Dr. Sharon Di.
CAIT-affiliated researcher Dr. Sharon Di is part of a team of Columbia University researchers who recently received NSF funding to create a virtual replica, or digital twin, of New York City that will continuously learn and dynamically update itself as the city traffic environment changes in real time.
Dr. Sharon Di and her team were recently awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) program for their proposal “CPS: Medium: Hybrid Twins for Urban Transportation: From Intersections to Citywide Management.”
With this funding, the team will create a virtual replica, or digital twin, of New York City that will continuously learn and dynamically update itself as the city traffic environment changes in real time. The twin will help traffic managers to monitor traffic patterns as they happen and quickly come up with adaptive management strategies. The researchers will use Columbia’s COSMOS, the only beyond-5G testbed in New York City, to get real-time traffic data, leveraging Cosmos’s rich sensor data and deep computational capabilities.
An associate professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics at Columbia University and a CAIT-affiliated researcher, Dr. Di studies travel behavior and transportation systems, both of which are being transformed by emerging communications and sensing technologies. Her research helps transportation planners and managers maximize efficiency and sustainability. In particular, her work on travel behavior during disrupted networks, such as after a hurricane or structural failure, contributes to the design of resilient infrastructure.
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