Openings

PhD, Master and Postdoc Positions

The Mobility Technology Research Group seeks qualified applications for multiple PhD, Master (thesis-based), Postdoctoral fellow and research associate positions under the supervision of Dr. Yili (Kelly) Tang, who is an Assistant Professor with join appointment at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Western Ontario (Western University). Kelly leads and co-leads over $2.5 million in national and international research grants and is the guest editor and reviewer in leading journals. She is a committee member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and a standing committee member of AED20 in US Transportation Research Board. In parallel, Kelly has four years of experience as an algorithm engineer and researcher in industry on automation, robotics, and multi-agent systems, and has won over six awards in research and entrepreneurship. Her research studies have been published in top-tier journals in transportation engineering and science, economics, and energy domain. For more information about Dr. Tang and the research group, please visit https://www.mobility-tech.net/

Position Descriptions:

Candidates will conduct research in the following field(s) for public transit, emerging transportation services and railway:

• Economic analyses and behavioral modeling.

• Operational research and optimizations of integrated and multimodal transportation.

• Empirical studies and policy implications of carbon neural transportation and emissions.

•  Multi-scale spatial-temporal big data analyses and machine learning predictions.

• Mobility automation and robotic multi-agent algorithms.

Some of the project details are available in the Projects page.

Support and Timelines:

•  Multiple PhD and Master positions are open for 2023 Fall, 2024 Winter/Summer/Fall intakes. All positions are with financial support. Accepted PhD students will receive stipend package:

  • • Research stipends at $27,000 - $35,000/year, vary for domestic, international tuition rate and academic records.

    • Research conference stipends ($1,000 - $5,000).

    • Individual research facilities ($2,000 - $5,000)

• Postdoc Positions are available immediately for 12 months. Extension of appointment is possible with maximum 3 years subject to the performance.

• Visiting researchers and exchange students are also welcome. Please email me directly for inquiries.

Required Qualifications:

• Candidates with relevant background are all encouraged to apply. PhD and Master students should have strong interests and motivations for transportation research. Postdoc applicants should have strong knowledge and records in the field(s).

• Prior programming skills (Python and/or MATLAB and/or Java) are preferred.

Application procedures:

Interested applicants please follow the procedures below to send a single email with the subject [2023 Transport Research Applicant] to my Western University email:

Step 1: All applicants please check the admission requirements by the university and department. Please indicate in the first line of your email that “I checked the university admissions and meet (or will meet) the requirements.”

Step 2: In the email, please attach the following documents in .pdf:

1)     one-page cover letter indicating your relevant background, interests and motivations. Please also indicate which department you are interested in (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering or Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering or both). 

2)     one-page research statement.

3)     up-to-date transcripts.

4)     CV.

5)     one representative publication if there is any.

Please ensure to have the correct subject and complete application package. An email filtering scheme is set and thus incorrect or incomplete applications will not be received.

Review of the applications will start immediately and on a rolling basis. Future updates of this posting will be on the website.

Due to the large volume of emails, I apologize for not replying to individual inquiries.

Last update: August 22, 2023