2023 Fellow

Zachary Jerome is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a member of the Michigan Traffic Lab (MTL), advised by Dr. Henry Liu. His research focuses on using increasingly available vehicle trajectory data for automated traffic signal control optimization on large scale networks. Vehicle trajectory data offers enriched details about the entire travel path (e.g., delays, stops, and travel time) and is available at practically every intersection. These advantages not only offer opportunities to improve the signal control procedure itself but also provide an unprecedented ability to apply more responsive signal control improvements quickly and economically to every signalized intersection in the world through cloud computing, without the need for additional physical sensors on the road. Zachary and his colleagues in the MTL have demonstrated the potential benefits of a prototype system through a manual implementation, in some cases decreasing the average number of stops and control delay by over 40% and 20%, respectively. He is now working on large-scale deployment with an automated and iterative process, where all the procedures will be implemented in a micro-service manner on the cloud.

Around campus, Zachary is an active member of the Michigan Transportation Student Organization (MiTSO). He served as president in the 2022-23 academic year and led the organization to the ITE Great Lakes District’s Student Chapter Momentum Award. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance and has performed with the University’s Campus Symphony Orchestra.