This upcoming summer graduation we will be saying goodbye to Yinan Zheng, who will be graduating with her Ph.D. in civil engineering. Zheng’s friendly and radiant personality will certainly be missed by faculty and fellow students.
Zheng has been a great student, skillfully balancing her graduate studies and research with extra-curricular activities such as serving as website chair in the WTS Advancing Women in Transportation student chapter and participating in various other events such as the annual Transportation Symposium and K-12 activities, including involvement with UFITE. In these last three years, she has been a recipient of several scholarships offered by one the Florida WTS professional chapters:
- Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship, WTS South Florida Chapter (2016)
- Frankee Hellinger Graduate Scholarship, WTS Central Florida Chapter (2015)
- Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship, WTS South Florida Chapter (2014)
After completing her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Southeast University in China, she began her graduate studies at UF with Dr. Lily Elefteriadou. Throughout her master’s and doctoral programs, Zheng has worked with Dr. Elefteriadou on various Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and US Department of Transportation (USDOT) research projects such as “Before and after Implementation Studies of Advanced Signal Control Technologies in Florida” and “Empirically-based Performance Assessment and Simulation of Pedestrian Behavior at Unsignalized Crossings”. Zheng also has published her research findings in well-known transportation-related academic journals such as Simulation Modeling Pricing and Theory, the Transportation Research Board and the American Society of Civil Engineers.
As part of her current research, she is leading a team in evaluating the performance of Advanced Signal Control Systems along seven corridors in Florida, taking into account traffic operations, safety and cost benefit analyses.
“We’ve completed four corridor analyses so far,” Zheng said. “The preliminary results are promising.”
Additionally, she is helping in proposing a series of modifications to the existing version of the Highway Capacity Manual in order to address spillback conditions for both interrupted and uninterrupted flow facilities. At the Transportation Research Board’s 2016 Annual Meeting, she won second place at the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education (STRIDE) Center’s Student Poster Competition for her research titled: A Model of Pedestrian Delay at Unsignalized Intersections in Urban Networks.
Though she is focusing primarily on graduation, Zheng is also interviewing for potential positions post-UF.
“I am currently looking for jobs that require the passion to explore new ventures and solve real problems through insights and information,” she explained. “I wish to translate my knowledge and skills gained at UF into sustainable solutions that help the transportation system and the society move forward.”
Congratulations and Good Luck Yinan!