2021 Matthew G. Karlaftis Best Paper Award
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 29, Issue 4
The purpose of this note is to announce the Matthew G. Karlaftis award for the best paper published in the Journal of Infrastructure Systems during the 2021 calendar year. The award is presented annually as a tribute to the memory and in recognition of the scientific contributions made by Professor Matthew G. Karlaftis of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
The award selection committee met in June 2023 and consisted of two associate editors of the journal. Upon review of the 69 technical papers, technical notes, and case studies published in the four 2021 issues, the committee selected the following paper to receive the award: “Repositioning Shared Urban Personal Transport Units: Considerations of Travel Cost and Demand Uncertainty,” written by Jiaxiao Feng, Sikai Chen, Zhirui Ye, Mohammad Miralinaghi, Samuel Labi, and Jinling Chai [https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000619]. The committee felt that the paper addresses an important problem faced by current and prospective operators of personal transport units (PTUs), and that its importance is likely to increase as novel technologies and solutions to improve mobility are continuously deployed around the world.
In the paper, the authors present a comprehensive and integrated framework for demand prediction and asset management. In particular, demand for PTUs at stations located throughout a metropolitan region is estimated with an algorithm combining discrete wavelet transforms and artificial neural networks. The framework also presents an optimization model to reposition and route assets dynamically as demand realizes in space. The framework is illustrated through an analysis of bicycle-sharing data collected in Nanjing, China. The empirical results show considerable benefits compared to implementations relying on conventional methods. Additionally, and more importantly, the award selection committee is pleased to highlight the quality of the exposition, as the authors did an excellent job describing technical development, tools, and results in a concise and interesting manner.
In addition to the award-winning paper, the committee also recognizes the paper “Life-Cycle Cost Analysis Framework to Support Data Procurement Strategies for Infrastructure Assets” by Brandon Leo and Omar Swei [https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000596] with an honorable mention.
Matthew Karlaftis
Professor Karlaftis passed away unexpectedly in June 2014. He did extensive work in the areas of urban transportation, transportation planning and operations, and emergency response. He was a coauthor of an international bestselling book on transportation econometrics and statistics, two textbooks on transportation planning and public transportation, several book chapters, more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and several publications appearing in conference proceedings, all highly cited worldwide. He participated in more than 45 national and European research projects as the principal or coprincipal investigator. He was deeply involved in editorial activities. He served as editor in chief for Transportation Research Part C, European editor of ASCE’s Journal of Transportation Engineering, associate editor of ASCE’s Journal of Infrastructure Systems, and an editorial board member for eight other journals. He was the recipient of the Fulbright Scholar Grant (2006–2007), the ASCE Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (2005), the TRB ABJ80 Committee on Statistical Methods (now AED60 Committee on Statistical and Econometric Methods) Best Paper Award (2009), and the ASCE State-of-the-Art Paper Award (2011). He served on many technical committees and was a member of several professional organizations and honor societies in Greece and the United States. He had a long association with the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers where he served as vice president (2010–2012) and president (2012–2014).
Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 29 • Issue 4 • December 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 27, 2023
Accepted: Jun 30, 2023
Published online: Aug 30, 2023
Published in print: Dec 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jan 30, 2024
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