Prospective members
If you want to work towards societal impact in transportation while making methodological advances in computing, you are in the right place! I am committed to improving the lives of everyday people; recently, that translates to my interests in advancing safety, sustainability, accessibility, and efficiency. I am interested in research that supports any stage of transportation decision-making, from operations to design to planning to policy. My general approach is to research is to stress-test existing computational methods on consequential transportation questions, both to surface methodological gaps and to demonstrate value, and then let the problems take us where they go. If this resonates with you, please read on.
The best way to get involved is to first read my Professional Statement, which offers a snapshot of technical challenges borne out of transportation problems, recent efforts, and upcoming ideas. Then, apply through the channels below and be sure to cue in which aspects of the group’s research you’re excited to contribute to.
How to apply
- Prospective PhD students: I recruit new PhD students each year. I do not admit PhD students directly; if you are interested in a PhD position, apply to the CEE, SES (IDSS), ORC, and/or EECS PhD programs and list me in your application. I am also open to advising students from other programs with the right fit. I ask that you do not contact me directly with regard to PhD admissions until after you are admitted, as I will not be able to reply to emails from individual applicants.
- Prospective postdocs: If you are interested in a postdoc position, please read this form.
- MIT undergraduate or Masters students: If you are interested in research positions, please read this form.
- Potential interns and visitors: If you are not a MIT student and interested in visiting research positions, please read this form.
If you cannot view the form (because you don’t have a Google account), you may request an application by email with the subject heading “[Application Request]”. Please specify which application form you need.
If your case is not covered by the above, then consider cold emailing me!
I especially encourage those who are underrepresented in STEM to apply. I greatly value diversity and inclusion in STEM through teaching, mentorship, and outreach. We are a highly collaborative and welcoming lab with diverse backgrounds that come together to make the whole stronger than the sum of its parts. I strongly believe that diversity in perspective is necessary to solve the world’s most challenging problems.
Topic areas
We are recruiting in the following topic areas. For more information, see the listed work. We are open to applicants at all levels. If any of these topics excite you, please reference them in your application.
- Congestion Pricing and Transit Reinvestment (new), including modeling, data-driven analysis, and algorithms
- Deep Reinforcement Learning (RL), especially training reliability and generalization, including contextual RL, multi-task learning, and applications
- Advanced Simulation for Traffic and Road Infrastructure, including traffic flow simulation, generative AI for road safety simulation, and agent-based simulation
- AI for Optimization, especially machine learning for combinatorial optimization, including foundation models for optimization, learning-guided optimization, neural combinatorial optimization, and applications
- Agentic AI for Transportation Systems Modeling, such as for traffic systems analysis, emerging mobility systems, multi-modal transportation
- Generative AI for Scientific Integrity, especially in transportation research, including using LLMs for reproducing studies, auditing research transparency, and supporting the creation of benchmarks
(Last updated: Aug 2026)