Dr. Abolfazl Safikhani is an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Florida. Prior to this position, he was a term assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at Columbia University. In 2015, Dr. Safikhani received his Ph.D. from the Department of Statistics and Probability at Michigan State University. His main research interests can be characterized in three main fields: (a) theoretical statistics: space-time model, change point detection, variable selection; (b) applied probability: Gaussian random fields, covariance estimation, dimension reduction methods; (c) applied statistics: smart cities, demand prediction, neuroscience. Specifically, Dr. Safikhani is interested in developing spatio-temporal statistical models for large scale and high-dimensional data sets related to urban analytics using machine learning techniques.

Dr. Yujie Hu is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Florida. He is also affiliated with the UF Informatics Institute and is a Fellow with the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University. His research interests focus on the development and applications of GIS, spatial analysis, network analysis and visualization techniques in urban systems and public policy implications. The subjects of Dr. Hu's research include transportation, human mobility and accessibility, public health, crime, and human-environment interactions. His research has been covered by ABC 13 News of Houston and the Houston Public Media News and supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), Florida Sea Grant, Southeastern Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (SASHTO), and the American Association of Geographers (AAG).

The UF student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), in conjunction with the UFTI’s STRIDE Center, hosted a children’s activity booth on Saturday, September 14, 2019, at the 10th Annual Fun 4 Gator Kids Touch-A-Truck event held on the Santa Fe College campus. Nearly 10,000 people attended the event where children were encouraged to get up close and touch over 80 construction, farm, emergency, military, public service vehicles, and cranes. ITE’s booth included a LEGO® Race Car activity where children made their own race car out of LEGO®s and then raced it down a ramp. A couple of the ramps included a textured road surface such as the “Rocky Road” where children could test how their vehicle’s speed or agility changed with added friction. The booth had a steady stream of race car builders throughout the event. Student volunteers at the booth included Siddhartha Gulhare, Asean Davis, Leonida Kibet, Corbin Kramer, Megan Voss, and Ehsan Amini - all from ITE, and Ala Alobeidyeen from the UF student chapter of the Women in Transportation Seminar (WTS). Meanwhile, older children and adults learned about Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology through a demonstration led by Patrick Neal, a doctoral student in the UF Center for Intelligent Machines and Robotics (CIMAR). Neal showed attendees how the LIDAR emits pulses of laser beams that reflect off of objects and measures the distances to that object. Each beam provides a point that when combined with other points, creates a “point cloud” that forms a 3-D representation of buildings, vehicles and people. LIDAR is used in many autonomous vehicles along with other sensing equipment such as cameras and radar.