Tarek Sayed, University of British Columbia
Civil Engineering
Professor
Vancouver, British Columbia
tsayed@civil.ubc.ca
Office:
(604) 822-4379
Bio/Research
Dr. Sayed is currently a Professor and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He has a number of prestigious awards including the appointment as a UBC Distinguished University Scholar, the ITE Wilbur Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award, the Canadia...
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Bio/Research
Dr. Sayed is currently a Professor and a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia. He has a number of prestigious awards including the appointment as a UBC Distinguished University Scholar, the ITE Wilbur Smith Distinguished Transportation Educator Award, the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Sandford Fleming Award, the Transportation Association of Canada Academic Merit Award, the Transportation Association of Canada Gilchrist Medal and several best paper and teaching awards. Dr. Sayed is the Editor of the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering and the Director of the Bureau of Intelligent Transportation Systems and Freight Security (BITSAFS-Engineering) at UBC. Dr. Sayed received two early promotions to the Associate and Full Professor levels. He served as a chair of both the Transportation and the computer application divisions of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering. He has authored or coauthored about 200 journal/conference papers and has instructed and organized many short courses and seminars in traffic safety and ITS for the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), the BC Ministry of Transportation (BCMOT), Ashghal (Qatar), State Farm Insurance (US), and the US Federal Highway Administration, among others. He also serves on several national and international committees including the Transportation Research Board safety data and analysis Committee, the US Transportation Research Board future directions for road safety subcommittee, the US Transportation Research Board Pedestrian Committee and the Canadian National Road Safety Committee. He has completed numerous consulting projects in traffic safety and ITS in North America and internationally and has supervised 32 Master and Ph.D. theses.
Dr. Sayed’s transportation engineering research has been focused within three main areas: 1) to improve road safety analysis and evaluation techniques, 2) to improve the level of knowledge associated with the safety implications of traffic operations and highway design, and 3) developing and evaluating Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to increase the efficiency/safety of traffic.
Dr. Sayed’s research to improve the methods of traffic safety analysis and evaluation is helping to reshape how road safety problems are identified and evaluated. The methods and techniques developed have received wide recognition and are being used by several agencies such as the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), US State Farm Insurance, US AAA Michigan, and the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Dr. Sayed has completed numerous safety audits in Canada, the US and the Middle East. Improving the understanding and relationship between safety performance and traffic operations/road design is another research interest of Dr. Sayed and responds to the demand for this knowledge among transportation professionals. A good example of the applicability of his research within this area, are the methods that developed to explicitly evaluate safety and design consistency. His research work led to an evaluation framework that was adopted by BCMOT to evaluate the new design of the Sea to Sky Highway, located between Vancouver and Whistler, in southern British Columbia. The highway is being rebuilt to meet the demand for the 2010 Winter Olympics with a budget exceeding 1.00 billion dollars. This framework allowed decision makers the opportunity to analyze the safety benefits in relation to the cost of new highway design improvements. This facilitated a “trade-off” analysis that allowed for the justification and rationalization of highway infrastructure investment levels.
Within the area of ITS and traffic operations, Dr. Sayed’s research to develop a comprehensive strategy for Transit Signal Priority has been successfully applied on two corridors in Vancouver. Also, on a strategic level, he helped establish a provincial ITS vision and strategic plan for using advanced technologies to help solve provincial, regional and local transportation issues. He has supervised the completion of many ITS projects as the Director of the Bureau of Intelligent Transportation Systems and Freight Security (BITSAFS-Engineering) at UBC
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Dr. Sayed’s transportation engineering research has been focused within three main areas: 1) to improve road safety analysis and evaluation techniques, 2) to improve the level of knowledge associated with the safety implications of traffic operations and highway design, and 3) developing and evaluating Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to increase the efficiency/safety of traffic.
Dr. Sayed’s research to improve the methods of traffic safety analysis and evaluation is helping to reshape how road safety problems are identified and evaluated. The methods and techniques developed have received wide recognition and are being used by several agencies such as the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), US State Farm Insurance, US AAA Michigan, and the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Dr. Sayed has completed numerous safety audits in Canada, the US and the Middle East. Improving the understanding and relationship between safety performance and traffic operations/road design is another research interest of Dr. Sayed and responds to the demand for this knowledge among transportation professionals. A good example of the applicability of his research within this area, are the methods that developed to explicitly evaluate safety and design consistency. His research work led to an evaluation framework that was adopted by BCMOT to evaluate the new design of the Sea to Sky Highway, located between Vancouver and Whistler, in southern British Columbia. The highway is being rebuilt to meet the demand for the 2010 Winter Olympics with a budget exceeding 1.00 billion dollars. This framework allowed decision makers the opportunity to analyze the safety benefits in relation to the cost of new highway design improvements. This facilitated a “trade-off” analysis that allowed for the justification and rationalization of highway infrastructure investment levels.
Within the area of ITS and traffic operations, Dr. Sayed’s research to develop a comprehensive strategy for Transit Signal Priority has been successfully applied on two corridors in Vancouver. Also, on a strategic level, he helped establish a provincial ITS vision and strategic plan for using advanced technologies to help solve provincial, regional and local transportation issues. He has supervised the completion of many ITS projects as the Director of the Bureau of Intelligent Transportation Systems and Freight Security (BITSAFS-Engineering) at UBC
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