In high school, Pedro Adorno Maldonado dreamed of becoming a civil engineer, and thanks to an impressive academic record, he was accepted to the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) in Fall 2010 to pursue a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. For the next five years, he participated in research and internships related to the civil engineering field. In December of 2015, Adorno completed his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with honors (Cum Laude), which included a certification in project management.
Now, Adorno is one of the six new UFTI transportation Ph.D. students beginning their program this fall who have received the Iva and Norman Tuckett UFTI Fellowship, sponsored by the Office of the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering at the University of Florida.
“When I received the admissions letter from the University of Florida, I was excited!” Adorno exclaimed. “I had only applied to two universities: the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) and the University of Florida (UF). I never gave up because I wanted to be part of the Gator Nation.”
Adorno will be working with Dr. Siva Srinivasan, an associate professor in civil engineering, on a “Smart Windshield” – a windshield that becomes darker when is in contact with the sun’s ultra violet light. It will become part of the Automated Vehicle Technologies Implementation project. Sun glare has become a natural threat for all drivers by reducing their visibility and increasing their perception reaction time (interval of time between the appearance of an unknown obstacle and the driver’s initiation of action1). This project focuses on reducing the vehicle crashes caused by sun glare by installing photochromic molecules (clear molecules that become darker when they are in contact with the sun’s ultra violet light) in the car’s windshield. The expected result of this project is to improve the driver’s vision by reducing the effects of disability glare (reduction in visibility caused by the presence of a light source in the eyes2,3) and improving their perception-reaction time
“The “Smart Windshield” will increase the safety and comfort of drivers,” Adorno said. “And the hope of reducing the number of crashes caused by sun glare was the reason why I decided to pursue my Ph.D.”
But what got Adorno interested in transportation research in the first place?
“In my third year of college I took a course called ‘Introduction to Transportation Engineering’ and since the first day of class, when Professor Ivette Cruzado discussed the course syllabus, I realized that transportation engineering would be in my future.” he explained. Dr. Cruzado is a faculty member in the transportation program at UPRM. “The idea of being part of the problem as a driver, but also being able to find a solution as an engineer fascinates me,” Adorno said.
In 2014, he worked as an undergraduate in a research project with Dr. Cruzado and Ph.D. candidate Alex Bermudez, studying the relationship between speed and highway features. That summer, they collected speed and geometric data in four highways at the west coast of Puerto Rico. They created a database with drivers’ free-flow speed and conducted descriptive statistics using Minitab.
During Adorno’s last year at the UPRM, he had the opportunity to work at the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) where he identified the operational areas by pump stations using ArcGIS. Then, in the summer of 2015, he worked as an intern at Plaza del Caribe Mall expansion in Ponce, and got a first-hand look at the construction process of a parking facility. While working with Engineer Alberto Richa on the parking construction, Adorno learned the basic concepts of construction and the importance of soil compaction and slopes in a parking facility to guarantee the appropriate drainage during raining days.
As for what the future holds after graduate school, Adorno sees himself in academia, teaching and conducting research transportation engineering.
“I want to motivate students to see the importance of transportation and engineering,” he said.” I want them to see how transportation engineering can affect their lives.”
- Green, M. (2009). Perception-Reaction Time: Is Olson (and Sivak) All You Need to Know? The International Compendium for Crash Research, 4(2), 88-93.
- Stiles, W.D., 1929. The effect of glare on the brightness difference threshold. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond., 322–355.
- Auffray, B., 2007. Impact of an adverse weather on an American highway. MS Thesis. Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA.