MIE PhD Student Stephen Onyeukwu Receives Computational Social Science Institute Graduate Fellowship
Content
Industrial Engineering Ph.D. student Stephen Onyeukwu is a member of one of three UMass Amherst cohort teams selected to serve as the inaugural Computational Social Science Institute (CSSI) Graduate Fellows. Onyeukwu will use his fellowship to work on a team with his mentor, Assistant Professor Anuj Pradhan of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (MIE) Department, and Associate Professor Youngbin Kwak of the Psychological and Brain Sciences Department on pioneering research to reduce road accidents and improve mobility outcomes for all drivers.
The CSSI Graduate Fellowship Program aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and networks centered around computational social science by funding research teams that are each made up of one Ph.D. student and two faculty members from separate departments. Over the course of the year, each team will discuss and set up a research project in the fall, do a research “sprint” to tackle deep work over the winter, then use the spring to pull together the work, present it, and prepare for next steps.
Onyeukwu’s research lies at the intersection of human factors and transportation safety, with a particular focus on how vehicle technologies and advanced automation shape the safety of road users. As he explains, “I study driver behavior to understand how people engage with these technologies on the road. I am also interested in the safety of vulnerable road users. Ultimately, the driving force behind my research is to reduce road crashes and improve mobility outcomes for all road users.”
One example of Onyeukwu’s research is his data collection for a study on “Assessing and Calibrating Teen Drivers’ Risk Perceptions About Cannabis-Impaired Driving.” He performed this study at Longmeadow High School using the UMass Amherst Human Performance Lab “Distractology” Driving Simulator and special goggles that imitate the influence of cannabis. During the study, Western Mass News in Springfield featured Onyeukwu to report on his experimental approach to his research and its message.
Onyeukwu earned his B.S. in Production and Industrial Engineering from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. In the spring of 2026, he was selected through a highly competitive national process to attend the Lifesavers Conference on Roadway Safety in Baltimore, where he engaged with leaders advancing innovations in traffic safety, public health, and roadway design.
Onyeukwu works in Pradhan’s lab, which focuses on the etiology of injuries and fatalities due to motor-vehicle crashes from a human-factors and behavioral standpoint. As Pradhan explains, “I have a specific interest on the impact of vehicle technologies and advanced automation on road-user safety, especially for young and novice drivers.”
The research goal of Pradhan’s lab is to uncover and disseminate evidence that can contribute to the safe mobility of road users, that can inform policy, and that can lead to technological and educational innovations for improving the road-safety record. Pradhan has worked on a number of research projects in these areas using experimental and observational approaches that employ driving simulation, test tracks, and naturalistic methods.
The UMass CSSI is a diverse interdisciplinary community of faculty who use computational models and methods to understand the social world. The institute promotes dialog and collaboration across more than 80 faculty affiliates from over 20 departments in nine colleges at UMass Amherst. (July 2026)