H-SMART Lab Presents Two Papers at 2026 TRB Annual Meeting

The H-SMART Lab presented two papers at the 2026 Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.: (1) “Beyond Correlation: A Hybrid Graph-Based Causal Bayesian Network for Travel Behavior Modeling” and (2) “Certified Cybersecurity for Traffic Signal Control Under Sensor Observation Attacks: A Game-Theoretic Reinforcement Learning Approach.”

Victor Contreras Awarded RGV Engineering Alumni Association Scholarship

Graduate research assistant Victor Contreras received the RGV Engineering Alumni Association Scholarship in recognition of his strong academic performance and contributions to research in intelligent and trustworthy transportation systems.

New Article in Journal of Air Transport Management on Urban Air Mobility

This study, titled “Assessing public acceptance of urban air mobility: Behavioral insights”, investigates demand for urban air mobility (UAM) for airport access trips in Chicago using a hybrid choice modeling framework. By identifying potential UAM adopters based on their characteristics, attitudes, and value of time across travel modes, the findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and industry on future UAM deployment and vertiport planning.

Prof. Nazari Receives NASA Award for GUARD-AIR Project.

Prof. Nazari received a NASA award for GUARD-AIR: Trustworthy AI for Networked Air Safety, a project developing an AI framework to ensure safety assurance in the national airspace.

New Article on Autonomous Vehicle Adoption and Safety Concern Published in Multimodal Transportation

Our article “Autonomous vehicle adoption behavior and safety concern: A study of public perception” develops a recursive trivariate econometric model to jointly analyze autonomous vehicle (AV) acceptance, perceived safety concern, and travel behavior. The results highlight how safety perceptions, cost consciousness, VMT, and socio-demographic factors shape AV adoption, offering guidance for trust-building and equity-focused AV policies.

Summer 2025 Transportation Innovation Camp at UTRGV – Safety21, NSF, and TxDOT

The H-SMART Lab hosted the Summer 2025 Transportation Innovation Camp at UTRGV, supported by Safety21, NSF, and TxDOT. High school students explored AI-enabled cyber-physical transportation systems, learning how data, sensing, and trustworthy AI can enhance transportation safety and human-centered mobility. As a capstone, student teams developed and presented group projects on topics such as autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, and intelligent transportation solutions.

NSF CREST Summer Institute for High School Teachers at UTRGV

Through an NSF CREST–supported summer institute, high school teachers visited UTRGV to deepen their understanding of how mathematics connects to real-world engineering and smart infrastructure. Participants engaged in hands-on activities and curriculum design sessions, developing classroom-ready lessons that use transportation and infrastructure examples to strengthen students’ quantitative and problem-solving skills.

NSF Funds “Trustworthy AI for Transportation Cyber-Physical Systems”

Prof. Nazari serves as Co-PI on a new $1.2M NSF CISE-MSI RPEP award, “CPS: Trustworthy AI for Transportation Cyber-Physical Systems,” a multi-institutional collaboration among UTRGV, the University of Pennsylvania, and UC Riverside. The project will develop safe, secure, and fair AI methods for autonomous and connected transportation systems while expanding research and education capacity in trustworthy AI.

New Article on Electric Vehicle Adoption Published in Transportation Research Record

Our paper, “Electric vehicle adoption behavior and vehicle transaction decision: Estimating an integrated choice model with latent variables,” published in Transportation Research Record, analyzes how perceptions, household characteristics, and vehicle transaction decisions jointly influence plug-in electric vehicle adoption, offering insights for more effective EV policy and market planning.

Dr. Nazari Receives UTRGV Faculty Excellence Award – Emerging Scholar

Dr. Nazari was honored with the UTRGV Faculty Excellence Award – Emerging Scholar for 2022–2023, recognizing her outstanding early-career record in research and creative work. This university-wide award highlights her growing impact in human-centered, AI-enabled transportation systems.

New Article on Modeling Vehicle Miles Traveled Published in Transport Policy

Our paper, “Modeling vehicle-miles traveled accounting for latent heterogeneity,” published in Transport Policy, develops a flexible econometric framework to better capture unobserved behavioral differences in household vehicle use. The study offers insights for forecasting VMT and designing more effective, equity-aware transportation and energy policies.

H-SMART Lab Awarded USDOT Safety21 National University Transportation Center Funding

The H-SMART Lab is funded by USDOT through Safety21 National University Transportation Center, a $20M consortium led by Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Nazari serves as UTRGV Co-PI, contributing to research on integrating autonomous, connected, and shared vehicle technologies with AI, data analytics, and smart infrastructure to advance transportation safety.

Dr. Nazari Receives $5M NSF Award for Center on Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Systems

Dr. Nazari serves as Co-PI on the NSF CREST Center for Multidisciplinary Research Excellence in Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Systems (MECIS), which focuses on next-generation transportation autonomy, advanced sensing, and artificial intelligence, and leads one of the Center’s three core research thrusts. IIn partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University of California, Riverside, MECIS advances multi-scale research on cyber-physical infrastructure systems — from materials and sensing to network-level operations — developing practical solutions for industry while transforming research and education at the nexus of automation, sensors, and AI.