John Barton, Deputy Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation
John Barton is the Deputy Executive Director of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). In this role he provides executive control and oversight of all TxDOT operations and the management and operation of the state’s transportation system. These responsibilities include the development and administration of policies, programs, and operating strategies for TxDOT. He is charged with ensuring Texas’ transportation system is constructed and maintained in the most cost-effective manner and address the state’s growing safety, mobility, and reliability needs. Barton graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1986.
C. Michael Walton, Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering, Dept of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, UT Austin
Dr. Walton is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a past chair and member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Executive Committee. As the National Research Council (NRC) chair of the TRB Division he serves as an ex-officio member of the Governing Board of the NRC. Recently he was appointed by the Governor of Texas and elected chair of the “2030 Committee.” The “blue ribbon” committee, comprised of experts in business and transportation, was found to develop a comprehensive estimate of Texas transportation needs through the year 2030. In other professional society affairs he is a past chairman of the board of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). In addition, he is a founding member of the Intelligent Transportation Society (ITS) of America and a past chair of the Board of Directors. He has served on or chaired a number of national study panels including those mandated by Congress and others of the National Research Council. He is President of the Board of Governors of the Transportation and Development Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and a member of many other technical/professional organizations such as the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
Joydeep Ghosh, Schlumberger Centennial Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dept. of Elec. and Comp. Engr, UT Austin
Joydeep Ghosh joined the UT-Austin faculty in 1988. He is the founder-director of IDEAL (Intelligent Data Exploration and Analysis Lab) and a Fellow of the IEEE. Dr. Ghosh has taught graduate courses on data mining and web analytics every year to both UT students and to industry, for over a decade. He was voted as “Best Professor” in the Software Engineering Executive Education Program at UT.Dr. Ghosh has served as a co-founder, consultant or advisor to successful startups (Accordion Health, Stadia Marketing, Neonyoyo and Knowledge Discovery One) and as a consultant to large corporations such as IBM, Motorola and Vinson & Elkins.
Doug Fearing, Assistant Professor, McCombs School of Business, UT Austin
Douglas Fearing is an Assistant Professor in the Information, Risk, and Operations Management Department of the McCombs School of Business. His research areas include Decision Support Systems, Management Science, Optimization, Statistical Analysis, and Transportation. He won the 2013 Alpha Award for Best Research Paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Xiaoqing Zhu, Technical Leader, Cisco Systems
Xiaoqing Zhu is with the Advanced Architecture & Research Group at Cisco Systems Inc. She received the B.E. degree in Electronic Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2001. She earned both the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, California, USA, in 2002 and 2009, respectively. Her research topic during the Master’s program was on wavelet compression of light fields . Her doctoral dissertation research focused on video streaming over ad-hoc wireless networks. At Cisco, her current interests include wireless video networking, distributed resource allocation, and performance enhancement for Internet video delivery. Her specialties include multimedia technology, especially image and video communications, and wireless communications technology.
Ram Mirwani, Director of Global Strategic Accounts, AWR
Ram Mirwani is currently the Sales Director for Global Strategic Accounts for the NI AWR Group focusing on RF Design and Test. A 20-year NI veteran, he has served in multiple technical, leadership, and marketing roles at NI working closely with the global NI branches, customers and extensively with the NI platform. Mr. Mirwani has consistently served to drive the NI platform into new areas of business including RF Design and Automotive RF application areas. He is also an avid LEGO Mindstorms Mentor for STEM education. Mr. Mirwani holds a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from Arizona State University.
Randal Roebuck, Advanced Technology Specialist, 3M Traffic Safety Systems
Randy Roebuck has led internal 5.9GHz DSRC activities at Sirit, Federal Signal Technologies and now 3M since 2004. Randy has served as private sector device certification committee chair and device certification structure lead for OmniAir Consortium. Our company(s) had the role as independent radio communications testing and verification of DSRC devices during USDOT’s technology development and now participates through test tool enabler. Randy is active in the industry standards development and trade associations. He has promoted conformance, interoperability, and market adaptation of next-generation technology in the transportation safety sector.
Yi-Chang Chiu, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Arizona; Founder, Metropia
Dr. Chiu is the Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Arizona and founder of Metropia Inc. with a Ph.D. degree in transportation engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. Dr. Chiu’s research activities include theoretical developments and applications of dynamic traffic simulation and assignment (DTA) models particularly the developments of the open source DynusT DTA model. In recent years, Dr. Chu proposed the Metropia Mobility Ecosystem concept aiming at delivering a rewarding experience for commuters who make smart travel choices. Partners and stakeholders contribute to and benefit from the ecosystem and eventually working together driving a better city.
Tom Fowler, Vice President, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.
Tom Fowler is a Vice President with Kimley-Horn where he specializes in planning, design, and operations of intelligent transportation systems. He recently relocated back to Austin, Texas from Nashville, Tennessee and is working on projects in Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and several national assignments with the US Department of Transportation. Prior to joining Kimley-Horn Tom spent four years with the Federal Highway Administration, which included assignments in Washington D.C., New York, Southern California, and Arizona. Tom has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and a master’s degree in civil engineering from The University of Texas, and is a registered Professional Engineer.
Ken Perrine, Research Associate, Network Modeling Center, UT Austin
Ken Perrine is a Research Associate at the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). His research interests include microscopic traffic modeling, traffic system optimization, intelligent transportation systems for active traffic management, and transportation system usability. Ken had received his undergraduate degree with honors in Computer Engineering in 1998 at Pacific Lutheran University and worked in high-performance computing and data visualization at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Since then, he studied intelligent transportation systems at University of Washington, receiving a MS degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2008, and then studied communications and networking systems at UT Austin, receiving a MSE degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2011. Meanwhile, he worked in the traffic management center for the Seattle Department of Transportation, and also worked with the US traffic signal controller software group at Siemens.
Todd Hemingson, VP Strategic Planning & Development, Capital Metro
Todd Hemingson joined Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) in 2006 as Vice-President Strategic Planning & Development. In his current position, he leads Capital Metro’s planning, scheduling, analysis and transit oriented development departments. He has 21 years of broad-based transportation planning experience, including work in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Vancouver, Washington. Todd holds a Master’s in Community and Regional Planning and a Bachelor’s in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a certified planner, member of the American Planning Association and serves as a panel and committee member for the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board.
Thomas Novlan, Staff Research Engineer at Samsung Research America
Thomas Novlan is a Staff Research Engineer at Samsung Research America, Richardson, TX, working on system design and research for next generation wireless networks. He is currently an active LTE-A 3GPP RAN1/RAN2 standardization delegate covering device-to-device and small cell-related technologies. In addition, he has participated in technology sensing and 5G research projects involving low-latency vehicle communications, mobile positioning, and millimeter-wave cellular network design. He completed his B.S. with High Honors, M.S., and Ph.D., in Electrical Engineering at UT Austin in 2007, 2009, and 2012 respectively, during which time he also held intern positions at Qualcomm, Intel, and AT&T Labs.