SIUE student receives accolades for research on distracted driving

Jun 3, 2016 10:30 AM

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Md Atiquzzaman (middle) poses with his advisor Dr. Yan Qi (L) and Dr. Ryan Fries (R), associate professor of civil engineering at SIUE.

EDWARDSVILLE - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville graduate student Md Atiquzzaman has achieved the best student paper award, valued at $600, from the Midwestern Institute of Transportation Engineers (MWITE) for his research aimed at reducing traffic crashes that result from distracted driving.

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Atiquzzaman is pursuing a master’s in transportation engineering from the SIUE Graduate School. He is a research assistant in the Department of Civil Engineering in the School of Engineering.

His research, entitled “Developing Algorithms to Detect Driver Distraction Using a Driving Simulator Study,” was conducted in the School of Engineering’s driving simulator lab under the advisement of Yan Qi, PhD, assistant professor of civil engineering. It was funded by a 2016 STEP grant through the SIUE Graduate School.

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The research attempted to develop distracted driver detection algorithms implementable to traffic monitoring operations and adaptive in-vehicle systems capable of assisting drivers to diminish distraction.

Atiquzzaman will be recognized with the award on Tuesday, June 28 at the Midwestern District Annual Meeting in Chicago. His research paper will now be considered at the national level for the Daniel B. Fambro Student Paper award from the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

The SIUE graduate student also received the Graduate School Dean Rosemarie Archangel Symposium Poster award at the SIUE Graduate Research Symposium. Additionally, he received second place in the 2016 Thomas Seburn student paper award in the Missouri Valley Section Institute of Transportation Engineers student paper competition.

By preparing the next generation of leaders in a knowledge-based economy, SIUE’s Graduate School fulfills the region’s demand for highly trained professionals. Graduate school offerings include arts and sciences, business, education, engineering, nursing and interdisciplinary opportunities. SIUE professors provide students with a unique integration of theoretical education and hands-on research experiences. Students can obtain graduate certificates or pursue master’s degrees, and be part of a supportive learning and rich intellectual environment that is tailored to the needs of adult learners. The Graduate School raises the visibility of research at SIUE, which ranks highest among its Illinois Board of Higher Education peers in total research and development expenditures according to the National Science Foundation. Doctoral programs are available in the Schools of Education (Ed.D.) and Nursing (DNP). The School of Engineering and the Department of Historical Studies feature cooperative doctoral programs (Ph.D.).