Data Analytics for Smart Cities

Dr. Amir H. Alavi is an Assistant Professor with a joint appointment in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Missouri Extension Business Development Program, and holds a courtesy appointment in the Department of Bioengineering. His multidisciplinary research integrates sensing, computation, control, networking, and information systems into the civil infrastructure to create cyber-physical infrastructure systems. Dr. Alavi's research interests include smart cities, structural health monitoring, deployment of advanced sensors, energy harvesting, and civil engineering system informatics. He has worked on research projects supported by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), National Science Foundation (NSF), Missouri DOT, and Michigan DOT. Dr. Alavi has authored 5 books and over 170 publications in archival journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has received a number of award certificates for his journal articles. Recently, he has been selected among the Google Scholar 300 Most Cited Authors in Civil Engineering, as well as Web of Science ESI's World Top 1% Scientific Minds. He has served as the editor/guest editor of several journals such as Case Studies in Construction Material, Automation in Construction, Geoscience Frontiers, ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, and Advances in Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Alavi received his PhD degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University (MSU). He also holds a MSc and BSc in Civil Engineering from Iran University of Science & Technology.Dr. William G. Buttlar is the Glen Barton Chair in Flexible Pavements at the University of Missouri (MU). He has over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and nearly 300 total publications in the areas of pavements, materials, and smart infrastructure. Prior to joining the faculty at MU in 2016, he was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for 20 years, with 5 years of administrative experience serving as the Associate Dean of the UIUC Graduate College for Science and Engineering Programs, and Associate Dean of Graduate Programs for the College of Engineering. He was also the lead faculty member behind the establishment of City Digital at UILabs in Chicago.