Postdoctoral Scholar - ITS

The Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine invites applications for a postdoctoral scholar position beginning April 2025 or until the position is filled.

We are seeking a motivated postdoctoral scholar interested in an ongoing National Science Foundation (NSF) Smart & Connected Communities research project that aims to dramatically improve how metropolitan areas plan for and thus leverage transportation technologies to solve pressing societal problems. The project team will accomplish this goal by revamping regional transportation system modeling (RTSM) through developing a prescriptive (i.e., optimization-based) multi -level, -resolution, and -objective dynamic RTSM framework. The RTSM framework will both analyze and recommend combinations of transportation and land use policies and infrastructure investments (i.e., regional plans).

At the current phase of the project, we are developing a low-resolution "sketch planning" urban dynamics model. Given that we are partnering closely with transportation planners at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), we plan to produce a web-based user interface for planners to easily interact with the sketch planning tool.

We are seeking a postdoctoral scholar with expertise in modeling dynamic systems, ideally with a background in stochastic optimization, control theory, or reinforcement learning. Additionally, given that the tool will be used by SANDAG planners, we are looking for a postdoctoral scholar with the ability to create web-based modeling tools with an easy-to-use interface.

The postdoctoral scholar will work with the project PI, Prof. Michael Hyland, and two or more graduate student researchers (GSRs).

The postdoctoral scholar will be directly responsible for specifying, calibrating, and validating the sketch planning model, and several other modeling tools, for the SANDAG region. The postdoctoral scholar will also be directly responsible for developing, testing, and implementing a web-based user interface for transportation planners to interact with the modeling tools. Finally, the postdoctoral scholar will be responsible for leading and managing two or more GSRs working on the project.

The postdoctoral scholar will use existing open-source software developed by SANDAG. However, the postdoctoral scholar will work in Python and C++ to develop and integrate new modeling tools. Developing and implementing scalable models for large networks with a large number of agents is critical to the success of the project

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Please contact Prof. Michael Hyland with any questions about the position at hylandm@uci.edu

Unit: http://www.its.uci.edu/

Department: https://www.its.uci.edu/

The candidate must have a PhD in transportation systems planning, analysis, modeling, or engineering, or a related field of study.

The candidate should have provable experience and strong records in ALL of the following areas:

* Technical Writing

* Oral Communication

* Computational Modeling and Data Science

* Computer Programming AND User-Interface Development

* Modeling and Analyzing Transportation Systems

* Modeling and Solving Sequential Decision Problems

The candidate should have expertise in one or more of the following areas and a working knowledge of the other areas:

* Multi-resolution transportation modeling

* Land-use modeling

* Integrated modeling of transportation system performance and travel demand

* Simulation modeling: Stochastic, Stochastic-Dynamic, Discrete-event, and/or Agent-based

* Simulation-optimization modeling techniques such as Bayesian optimization

* Multi-objective optimization

• 3 required (contact information only)

References will be contacted after initial review of applications

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC anti-discrimination policy.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
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