Our work lies at the intersection of transportation, environment, health and well-being. We are currently collaborating with researchers across disciplines, such as urban planning, geography, civil and environmental engineering, communication, psychology, and public health.
Our team is committed to diversity and inclusion.
Faculty
Huyen Le, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography; Core faculty, Sustainability Institute
[Pronounce “Le” as in Chipotle and Guacamole]
Huyen’s work focuses on three major themes: (1) managing and modeling urban transportation; (2) physical and mental health outcomes resulting from exposure during daily travel and activities and (3) impacts of information and communications technology on transportation, energy efficiency, and other environmental outcomes.
Huyen was trained in transportation planning at Virginia Tech (PhD, 2019) and The University of Iowa (MS), and in urban construction management at Hanoi Architectural University (B.Eng.).
Huyen is currently serving on the editorial boards of Transport Reviews and Journal of Cycling and Micromobility Research and the board of the AAG Transportation Geography specialty group. She is a member of UCGIS’s TRELIS and co-organizer of Golden Compass, the two initiatives aiming at training and promoting women scholars in geospatial sciences. Huyen is also affiliated with the Translational Data Analytics Institute (TDAI), Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA), STEAM Factory, and EmPOWERment Program at OSU.
Current students
Abdirashid Dahir, PhD student, Geography
Abdirashid joined the team in fall 2021 as a PhD student in the Geography program and a trainee in the EmPOWERment program. His research focuses on sustainable transportation and urban development.
Deepshikha Ola, PhD student, Environmental Sciences (co-advised with Dr. Andy May)
Deepshikha joined the team in fall 2023 as part of the EPA-funded FLEETS for All project. Her research focuses on modeling the environmental and health impacts of energy and mobility transition.
Ruochen Yin, PhD student, Geography
Ruochen joined the team in Fall 2022 and is currently exploring the environmental health impacts of daily mobility and the implications of traffic-related exposure on cycling and walking.
Other students collaborating with our group
Morgan Ross, PhD Communication, from Dr. Joe Bayer‘s group
Lisa Rhee, PhD Communication, from Dr. Joe Bayer‘s group
Morgan and Lisa are exploring the relationship between space and mobile habits, among many other cool things.
Harsh Shah, PhD Civil Engineering, from Dr. Andre Carrel‘s group (graduated)
Harsh studied the impacts of online shopping and ICT use on travel behavior.
Mohammed Ahmed, PhD Environmental Engineering, from Drs. Andy May‘s and Daniel Gingerich‘s group
Mohammed is working on air quality modeling using advanced quantitative methods.
Sajjad Abdollahpour, PhD Planning, from Dr. Steve Hankey‘s group at Virginia Tech
Sajjad is working with us on sustainable cycling and transit networks.
Former team members
Armita Kar, PhD in Geography ’23 (co-advised with Dr. Harvey Miller)
Armita’s research focuses on equity and accessibility for multimodal mode users, such as cyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders. She is working on several COVID-related projects.
Megan Lindstrom, PhD in Geography ’22
Megan’s work centered on community health and deaths of despair during COVID-19.
Daniel Harrington, GRA, MCRP ’21
Daniel worked on the active travel and health project. He graduated with a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning in Spring 2021.
Dema Alkashkish, Undergraduate RA, Biomedical Engineering major (co-mentored with Dr. Andy May)
Dema worked on the air quality and health project and deployed mobile sensors across Columbus to monitor PM2.5. She was part of the NEON tower project led by Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf at TDAI.
Zane Patterson, Undergraduate RA, Economics major ’22
Zane’s research interest includes public transportation and urban planning. He worked on projects related to cycling and well-being.
Sean Lim, Undergraduate RA, GIS major
Sean assisted with the active travel and health project, responsible for processing infrastructure and traffic monitoring data. He was a GIS major and computer & information science minor.
Collaboration
We are collaborating with other research groups on various projects:
Health and well-being – Dr. Yingling Fan (U of Minnesota), Dr. Trevin Glasgow (U of Virginia), Dr. Steve Hankey (Virginia Tech)
ICT and sustainable transportation – Dr. Andre Carrel’s research group (OSU)
Mobile health and mobile cognition – Dr. Joseph Bayer’s research group (OSU + beyond)
Health outcomes of urban bicycling – Drs. Lindsay M. Braun (U of Illinois), Carole Voulgaris and Rachel Nethery (Harvard)
Exposure to air pollution during daily travel – Drs. Andy May, Joe Bayer, Rachel Nethery, and Harvey Miller
Spatio-temporal patterns of suicides and drug abuse — Dr. Cynthia Fontanella (OSU) research group
Interested in working with us? Check this page!