PhD Student Opportunities in Transportation and Urban Engineering
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut

The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut is seeking five PhD students in Transportation and Urban Engineering to join the research groups of various faculty in Fall 2025.

Required qualifications for all positions:

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in civil engineering or related discipline from a college or university of recognized standing
• A minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or equivalent

Interested applicants should determine the best faculty advisor fit based on their research interests and preferred qualifications listed for each of the faculty below.

Applications for Fall 2025 admission are due January 1, 2025. Full application information and criteria are available here: https://cee.engr.uconn.edu/graduate/admission/

Dr. Monika Filipovska

Research interests:

• Advanced computing applications in transportation
• Emerging vehicle technologies, mobility services, and intelligent transportation systems
• Transportation network modeling

Preferred qualifications:

• Excellent analytical skills and background in mathematics, statistics, and/or optimization,
• Excellent written and oral communication skills,
• Coursework and/or research experience in transportation,
• Experience with data analysis and programming, and
• Ability to work independently and take responsibility for research progress and work quality.

Contact: Dr. Filipovska is currently not able to review potential applicant CVs before a full application is submitted. If you need additional information not related to your fit for the research group, please reach out via email to monika.filipovska@uconn.edu, mentioning your research interests and specific questions. Due to the volume of emails, please allow at least 2-3 weeks for a response.

Dr. Nicholas Lownes

Research interests:

• Public transportation systems
• Network analysis
• Transportation equity

Preferred qualifications:

• Excellent analytical skills and background in mathematics, statistics, and/or optimization
• Experience in transportation engineering or related fields,
• Coursework and/or research experience in transportation,
• Experience with data analysis, GIS and python programming, 
• Ability to work independently and take responsibility for research progress and work quality.

Dr. Fatemeh Fakhrmoosavi

Research interests:

• Traffic simulation in the presence of emerging vehicle technologies
• Shared mobility
• Decarbonization in transportation

Preferred qualifications:

• Master’s degree in transportation engineering or a related field
• Minimum GPA of 3.5 in both master’s and bachelor’s degrees.
• Programming skills in multiple programming languages including Python.
• A valid TOEFL (preferably higher than 100) or IELTS score (preferably higher than 7.0).
• Prior experience with GIS software, such as TransCAD, ArcGIS, or QGIS.
• Background in statistical analysis.
• Research experience in transportation engineering.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Contact: moosavi@uconn.edu

Prof. John Ivan

Research interests:

• Pedestrian safety
• Before/after safety evaluations
• Traffic signal operation

Preferred qualifications:

• excellent analytical skills and background in mathematics, statistics, and/or optimization,
• excellent written and oral communication skills,
• coursework and/or research experience in transportation,
• experience with data analysis and programming, and
• ability to work independently and take responsibility for research progress and work quality

Contact: If you need additional information, please reach out via email to john.ivan@uconn.edu, mentioning your research interests and specific questions. Please allow at least 2-3 weeks for a response. Prof. Ivan is currently not able to review potential applicant CVs before a full application is submitted.

Dr. Davis Chacón-Hurtado

Research interests:

• Human Rights and Engineering Education (with a focus on curriculum development and or Research Methods, Measurement, and Evaluation)
• Transportation equity (with a focus on public transportation and traffic safety for pedestrians and cyclists)
• Transportation and Energy Justice (with a focus on education and community engagement)

Preferred qualifications:

• Strong analytical skills, critical thinking, and the ability to work in interdisciplinary teams are required for these positions.
• Previous research experience, excellent communication skills, and working knowledge of Spanish are preferred.
• Applicants with experience working in urban planning, transportation engineering, sustainability, community involvement, or economic development are encouraged to apply.

Contact: Interested applicants should fill out this form: https://forms.office.com/r/FFv4pDMR9f

Note: The student will work for the "Engineering for Human Rights" Initiative at UConn under the direction of engineering faculty in collaboration with faculty from the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute. Interested students can complete a graduate certificate in human rights.

• EEO/AA Policy

  The University of Connecticut is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer. In order to ensure that employees and job applicants are not subjected to unlawful discrimination, it is the University’s policy to comply with all State and Federal laws and regulations that prohibit employment discrimination and mandate specific actions for the purpose of eliminating the present effects of past discrimination. Equal employment opportunity is the purpose and goal of affirmative action. The University has established equal employment opportunity and affirmative action as immediate and necessary objectives because we are committed to its concepts, principles and goals. At the University equal employment opportunity (EEO) means nondiscrimination in employment policies and practices. The University is committed to ensuring that individual employees and applicants are not excluded from participation in the employment process based on an individual’s legally protected status which includes race, color, ethnicity, religious creed, age, sex (including pregnancy and sexual harassment), marital status, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, genetic information, physical or mental disabilities (including learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, past/present history of a mental disorder), prior conviction of a crime (or similar characteristic), veteran status, workplace hazards to reproductive systems, gender identity or expression, or other factors which cannot lawfully be the basis for employment actions, unless there is a bona fide occupational qualification. Affirmative action is a positive program of purposeful activity undertaken with conviction and effort to overcome the present effects of past practices, policies and barriers to equal employment opportunity. Affirmative action plans and programs are designed to achieve the full and fair participation of all protected class members found to be underutilized in the workforce or adversely affected by past policies and practices.