Current Projects:

Edge AI- and Video-Assisted FHWA Vehicle Classification

Sponsor: WV Department of Transportation

The objective of this project is to develop an edge AI- and video-assisted vehicle classification method following the FHWA 13-category classification schema through measurement conducted on traffic surveillance videos. Different from the existing methods, the proposed method will exploit the edge computing techniques together with combined semantic and geometric features extracted from the traffic video frames for data processing and information acquisition.

BCSER: Building Material Impact-Aware Civil Engineers: Virtual Reality as a STEM Education Tool

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)

This BCSER IID project will support the PI in building foundational expertise in STEM education research through the design and implementation of innovative, evidence-based learning approaches. Leveraging the immersive capabilities of virtual reality (VR), the project provides civil engineering students with self-directed, experiential learning opportunities. Over a three-year study, the PI will integrate VR into an undergraduate civil engineering course to examine how immersive technologies affect students’ material-impact awareness, engagement, and sustainability-oriented decision-making. Through interactive VR environments, students will visualize and explore construction materials and processes, deepening their understanding of environmental and social implications and strengthening their ability to make informed, responsible engineering decisions.

Collaborative Research: REU Site: Research Experience in Digital Twins of Road Infrastructure

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)

This 10-week summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program offers U.S. undergraduate students hands-on research experience in digital twins for road infrastructure. Participants will spend 8 weeks conducting research at West Virginia University or the University of Wisconsin–Madison, followed by a 2-week international research experience at the University of Cambridge (UK).

Collaborator: UW-Madison

Impacts of Drone Distractions on Working Safety at Heights in Construction

Sponsor: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

The increasing utilization of drones in construction projects introduces new safety concerns, particularly the risk of drone-induced distraction when operating in close proximity to human workers. This distraction poses a heightened threat to safety, potentially increasing the likelihood of falls, slips, and trips, given that distraction is a major contributing factor to such incidents. This project aims to investigate the impact of drones (both visually and acoustically) on the attention and safety of workers at elevated positions in construction fields. The research will explore whether the presence of a drone diverts workers' visual attention, potentially hindering their ability to recognize hazards like leading edges and unguarded openings on floors. Additionally, the study will assess whether the presence of a drone requires workers to exert extra effort to maintain balance when working on sloped surfaces. Through this investigation, the project seeks to establish quantitative relationships that delineate the influence of flying drones on the distraction and safety of construction workers at elevated positions.

Collaborator: UW-Madison

Collaborative Research: NLI: Forming Ethical Engineers: Integrating Embodied Carbon Education to Foster Ethical Responsibility in Environmental and Social Sustainability

Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF)

The project is guided by the EOP framework, which emphasizes comprehensive design thinking, material selection, professional responsibility, and teamwork in engineering education. It will (1) investigate how exposure to EC education affects students' understanding of environmental and social responsibility; (2) examine how students' ethical reasoning evolves in response to EC-focused learning experiences; and (3) explore how the impacts of EC modules differ across three implementation modalities (i.e., lecture-based, case-based, and project-based). Through specially designed modules in five engineering courses across WVU and Purdue, students will engage with real-world sustainability challenges delivered in varied formats to assess instructional effectiveness. A mixed-methods research design will combine pre/post surveys, group case study reports, and reflective writing to capture changes in students' knowledge, ethical awareness, and reasoning. Comparative analyses will identify patterns across modalities and institutions.

Collaborator: Purdue University

Automated Path Tracking and Mapping for Economical, Real-Time, and Knowledge-Based Roller Control in Pavement Compaction Operations

Sponsor: USDOT-Center for Integrated Asset Management for Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CIAMTIS)

This project aims to develop algorithms that exploit thermal imaging modality to automatically track and map paths for economical, real-time roller control in pavement compaction operations. The developed technology promises to be low-cost and addresses issues in places where GPS signal is a problem to the existing IC devices. If successful, the outcome of this project will help state DOT pavement management offices and paving companies better monitor, control, and document the quality of the pavement operations undertaken by roller operators. See our publication and video ( 1 and 2).

Past Projects:

• Field Demonstration and Performance Specification of a Thermal-Based Intelligent Compaction Technology
• Development and Dissemination of Education Modules and Tools for CIAMTIS Advanced Research Concepts
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Inspection of Tack Coats and Ancillary Highway Structures
• Image-Based Vehicle Height Measurement for Prevention of Low Clearance Infrastructure Collisions
• Development of a Virtual Weigh-In-Motion System for Enhanced Pavement System Management
• Interchangeable Walkway and Liaison Services to Aid in the Measurements and Dissemination of the Coefficient of Friction (CF) of Footwear on Slope Roof Surface
  
• Prediction of Pavement Performance via Integrated Pavement Health and Traffic Monitoring with Deep Learning and Predictive Modeling
  
• FW-HTF-P: Collaborative Research: Exoskeleton-Assisted Worker Performance Augmentation in Construction
  
• Evaluation of IoT-Enabled Pavement Response Monitoring for Transportation System Management
  
• Combined Structural Health and Traffic Monitoring using Fiber Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing
  
• Development of a Cost-Effective Sensing System for Real-time Traffic Data Acquisition in Support of Pavement Management
  
• Design and Construction of a Loading Device for the Measurements of the Coefficient of Friction (CF) of Footwear on Slope Roof Surface
  
• Measuring Current Traffic Safety Culture via Social Media Mining
• Holographic Visual Interaction and Remote Collaboration in Construction Safety and Health
• Evaluation of Intervention Methods for Reducing MSDs among Roofers
  
• Development of a Guidebook for Determining the Value of Research Results
  
• V-Helmet: Image-Based Real-Time Localization of Site Workers for Automated Construction Safety Management
• Photogrammetric Modeling for Construction Operations Simulation: From Two-Dimensional Site Photos to Four-Dimensional Simulation Models