Asean Davis is a charismatic second-year Ph.D. student. Academically, Asean likes to focus his energies looking at the issues surrounding autonomous freight transportation. Specifically, he is interested in how driving on a road with autonomous freight affects the behavior of non-autonomous vehicle drivers and how perceptions about autonomous freight play a role in driver behavior.

Looking at the different angles of a complex issue isn’t something that Asean only does in his academics, he brings that same ability to see the potential for positive change and revolution into his love of thrifting and tailoring his own clothes. When he isn’t working hard on his studies or volunteering his time with GatorITE, Asean is hunting for a great find in local thrift shops or altering his own clothes to match his personal aesthetic. As if staying academically and creatively challenged wasn’t enough, Asean likes to play competitive basketball and volleyball.

Asean’s interest in transportation engineering began when he was an undergraduate student at Jackson State University. Jackson State University in Mississippi is one of the nine partner institutions within the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education (STRIDE) Center which is housed at the UFTI. During his junior year at Jackson State University, Asean participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research at Florida (SURF) program which sold him on transportation engineering and the University of Florida for graduate school.

While he hasn’t quite yet pinned down his dissertation topic, Asean’s involvement in projects related to autonomous freight keeps him busy while also giving him ample jumping-off points to find his topic.