Former MiTSO President Receives Daniel B. Fambro Student Paper Award
Photo credit: Institute of Transportation Engineers
The Ph.D. candidate advised by Dr. Henry Liu received the internationally recognized award at the 2024 ITE Annual Meeting & Exhibition
Zachary Jerome, a Ph.D. candidate in the Next-Generation Transportation Systems (NGTS) program in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, has received the Daniel B. Fambro Student Paper Award. The award, named in memory of a professor at Texas A&M University, recognizes and highlights young and talented transportation engineers on a global scale.
Zachary’s award-winning paper, titled ‘Determining Minimum Change Intervals from Vehicle Trajectory Data’, focuses on optimizing signalized intersections in Birmingham, MI. This research was done in collaboration with the Center for Connected and Automated Transportation (CCAT) Director Dr. Henry Liu. CCAT is the U.S. Department of Transportation Region 5 University Transportation Center housed at the U-M Transportation Research Institute. Zachary received his award during the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Annual Meeting which was held in Philadelphia, PA from July 21st through the 24th.
The study analyzed vehicle trajectories across 34 intersections in the city which led to the discovery that more than ⅓ had inadequate change intervals. Most cities time their traffic signals using costly sensors that can detect when a vehicle moves through an intersection or send a traffic engineer to count vehicles during rush hour. Using these insights analyzed by Jerome led to a pilot program that saw a 20 – 30% decrease in the number of stops at the 34 intersections.
Now, Jerome is partnering with the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) to expand the deployment thanks to a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) program. His work has been covered extensively including stories from the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.
“I am passionate about translating research into applications for real-world impact. My vision is to provide solutions for intersection management across the world that are scalable, sustainable, and efficient”
Zachary Jerome, Ph.D. candidate in Next Generation Transportation Systems, Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Michigan in an interview with ITE
Zachary is a member of Michigan Traffic Laboratory (MTL), led by Dr. Henry Liu, which supports graduate students and visiting scholars as they conduct research centered around cooperative driving automation, automated driving system testing and evaluation, next-generation traffic control systems, and more. Additionally, from 2022-2023, Zachary served as the President of the Michigan Transportation Student Organization (MiTSO) which is a Student Chapter of ITE at the University of Michigan. MiTSO explores different professional, academic, research, and mentorship opportunities in transportation engineering and planning. CCAT provides funding for MiTSO members to attend major transportation-related conferences such as the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.