Dr. Yao-Jan Wu is a professor of transportation engineering in the Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics Department at the University of Arizona (UArizona). He is the founder and executive director of both the Center for Applied Transportation Sciences (CATS) and the Arizona Transportation Institute (AZTI). In these roles, he collaborates with local transportation agencies to address and resolve real-world transportation issues. As the AZTI Executive Director, Dr. Wu also fosters a strong partnership with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Arizona State University (ASU), and Northern Arizona University (NAU) to address state’s transportation research needs and workforce development. He holds Professional Engineering (PE) licenses in both Arizona and Missouri and has served as the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI on more than 60 national and international research projects. Over the course of his career, he has led and contributed to research initiatives totaling over $20 million in contracted funding. 

 

Dr. Wu has authored or co-authored over 190 refereed publications, including more than 90 journal articles, and has presented his research findings at more than 100 national and international conferences and invited speaker events. His research focuses on a strong connection between information technology (IT) and traditional transportation research. His research broadly covers four major fields: 1) intelligent transportation systems (e.g., advanced traffic detection technology, sensor data quality control, and computer vision applications), 2) data-driven large-scale transportation system analysis and optimization (e.g., freeway and arterial operations, system, traffic data management, mining, and analysis, and traveler behavior analysis), 3) traffic safety (e.g., accident modeling and analysis), and 4) sustainable transportation planning (e.g., transit, pedestrians, bikes, and climate change). 

 

Dr. Wu currently serves as an associate editor of the Transportation Research Record (TRR) and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems. In addition, he is a member of the Arizona Council for Transportation Innovation.