Can you share a little bit about yourself and your role at SafeTREC?
I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since coming to California after getting my Masters in Computer Science from Brown University. Prior to that, I lived in Connecticut and Virginia. My family moved to Virginia from Hong Kong when I was in Junior High School, but I was born in England where we lived until I was 9. My career has up to now been solely in industry, doing software development in a number of different domains, most recently with a company making wireless road traffic sensors. My role here at SafeTREC is still in software development -- I am helping to develop various tools to organize and disseminate safety related data.
What sparked your interest in transportation safety research?
I have had an interest in transportation for a long time. My undergraduate degree was in Civil Engineering, where I took courses in traffic and urban planning. I ended up as a software engineer instead, but remained curious about transportation issues.
What current projects are you working on at SafeTREC?
My current project at SafeTREC is working on Caltrans projects to do with statewide pedestrian and bicycle counts. I am also assisting with maintenance of other SafeTREC software projects.
What issues are you particularly interested or passionate about?
In relation to transportation issues, because I am a driver, bicyclist and pedestrian, I am interested in efficiency and safety. All modes of transport should be enabled to move efficiently, not least because it keeps everyone calm when all are making good progress on their routes, which enhances safety. The tradeoffs needed between these groups tend to be the major issues, and the resolution can be difficult especially if one group feels slighted over another. This is where good data and safety research comes in, to help provide objective measures for decision makers.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Outside of work, I love playing tennis. I like hiking, camping and backpacking. I enjoy cooking and baking and am a passionate foodie.
This Spotlight interview was conducted in collaboration with UC Berkeley SafeTREC. The opinions and perspectives expressed are those of the interviewee and not necessarily those of SafeTREC.
