Mohamed Essa
Why did you decide to pursue a graduate degree?
During my undergraduate studies, I enjoyed studying various topics in civil engineering in general. However, the most interesting courses for me were those related to transportation engineering such as traffic engineering, transportation planning, and road design. I learned how transportation systems can significantly affect economy, environment, and people’s life. After my graduation, I had been working as a transportation engineer for four years. I found myself consistently interested in learning more about transportation engineering. This motivated me to think about beginning my grad studies in this field.
Why did you decide to study at UBC?
I first heard about UBC from a friend who was pursuing his PhD there. I heard how prestigious UBC is, how the campus is beautiful, and what a wonderful city Vancouver is. This encouraged me to read more about UBC. I got more information about the university's ranking, the available graduate programs, the current research topics, and the funding opportunities. After that, UBC became one of the universities that I was dreaming to join to pursue my grad studies.
What is it specifically, that your program offers, that attracted you?
The amazing research done by my supervisor, Dr. Tarek Sayed, in the civil engineering department caught my attention when I was reading his profile. Dr. Sayed is a leading and distinguished scholar on transportation engineering with several years of experience in the field. He has authored and co-authored more than 250 journal/conference papers and has won several prestigious research and teaching awards. Of his published papers, I found interesting topics related to transportation engineering that coincided with my research interests, such as road safety and intelligent transportation systems.
What was the best surprise about UBC or life in Vancouver?
The best surprise for me was that bikes are everywhere! I bought a new bike in my first month at UBC.
What advice do you have for new graduate students?
Accept new challenges. Be patient when you try new research ideas. Don’t be alone. Make friends and socialize.
Learn more about Mohamed's research
Traffic signals were originally devised to automatically control traffic flows and prevent collisions at road intersections and pedestrian crossings. Since their first implementation, traffic signals have rapidly spread to become the main traffic control device in road networks. However, signalized intersections are still considered hazard locations where traffic collisions frequently occur. According to the National Collision Database (NCDB) provided by Transport Canada, for the period from 1999 to 2014, more than 546,900 traffic collisions occurred at signalized intersections in Canada. These collisions resulted in 2,972 fatalities and 782,102 injured persons. In addition to their safety concerns, signalized intersections constitute one of the main contributors to road network delays due to the recurrent congestion that might be associated with inadequate traffic capacity or poor signal control. Traffic congestion is generally a growing problem that consumes high costs; wastes people’s time; affects the environment, the quality of life, and the economy. Existing advanced traffic management and information systems now provide high-resolution traffic data and are capable to efficiently manage and analyze this data. Moreover, the emerging connected-vehicles technology that uses wireless communication between vehicles, infrastructure, and other road users will generate a considerable amount of real-time data on vehicle positions and trajectories. The main objective of my research is how this data can be used for real-time safety and mobility optimization of traffic signals.