Hesham A. Rakha
Hesham A. Rakha
305-B Patton Hall
Blacksburg, VA, USA 24061
Mail Code: (0105)
Program Area : Transportation Infrastructure and Systems Engineering
Personal Homepage : https://sites.google.com/a/vt.edu/hrakha/
Professional Registration : Ontario (P. Eng.).
Biography
In addition to serving as the Samuel Reynolds Pritchard Professor of Engineering in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Courtesy Professor in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Rakha directs the Center for Sustainable Mobility at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Dr. Rakha is a fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). He was included in the Stanford University top 2% scientist list for 2022; was listed as a World's Top Industry Scientist by the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance (AIIA), 2023; received the Best Paper Award (2023) at 9th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS); received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (2007 and 2023) at Virginia Tech; received the Most Cited Article Award (2023) from the International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology (IJTST); was a co-author on a paper that received the Davis Miller Memorial Prize: Best Paper Presented at ATRF 2022 by a Young Researcher, Australian Transport Research Forum 2022; received the IEEE ITS Outstanding Research Award (2021) by the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society; led a team that received first place at the IEEE ITSC 2020 UAS4T Competition; received the User Information Systems (AND20) 2019 Best Paper Award; received the Best Paper Award (2018) at 4th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS); received the Most Cited Article Award (2018) from the International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology (IJTST) ; received the Best Paper Award (2016) from 2nd International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS); received the Best Scientific Paper Award (2013) at the 20th ITS World Congress; received the Best Scientific Paper Award (2012) at the 19th ITS World Congress; received the Best Paper Award in the TRB Truck and Bus Safety Committee (2011) at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.
Areas of Interest
Traveler and Driver Behavior Modeling, Large-scale Transportation System Modeling, Transportation Network Control, Dynamic Traffic Assignment, Optimization, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Connected Automated Vehicles Research, Vehicle Control, Transportation Energy and Environmental Modeling, and Transportation System Safety Modeling.
- B.Sc. (Honors) in Civil Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt.
- M.S. in Civil Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
- Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
- Samuel Reynolds Pritchard Professor of Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech (2014 - Present).
- Courtesy Professor, Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (2014 - Present).
- Director, Center for Sustainable Mobility at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (2004 - present).
- Associate Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech (2003 - 2007).
- Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech (2007 - 2014).
- Assistant Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech (1999 - 2003).
- Leader of Transportation Systems and Operations Group, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (1999 - 2004).
- Research Scientist, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (1997 - 1999).
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (1996 - 1997).
- Transportation Systems Analyst, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) (1993 - 1997).
- Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association Fellow (FAAIA), 2023.
- Canadian Academy of Engineering Fellow (FCAE), 2023.
- Included in the Stanford University top 2% scientist list for 2022, 2023.
- World's Top Industry Scientist, International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance (AIIA), 2023.
- Best Paper Award (2023), 9th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS), Prague, Czech Republic.
- Dean's Award for Excellence in Research (2023), College of Engineering at Virginia Tech.
- Most Cited Article Award (2023), International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology (IJTST) for paper Du, J.; Rakha, H.A.; Filali, F.; Eldardiry, H. COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on Traffic System Delay, Fuel Consumption and Emissions. International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijtst.2020.11.003.
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Fellow, 2022.
- Davis Miller Memorial Prize: Best Paper Presented at ATRF 2022 by a Young Researcher, Australian Transport Research Forum 2022, Adelaide, Australia, September 28-30.
- IEEE Fellow (Class of 2020) for contributions to optimization, modeling and assessment of transportation systems.
- User Information Systems (AND20) 2019 Best Paper Award, Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, Washington DC, January 12-16, 2020.
- Best Paper Award, 4th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS), Madeira, Portugal, March 15-18, (2018).
- Most Cited Article Award, International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology (IJTST) for paper Rakha H., Ahn K., and Moran K., (2012), INTEGRATION Framework for Modeling Eco-routing Strategies: Logic and Preliminary Results, International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology, Vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 259-274. (2018).
- Best Paper Award, 2nd International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems (VEHITS), Rome, Italy (2016).
- Best Scientific Paper Award, 20th ITS World Congress, Tokyo, Japan (2013).
- Best Scientific Paper Award, 19th ITS World Congress, Vienna, Austria (2012).
- Best Paper Award in the TRB Truck and Bus Safety Committee, Transportation Research Board Meeting, Washington DC, USA (2011).
- Research Excellence Award, College of Engineering at Virginia Tech (2007)
- Research Fellow Award, College of Engineering at Virginia Tech (2004-2006).
- Outstanding New Professor Award, College of Engineering at Virginia Tech (2002).
- Dean\'s List of Excellent Teachers (3 times).
- Queen's Graduate Fellowship, Queen\'s University (1991-1993).
- Mclaughlin Award, Queen\'s University (1990).
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Queen's University (1989).
- Dean's Award, Queen\'s University (1988).
- Civil Engineering Award, Cairo University (1982-1987).
- CEE 3604: Introduction to Transportation Engineering
- CEE 3804: Computer Applications in CEE
- CEE 4604: Traffic Engineering
- CEE 5604: Traffic Characteristics and Flow
- Developing and Acquiring a Fully Instrumented City (NSF)
- Energy and Emission Modeling of ITS Applications (MAUTC)
- Studying the Impact of Inclement Weather on Traffic Stream Behavior (FHWA)
- Analyzing Driver Behavior within the Dilemma Zone at Signalized Intersection Approaches (FHWA)
- Transit Signal Priority and Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption (VDOT)
- Full List of Projects
- Yang, Z.; Zheng, Z.; Kim, J.; Rakha, H.A. Eco-driving strategies using reinforcement learning for mixed traffic at signalized intersections. Transportation Research Part C 2024, 165, 104683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2024.104683
- Aredah, A.; Fadhloun, K.; Rakha, H.A. Energy Optimization in Freight Train Operations: Algorithmic Development and Testing. Applied Energy 2024, 364, 123111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123111
- Alrumaidhi, M.; Rakha, H.A. An Econometric Analysis to Explore the Temporal Variability of the Factors Affecting Crash Severity Due to COVID-19. Sustainability 2024, 16, 1233. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16031233
- Link to Google Scholar
- Chen, H.; Rakha, H.A. Developing and Field Testing a Green Light Optimal Speed Advisory System for Buses. Energies 2022, 15, 1491. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15041491.
- Bichiou, Y.; Abdelghaffar H.; and Rakha, H.A. Integrated Speed Harmonization and Platooning of Connected Automated Vehicles: Model Development and Large-Scale System Evaluation. Springer Nature 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-022-01213-x.
- Ashqar, H., Almannaa, M.*, Elhenawy, M., Rakha, H.A. and House, L. (2019), "Smartphone Transportation Mode Recognition Using a Hierarchical Machine Learning Classifier and Pooled Features from Time and Frequency Domains," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 20(1), pp. 244-252. DOI: 10.1109/TITS.2018.2817658.
- Dehkordi S., Laruea G., Cholette M. Rakotonirainya A., and Rakha H.A. (2019), "Ecological and Safe Driving: A Model Predictive Control Approach Considering Spatial and Temporal Constraints," Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Vol. 67, pp. 208-222. DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2018.11.010.
- Almannnaa M., Chen H., Rakha H.A., Loulizi A., and El-Shawarby I. (2019), "Field Implementation and Testing of an Automated Eco-Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control System in the Vicinity of Signalized Intersections," Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Vol. 67, pp. 244-262. DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2018.11.019.
- Almannaa M., Elhenawy M., and Rakha H.A. (2019), "A Novel Supervised Clustering Algorithm for Transportation System Applications," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. DOI: 10.1109/TITS.2018.2890588.
- Elbery A. and Rakha H.A. (2019), "City-wide Eco-routing Navigation Considering Vehicular Communication Impacts," Sensors, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 290, doi:10.3390/s19020290.
- Bichiou Y. and Rakha H.A. (2018), "Developing an Optimal Intersection Control System for Automated Connected Vehicles," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.DOI: 10.1109/TITS.2018.2850335.