THE DRIVERLESS CITY TEAM
Ron Henderson
is Professor and Director of the Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism Program at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago. There, he is a prime investigator on "The Driverless City Project," a multi-disciplinary research initiative funded by the National Science Foundation and the Nayar Prize, which investigates the urban design implications of driverless vehicles. Additional research investigates "Long and Narrow" urban landscape projects. He held prior academic appointments at Harvard University, Pennsylvania State University, Tsinghua University, Roger Williams University, and Rhode Island School of Design. rhender@iit.edu
Dr. Boris Pervan
is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at IIT, where he conducts research on advanced navigation systems. Prof. Pervan received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame, M.S. from the California Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. from Stanford University. He was the recipient of the IIT Sigma Xi Excellence in University Research Award, Ralph Barnett Mechanical and Aerospace Dept. Outstanding Teaching Award, Mechanical and Aerospace Dept. Excellence in Research Award, IIT University Excellence in Teaching Award, IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society M. Barry Carlton Award, RTCA William E. Jackson Award, Guggenheim Fellowship (Caltech), and the Albert J. Zahm Prize in Aeronautics (Notre Dame). pervan@iit.edu
Dr. Matthew Spenko
earned the B.S. degree cum laude in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University in 1999 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001 and 2005 respectively under in the Field and Space Robotics Laboratory. From 2005-007 he was an Intelligence Community postdoctoral fellow working at Stanford University in the Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Laboratory. From 2007 to 2013 he was an assistant professor in the Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Department at the Illinois Institute of Technology. In 2013 he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. In 2019 he was promoted to Professor. mspenko@iit.edu
Yihe Chen
is developing new methods to evaluate urban landscape design and its relationship to localization safety for self-driving cars. ychen300@hawk.iit.edu
Alexis Arias
received his Bachelor of Architecture from Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador and his M.Arch and M.LA degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology. He investigates the urban design implications of driverless vehicles. aarias1@hawk.iit.edu
Melika Yousefi
is a research assistant for The Driverless City Project. Received his bachelor's of Engineering in Architecture from the University of Kashan in Iran. She is currently pursuing a Master of Landscape + Urbanism at the Illinois Institute of Technology. myousefi@hawk.iit.edu
Nilay Mistry
is professor of the Landscape + Urbanism program. He possesses several years of experience in design practice and teaching in landscape architecture and urban design in the United States, Africa, and Asia. His ongoing research and trans-disciplinary design work explores rooting interventions in public space in readings of cultural identity, urban networks, and landscape flows. Mistry’s research on informal settlements and Asian urbanization has been the subject of various publications and design studios, facilitating multiple design/build projects around the world. nmistry@iit.edu
Kana Nagai
received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology and Bachelor of Architectural and Structural Design from Hokkaido University, Japan. She works on evaluating the navigation safety of autonomous vehicles in urban areas. knagai@hawk.iit.edu
Jorge Mayorga
is a research assistant for The Driverless City Project. Is a co-founder and Board Director of Human Scale. Received his bachelor's of science in Architecture from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is currently pursuing a dual degree, Masters of Architecture, Landscape + Urbanism at Illinois Institute of Technology. jmayorga@hawk.iit.edu
Md Mahmudur Rahman
is a research assistant for The Driverless City Project. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and is currently enrolled in the dual degree, Master of Architecture & Master of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism at the Illinois Institute of Technology. mrahman20@hawk.iit.edu
THE DRIVERLESS CITY - NAYAR PRIZE TEAM
_edited_edited.png)
Marshal Brown
is a licensed architect, urbanist, and principal of Marshall Brown Projects, Inc. He was previously an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology where he directed the Driverless City Project. He received his B.A. from Washington University, St. Louis and Master's degrees in both Architecture (M.Arch) and Urban Design (MAUD) from Harvard University where he won the Druker Fellowship for urban design. mbb4@princeton.edu
Lili Du
is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Dr. Du’s research is characterized by applying operations research, network modeling and statistical methods into transportation system analysis and network modeling. Dr. Du’s current research covers several interdisciplinary research areas in Transportation Engineering, such as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Infrastructure Network Modeling, Sustainable Multimodal Transportation Systems, Real-Time Traffic Sensing, and so on. ldu3@iit.edu
Laura Furlano
is an Assistant Professor of Design at the Institute of Design and Affiliated Faculty in the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology. Her research is focused on the intersection between emerging technologies, material practices and the future of cities. lforlano@id.iit.edu
Jack Guthman