Hello and welcome to my personal home page.
I am Professor and holder of the David HaCohen and Hillel Dan Academic Chair, Endowed by Yekutiel Federman. I am currently the Dean of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion.
My research interests include route choice modeling, large-scale equilibrium models, and innovative transport systems.
I have extensive experience in transportation master plans, economic evaluations, and traffic and transit assignments.
I have particular interest in the following topics:
- Route choice set generation methods
- Network equilibrium formulations and algorithms
- Data mining applications in transportation
My main research achievement is the development of route choice models that can be implemented in traffic assignment models, in particular stochastic user equilibrium models. The route choice model is a complex problem, which involves both understanding of choice generation methods and discrete choice modeling.
Another line of research is the development of path-based algorithms for the solution of the stochastic user equilibrium problem. I am particularly interested in methods that are suitable to solve large-scale network problems.
Most of my current research is related to solve large-scale optimization problems, such as optimal allocation of transportation projects. I have worked in the past few years in several research projects related to road safety. In these projects my contribution is related to development of data mining methods and implementation of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies in road safety. I was one of the first researchers that investigated the application of cellular phones for transportation applications.
Future Research
The advance of autonomous systems in transportation poses a challenge for both researchers and practitioners. This is because of additional of transport modes such as car (or ride) sharing, and the possibility to plan the overall transport system in a more efficient and sustainable way.
Examples of such challenges are the formulation of new equilibrium models, which will take into account that a certain share of vehicles will be autonomous. To date, the existing models can account for a simple traffic mix. In the case of autonomous driving, it would be possible to “detour” cars, or even stall some of them, in order to improve the overall traffic and passenger flows.
Another example is related to better planning and operations of public transport services. The possibility of communication between vehicles and infrastructure can be explored by providing priority to public transport when it is needed, and not static as is in existing systems.
An important topic related to ITS is the development of models and methods to address emergency, evacuation and rescue situations.