If you are interested in taking up a deep dive on future of mobility and get paid for it, this is definitely for you.

Details

The Urban Transport & Energy Group at UCL Energy Institute invites applications for a fully funded three-year PhD studentship. It will covering UK/EU fees plus stipend to focus on the development of the demand components of an advanced transport and energy activity based model able to simulate the multidimensional impacts of new mobility services on travel behaviour, traffic congestion, and energy consumption.

 Supervisors: Dr Maria Kamargianni, Lecturer in Energy & Transport, UCL EI; and Prof. Andreas Schäfer, Professor in Energy & Transport, UCL EI

• Title: PhD Studentship in Travel Demand Modelling, Mobility as Service & Big Data
• Stipend: approx. £16,500 & UK/EU fees & Annual research budget of £1000 and you will also be able to apply for additional funding to UCL schemes to cover extra costs of training and travel.
• Start date: September/October 2017
• Funding duration: Three years
• Eligibility please check: https://www.epsrc.ac.uk/skills/students/help/eligibility/

Person Specification

The project is well-suited to a highly-quantitative individual with strong mathematical, data handling and computing skills. Students should have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject or a closely-related discipline, awarded with first-class or upper second-class (2:1) honours, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard from a recognised higher education institute. For those applicants with a first or 2:1, possession of a master’s degree in engineering, computer science, economics, geography or related disciplines is highly desirable.

• Excellent analytical and computing skills. Passionate about data analysis, modelling, programming and conducting research.
• A MSc degree in transport engineering, big data analysis, machine learning, software development, geography, economics or other relevant transport or computer science disciplines.
• Candidates without a master’s degree may be admitted in exceptional cases where suitable research or professional experience can be demonstrated.
• Knowledge of relevant programming languages or statistical software (such as Python, C++, R, MATLab)
• Ability use own initiative, prioritise workload, and be a fair team player
• Good interpersonal and communication skills (oral and written)
• A high level of attention to detail in working methods
• Interest in the challenges of the Transport sector of the 21st century

Application Procedure

Stage 1 – Pre-application documents – (1) CV, (2) academic transcripts, and (3) one-page personal statement outlining motivation, interest and eligibility for the post – should be emailed directly to Mae Oroszlany: e.oroszlany@ucl.ac.uk.

Stage 2 – Following the interview, the successful candidate will be invited to make a formal application to the UCL Research Degree programme. Further guidance will be provided.

You will also have to meet the UCL’s English Language requirements.

Informal enquiries on the content of the research topic should be emailed to Dr Maria Kamargianni, m.kamargianni@ucl.ac.uk

Deadline for application:  05 May 2017

Interviews week starting 15 May 2017

I have had the privilege of listening to Bryan in person at many industry-related events over the years but never heard some of the things he has shared in this awesome interview with Channel Next Cast. He goes into details about his entry into the business and how his company is innovating the transportation data to solve the congestion, in addition to offering excellent advice for wanna-be innovators & entrepreneurs. It is truly refreshing to see a dynamic youngster like him bring the much needed innovation and fresh, outside the box thinking towards solving the age old transportation problems – primarily congestion.

One interesting fact that I liked from Bryan’s interview: He is not a fan of red light cameras (like most of us) and he thinks traffic congestion problems can be solved for the large part in the next 10 years. Hmmm!

For those interested, here is a graphic from today’s Wall Street Journal article that covers INRIX and other start-ups working on transportation-related “big data“.

Image Courtesy: Wall Street Journal

Summary of the interview (made available by ChannelNextCast on YouTube.com):

Bryan Mistele wants to eliminate one of society’s biggest issues — traffic. How’s he going to do it? Find out in this episode of nextcast.

Growing up, Bryan knew he wanted to run his own tech company. After spending time in high school working with electrical engineers, he wrote down a life goal: start and be CEO of a two hundred person tech company. Now with 300 employees, he and his team at INRIX are tackling the ever-present problem of traffic. Bryan tells Jeff how they’re making this worldwide problem completely personal, by optimizing technology and getting people where they want to go. He also shares his secrets of success with Jeff — the perfect combination of persistence and naivete. * When Brian left Microsoft, he thought INRIX would be completely funded within a month. Twelve months and 70 rejections later, his company finally came to life. He credits this with a healthy balance of persistence and naivete. “Venture capitalists all told us we would be crushed…now we are the leader.”
* He also says he owes much of his success to wisdom gained in his early years, working at an electrical engineering firm. Following their advice of finding a partner who shares your career goals led him to the wife who encouraged him to persevere in the face of VC rejection. “If I hadn’t had that person in my life I never would have gotten off the ground,” he says. * It’s always been Bryan’s dream to run his own tech company, from the time he wrote it down as a life goal at age 16. He noted that in a big company, your future is tied to someone bringing you along up with them. Now, as a CEO, “whether it succeeds or fails, it’s up to me…and I like that.”
* Is this a trend? Our second nextcast guest who says he’d eliminate traffic cameras, Bryan explains that they actually cause more accidents than they prevent. What other improvements to the world of traffic does Bryan have to offer? We’re less than a decade away from seeing them all come to life.