; (2) data quality control algorithms; (3) big data analytics tools; (4) data-driven methods; and (5) data management solutions to support the research and practical needs in traffic operations, traffic safety, urban mobility, connected/automated vehicle deployments, etc. 

Honors & awards

• 2024 Blue Ribbon Award in Leadership Committee Chair (AED50), Nov. 7, 2023, Transportation Research Board (TRB).
• Member of Washington State Academy of Sciences, September 2023.
• PI of the Mobile Unit for Sensing Traffic (MUST) technology pilot project with Yakama Nation that received 2023 Innovative Project award of the USDOT’s Build a Better Mousetrap Program, July 2023.
• Thomas and Marilyn Nielson Endowed Funds in Engineering Professorship, April 2023 – March 2028, University of Washington.
• Distinguished Member, American Society of Civil Engineers, Mar. 2023.
• 2023 Francis C. Turner Award, American Society of Civil Engineers, Feb. 2023.
• Best Paper Award, AED30 Information Systems and Technology Committee, Transportation Research Board (TRB), Jan. 2023
• Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Jan. 2023.
• Outstanding Paper Award, 2022 IEEE International Conference on Digital Twins and Parallel Intelligence (DTPI 2022), Smart Cities Conference, Oct. 2022.
• PI of the WSDOT Truck Parking project that received the 2022 High Value Research Award from American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Aug. 2022.
• Outstanding Technical Paper Award, Institute of Transportation Engineers Western District, July 2022.
• Outstanding Faculty Award, College of Engineering, University of Washington, June 2021.
• Best Paper Award, IEEE International Smart Cities Conference, Oct. 2020.
• Fellow, Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), Jan. 2020.
• Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Dec. 2019.
• Asian American Science and Engineering Innovation Award, Asian American Luminary Award (AALA) Committee, Sept. 15, 2019.
• Transportation Education Council Innovations in Education Award, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Aug. 21, 2018.

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