Research Group

Here you can find more information about the lab members who help me with my research, and about some of their own research activities.

[Current] [Alumni and Theses] [Photos]

Current Postdoc

Lu Xu

Lu Xu

Ph.D., Transportation Systems Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2022
M.S., Transportation Systems Engineering, University of California, Irvine, 2022
M.S., Traffic and Transportation Planning and management, Beijing Jiaotong University, 2016
B.S., Optical Information Science and Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, 2013
lu.xu at austin dot utexas dot edu
LinkedIn

Dr. Xu is a Postdoc Research Fellow. Her research interests focus on the impact of emerging information communication technologies on transportation. Her Ph.D. studies particularly focused on the impact of online shopping on household travel before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Now she is also interested in developing evacuation strategies for the Houston area in the face of potential natural hazards, as well as investigating the influence of electric vehicles on the current power grid. In her free time, she enjoys going to the gym, hiking, and other outdoor activities.

Current Graduate Students

Debojjal Bagchi

Debojjal Bagchi

B.S., Earth and Environmental Science (major); Mathematics (minor), Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 2023
debojjalb at utexas dot edu
Website

Debojjal joined Dr. Boyles' group in Fall 2023 as a graduate student. As an undertraduate, he worked on sustainable operations, reverse logistics network design and variants of the traveling salesman problem. His current research interests lie in transportation network analysis, sustainable operations, traffic routing, congestion pricing, and tolling. He commonly uses metaheuristics and mathematical programming as solution techniques to his problems. He also enjoys playing chess, is learning to play the guitar, and runs a budding YouTube channel. With a passion for exploring new places, he's always enthusiastic about planning or embarking on a trip.
Kyle Bathgate

Kyle Bathgate

M.S.E., Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2021
B.S., Civil Engineering, The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2019
kyle.bathgate at austin dot utexas dot edu
Website

Kyle joined Dr. Boyles' group in Spring 2023, after previously working in the Resilient Infrastructure and Smart Cities (RISC) Lab of the late Dr. Zhanmin Zhang. His previous work has focused on assessing the resilience of maritime port systems and hurricane evacuation safety and efficiency. He is interested in researching the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events on large-scale transportation systems. He enjoys running, swimming, and playing guitar in his free time.
Shidong Pan

Shidong Pan

M.S., Civil Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2017
B.S., Transportation Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, 2016
shidong.pan at austin dot utexas dot edu

Shidong joined Dr. Boyles' group in Spring 2023. He has background in optimization, travel demand modeling and toll revenue studies. His current research interest is resilient infrastructure systems, interconnected infrastructure systems and smart cities.
Jake Robbennolt

Jake Robbennolt

M.S.E., Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2024
B.S., Civil Engineering, The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, 2022
jr73453 at utexas dot edu

Jake joined Dr. Boyles’ group in 2022. As and undergraduate, he focused on analytical evaluation of traffic control systems such as max-pressure traffic signal control and maximum throughput SAV dispatch. He also worked on evaluation methodologies for active traffic management systems such as queue warning. His current research interests include network modeling and optimization, autonomous vehicles, and intelligent transportation systems.

Past Postdocs and Present Coordinates

  • Alireza Khani (PhD, University of Arizona). Currently Associate Professor at University of Minnesota.

Past Graduate Students and Present Coordinates

Student Degree Date Current Employer Thesis
Abigail Crocker PhD Spring 2024 US Military Academy Post Disaster Transportation Network Recovery
William Alexander PhD Spring 2024 RSG Bridging the Gap: Unifying Transportation Planning and Operations Through Enhanced Travel Demand Modeling
Diego Robalino Muñoz MS Spring 2024 Equitable Tolling: A Case Study on Sioux Falls
Jake Robbennolt MS Fall 2023 UT Austin (PhD) Resilience and Operational Benefits of Electric Vehicle and Grid Integration
Kangni (Connie) Jiang MS Spring 2023 CONSOR Engineers Survey Analysis for Evacuee Preferences on Real-Time Traffic Monitoring Systems in Texas
Tengkuo Zhu PhD Summer 2022 Walmart Incorporating UAVs into Urban Logistics Combinatorial Optimization Problems
Priyadarshan Patil PhD Summer 2022 ElectroTempo Traffic Assignment Models --- Applicability and Efficacy
Carlin Liao PhD Fall 2021 Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Modular Autonomous Intersection Management Simulation for Stochastic and Priority Auction Paradigms
Cesar Yahia PhD Fall 2021 Aurora Innovation Management and Operation of Emerging Mobility Services
Can Gokalp PhD Spring 2021 Expedia Three Nonlinear Network Flow Problems
Patrick Mannon PhD Spring 2020 US Air Force Partitioning Methods for NP-Hard Routing Problems
Venktesh Pandey PhD Spring 2020 North Carolina A&T State University (assistant professor) Dynamic Pricing and Long-Term Planning Models for Managed Lanes with Multiple Entrances and Exits
Rachel James PhD Spring 2019 Federal Highway Administration The Development of a Holistic Approach to Modeling Driver Behavior: Accounting for Driver Heterogeneity in Car-Following Models
Manoj Gedela MS Spring 2019 Venmo Deep Learning Framework for Crash Detection using Twitter Data (winner, Neville Parker Award)
Rahul Patel MS Spring 2019 General Motors Planning for Autonomous Vehicles: Effects and Optimal Placement of Reservation-Based Intersections in Urban Networks
Dongxu (Henry) He MS Spring 2018 Cambridge Systematics Information Sharing for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles
Prashanth Venkatraman MS Spring 2018 Deliveroo Planning for Autonomous Vehicles: Ridesharing and Traffic Control
Ehsan Jafari PhD Summer 2017 Amazon Network Modeling and Design: A Distributed Problem Solving Approach
Michael Levin PhD Spring 2017 University of Minnesota (associate professor) Modeling and Optimizing Network Infrastructure for Autonomous Vehicles
John Helsel MS Spring 2017 WSP USA Getting to Work on Time: A Proposed Time-Equitable Tolling Scheme (winner, Charley Wootan Award)
Tarun Rambha PhD Summer 2016 Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru (assistant professor) Dynamic Congestion Pricing in Within-Day and Day-to-Day Network Equilibrium Models
Rachel James MS Summer 2016 Federal Highway Administration Data-Driven Placement of Centroid Connectors in Dynamic Traffic Assignment
Venktesh Pandey MS Summer 2016 North Carolina A&T State University (assistant professor) Optimal Dynamic Pricing for Managed Lanes with Multiple Entrances and Exits (winner, Milton Pikarsky Award)
Sudesh Agrawal MS Summer 2015 Chewy Network Models for Battery Electric Vehicles
Michael Levin MS Spring 2015 University of Minnesota (associate professor) Integrating Autonomous Vehicle Behavior into Planning Models (winner, Milton Pikarsky Award)
Shoupeng Tang PhD Fall 2014 DKS Associates Network Routing and Equilibrium Models for Urban Parking Search
Tyler Beduhn MS Fall 2014 Kimley-Horn Reliable Routing in Schedule Based Transit Networks
Rohan Shah MS Summer 2014 The World Bank Dynamic Traffic Assignment-Based Modeling Paradigms for Sustainable Transportation Planning and Urban Development
Mallory (Necessary) Scates MS Fall 2013 Freese and Nichols Developing an Infrastructure Informed Walkshed and Bikeshed
Ruoyu Liu MS Summer 2013 CDM Smith Modeling Disrupted Networks with Dynamic Traffic Assignment
Ravi Venkatraman MS Summer 2013 Grubhub Adaptive Routing Behavior with Real Time Information under Multiple Travel Objectives
Christopher Melson MS Spring 2013 Oregon Department of Transportation Improvements and Extensions of Dynamic Traffic Assignment in Transportation Planning
C. Matthew Pool MS Fall 2012 Kimley-Horn Enhancing the Practical Usability of Dynamic Traffic Assignment
Tarun Rambha MS Spring 2012 Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru (assistant professor) Adaptive Routing in Schedule Based Stochastic Time-Dependent Networks (winner, Milton Pikarsky Award)
Promothes Saha MS Summer 2011 Purdue University Fort Wayne (associate professor) A Strategy on Roadway Pricing for Rural Freeways

Undergraduate Students

  • Doyun Lee, The University of Texas at Austin, Spring 2025-present
  • Dylan Croteau, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2024-present
  • Christian Douglas, The University of Texas at Austin, Spring 2020-Spring 2022
  • Rishabh Thakkar, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2018-Spring 2022
  • Karthik Velayutham, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2018-Spring 2022
  • James Lentz, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2018-Spring 2020
  • Mohammad Zaidi, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2018-Spring 2019
  • Kristopher Holder, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2018
  • Shannon Scott, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2018-Spring 2019
  • Anthony Battista, University of Massachussetts Amherst, Summer 2017
  • Mathias Hanssen, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2017
  • Tejas Chaudhary, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2015-Spring 2018
  • Rahul Patel, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2015-Spring 2017
  • Mark Stahl, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2015-Fall 2018
  • Diego Neri, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2016
  • Jesus Osorio, Valparaiso University, Summer 2016
  • Hagen Fritz, The University of Texas at Austin, Fall 2015-Spring 2016
  • Rebecca Hutchinson, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2015-Summer 2016
  • Rachel Allensworth, The University of Texas at Austin, Spring-Summer 2014
  • Reese Hatridge, The University of Texas at Austin, Summer 2013
  • Peter Kozey, Vanderbilt University, Summer 2013
  • Kimberly Selph, Washington State University, Summer 2012
  • Alexandra Dukeman, University of Wyoming, Summer 2011
  • Hannah Olsen, University of Wyoming, Summer 2011
  • Chris Melson, University of Wyoming, Summer 2010
  • Rebecca Franke, University of Kentucky, Summer 2010

Group Activities

Click for full size.

Birthday party, Fall 2019

Potluck, Fall 2018

Priyadarshan Patil, intramural racquetball champion, Fall 2018

Hiking at Turkey Creek, Fall 2018

Hiking at Turkey Creek, Fall 2018

Birthday party, Fall 2018

Transportation Technology Tournament, Summer 2018

Potluck, Spring 2018

Longhorn Run, Spring 2018

Birthday party, Fall 2017

Ehsan's farewell, Summer 2017

Racquetball, Summer 2017

Willem's farewell, Spring 2017

Longhorn Run, Spring 2017

Potluck, Fall 2016

Racquetball, Summer 2016

Tarun's farewell, Summer 2016

Rachel's (temporary) farewell, Summer 2016

Potluck, Spring 2016

Potluck, Fall 2015

Potluck, Summer 2015

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