Ali Hajbabaie – Associate Professor of Civil Engineering

Welcome to my personal webpage. I am an associate professor in the Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department at North Carolina State University. I have served as an assistant professor at  Washington State University for five years prior to joining NC State University.

My research activities focus on traffic operations and control in the presence of human-driven and self-driving cars. We use multi-scale analysis, modeling, simulation, and optimization to advance our understanding of cooperative traffic control systems and to contribute to the development of future mobility systems, including connected and automated vehicles.

Prospective Students

We are actively seeking hardworking, highly motivated, smart, and dedicated students to join our group. A suitable candidate needs to have a prior background in traffic engineering, operations research, and machine learning. Our students work on advanced projects creating state-of-the-art methodologies and tools to improve traffic operations and safety. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us.

Short Bio

Dr. Ali Hajbabaie received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Civil Engineering in 2003 and 2006, respectively from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He earned a second M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering (2011) and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign. His Ph.D. advisor was Dr. Ray Benekohal. Dr. Hajbabaie has served as an assistant professor in the Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering Department at NC State University Since Fall 2019. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University from October 2014 to August 2019. Prior to this position, he was a postdoctoral research scholar at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education at NC State University. Dr. Hajbabaie has served as the Secretary of Work Zone Traffic Control standing committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine from 2014 to 2019 and as the Chair of the Asset Management Subcommittee of Traffic Signal Systems Committee of the TRB. Dr. Hajbabaie’s activities contribute to the advancement of real-time optimization of large-scale complex engineering systems represented by models with a high degree of realism. He is an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Dr. Hajbabaie is the recipient of the junior outstanding researcher from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Washington State University. He is the recipient of the best paper award from the work zone traffic control committee of the transportation research board.

Professional Experience

  • Associate Professor, August 2022 – Present, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University
  • Assistant Professor, August 2019 – August 2022, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University
  • Assistant Professor, October 2014 – August 2019, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University
  • Postdoctoral Research Scholar, January 2012 – September 2014, Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE), North Carolina State University
  • Graduate Research Assistant, August 2006 – December 2011, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Illinois, Urbana – Champaign

Awards

  • Goodnight Early Career Innovator, North Carolina State University, April 2022
  • Best Dissertation Award – Honorary Mention, Transportation Research Board, January 2022
  • Sweet 16 High Value Research, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, October 2021
  • Certificate of Excellence, Work Zone and Traffic Control Committee, the Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Sciences, January 2019
  • Outstanding Junior Researcher, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Washington State University, March 2018
  • Best Paper Award, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Work Zone Traffic Control Committee, “Innovative Work Zone Capacity Models from Nationwide Field and Archival Sources.” Washington, D.C., January 2016
  • Best Student Paper Award, 1st Transportation & Development Institute’s Congress, American Society of Civil Engineers, “Common or Variable Cycle Length Policy for a More Efficient Network Performance?”, Chicago, March 2011
  • Scholarship Award, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Illinois Section, January 2011
  • Best Paper Award, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Illinois Section, “Signal Timing Optimization Using Evolution Strategies,” Chicago, January 2010