My extensive interest to teach arises from the desire to use my research experience and expertise in education, to endow students with a solid knowledge base and an understanding of transportation, and also to learn from the class and students.
I am interested in teaching transportation engineering and planning courses at both introductory and advanced levels. Based on my previous research experience in China, I can also teach courses on construction management. Given my specialties in transportation, the following list of subjects exemplifies my specific teaching interests:
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Transportation Systems Analysis
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Transportation Economics and Policy
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Integrated Land Use-Transportation Planning
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Application of ArcGIS in transportation planning
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Introduction to Transportation Engineering
In addition to standard classroom lectures, I have considerable interest and experience in the use of computer simulations as a tool to enhance teaching. With my colleagues, I have also studied the effectiveness of on-line simulation as a curriculum tool in a classroom environment.
Teaching experience
Spring 2004, I developed online java applet “Simulator Of Network Growth” (SONG) for CE5214 “Transportation Systems Analysis” and provided technical support for the lab.
Spring 2006, I worked as a Teaching Assistant for CE3201 “Introduction to Transportation Engineering”, receiving an evaluation of 7.4 out of 10 from the class for office hours, lab instruction, and grading.
Spring 2006, I instructed an undergraduate student in his internship project working on digitizing the legacy road links in the Twin Cities and estimating the crash-rate model based on the historical crash records on roads.
January 2007, my colleagues and I presented our study of enhancing transportation education through on-line simulation at the 86th TRB based on the pre-class and after-class surveys we conducted in CE3201.
Fall 2007, I helped to organize “game night” in CE5212 “Transportation Policy, Planning, and Deployment”, an event in which interested students play transportation related board games such as Railroad Tycoon, Ticket to Ride: Europe, and China Rails, in order to enhance their understanding of transportation planning and deployment.
Currently, I am developing online java applet “Simulation and Analyst of Network Design” (SAND) for CE5212 “Transportation Policy, Planning, and Deployment” lab. I am also instructing a junior graduate student for his internship work to digitize the evolution of the Twin Cities Trolley network, and to map the abandoned proposals during the construction of London underground.