UMass Public Engagement Project (PEP) Chooses CEE’s Song Gao and MIE’s Shannon Roberts as PEP Fellows

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How can researchers apply their best research to vital societal problems and engage lawmakers and the public at large in adopting their wise research applications for the good of all? One way at UMass Amherst is through the Public Engagement Project (PEP), which has announced the eight, campus-wide, 2024 Public Engagement Faculty PEP Fellows, who will draw upon their substantial research to impact policy, the work of practitioners, and public debates. Among the eight new PEP Fellows are Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Song Gao and Associate Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Shannon Roberts.

As a PEP fellow, Gao will engage local and online communities to understand what factors are relevant in the decision-making of ride-sharing drivers and connect with policy makers to inform regulatory actions on the ride-sharing economy. Meanwhile, Roberts will concentrate on sharing results of her recent research on automated trucking through public media, stakeholder workshops, and the development of material for public audiences.

The PEP Fellows Program facilitates connections between fellows and lawmakers in the U.S. Congress and Massachusetts State House, as well as with journalists, practitioners, and others to share their research beyond the walls of academia. As part of the PEP program, the eight new  faculty fellows will each receive a stipend and technical training in communicating with non-academic audiences.

In general, Gao studies transportation systems from both the users’ and providers’ perspectives, utilizing tools such as optimization, machine learning, and econometric models, with applications in smart and shared mobility, transportation planning, and sustainable transportation systems. Her current research emphasis is on experimental studies and econometric models of choice behavior in transportation networks, including ride-sharing practices and choices.

As the backdrop to Gao’s ride-sharing work, she says that “My ultimate research goal is to help build an efficient, reliable, and sustainable transportation system. The rapid development of sensor, information, and communication technologies has made real-time traffic information increasingly available for travelers and system operators to improve decision-making in uncertain situations.”

Gao goes on to explain that “My research thus focuses on understanding travelers' learning and choice behavior in an uncertain, dynamic, connected, information-rich network and incorporating advanced behavioral theories in transportation-network optimization models to improve the performance of transportation systems.” 

As Gao concludes, “I examine the problem of travel choice in an uncertain system through a series of theoretical and empirical studies using data from both laboratory experiments and in-vehicle tracking and monitoring devices in real-life urban networks.” 

Roberts studies the human factors of transportation safety. Her research applies knowledge of human behavior to the design of safe and equitable transportation systems. 

The three main areas of Roberts’ research are in novice drivers, feedback systems (feedback, in this case, meaning information given to drivers regarding their driving behavior or the state of the vehicle), and automated vehicles.

Roberts’ spotlight as a PEP Fellow will be on the third of these concentrations: automated vehicles, especially automated trucking, or self-driving tractor-trailers that transport goods. The theory is that, by relying on sensors, cameras, GPS satellites, Internet of Things systems, and artificial-intelligence technologies, these automated trucks can safely travel the highways entirely on their own. 

As Roberts explains the background of her automated-trucking research as a PEP Fellow, “Given their potential to improve safety and reduce the number of crashes, it is important to fully understand how the introduction of such advanced technology will change the driving landscape and, more importantly, how it will change the job of trucking.” 

Roberts adds that “We are interested in studying humans’ adaptation to automated trucks and the consequences of using automated trucks, including both the positive and negative impacts. For example, how will different truckers respond to the technology? Will automated trucking lead to an increased prevalence of distraction, or will it make the job of trucking more enjoyable?”

The Public Engagement Project is a faculty-driven initiative building on a collaboration of the UMass Institute for Social Science Research, the UMass Center for Research on Families, and the UMass Transportation Center. The PEP Faculty Fellowship has been made possible by funding from the College of Education, College of Engineering, College of Humanities and Fine Arts, College of Natural Sciences, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, Office of the Provost, and University Relations. (February 2024)