Dr. James Tsai, Ph.D.
Dr. Tsai is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. He received his Ph.D. in 1996 from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. Since 1997, he has led a research team and worked with GDOT pavement engineers, successfully implementing a large-scale Oracle GIS-based pavement preservation and management system for GDOT to effectively preserve and manage its 18,000-centerline miles of highway. The research includes pavement condition assessment, pavement rehabilitation technology, deterioration/forecasting models, long-term system performance simulation, and resource optimization/management.
Dr. Tsai also developed and successfully implemented an IT-based asset management system using GPS/GIS technology for local transportation agencies, including Fulton County’s (Atlanta, Georgia). He is extending his research results to manage other assets, including, traffic signs, bridges, and railroads. He is also a PI for a project sponsored by the State Road and Tollway Authority (STRA) for License Plate Recognition and a research project sponsored by the National Academy of Science (NAS) NCHRP IDEA program that is developing video image recognition algorithms to enhance roadway infrastructure data collection. He also worked with United Parcel Service (UPS) to evaluate its performance on logistics routing and scheduling. Recently, he has been developing advanced sensor technologies, and video image recognition algorithms, and GPS/GIS technologies for accelerated pavement testing, roadway data collection, roadway safety assessment, and maritime security and asset utilization. He is also developing innovative license plate recognition technologies and vehicle motion detection technologies for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and real-time traffic flow monitoring to improve road safety and mobility.
Dr. Tsai's research interests include:
Pavement/infrastructure/asset system engineering and management
Pavement technology
Information and sensor technology applications
Image processing and recognition applications
Geospatial analysis and GPS/GIS applications
Emergency response and roadway safety
Logistics and optimization