COE Travel Award Sponsors PhD Student's Research Trip to Hanoi, Vietnam

NTC's Huong Pham, PhD student and Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, received one of the fall 2019 travel grants from the College of Engineering. The award requires applicants to be enrolled in a MS or PhD program in UNL's College of Engineering and must be a first-author on a technical poster or paper for a remote conference or meeting to be presented there. Huong was able to use the fellowship towards her Congrès International de Géotechnique - Ouvrages - Structures (CIGOS) conference trip in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The 2019 CIGOS, held October 31 to November 1, provides an international platform where researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and entrepreneurs can present recent advances and exchange their knowledge and experience on the theme of innovation for sustainable infrastructure. Submitted papers are reviewed by relevant experts before being chosen to present at the conference and are automatically submitted to the book series “Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering”.

Huong's paper, titled “Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Operation and Data Collection for Driving Behavior Analysis”, examines the use of UAVs for transportation data collection with an emphasis on their use for speed behavior analysis, gap acceptance, and merging behavior. Her presentation focused on the challenges and opportunities when using UAVs for data collection in developing countries with specific applications to Vietnamese conditions.

In addition to attending the conference, Huong visited Hanoi University of Transport and Communications (UTC). There she attended the Leader Board meeting where her advisor Dr. Rilett discussed potential partnerships with university leadership. The meeting was attended by the Vice Chancellor of Hanoi UTC as well as the chairmen in the Department of Technology and Science Development, Department of International Cooperation, and the Department of Civil Engineering of Hanoi UTC. This was a great opportunity as it allowed Huong to meet some key personnel she might work with as part of her dissertation project.

During her trip Huong toured the Drone research lab at Hanoi UTC and discussed potential collaboration as part of her PhD. She got an in depth look on their work with the DJI Phantom 4 for Highway traffic data collection. The Vietnam government has had successful investments with traffic safety research in recent years and Huong is looking forward to future research collaborations with Hanoi UTC.