lab News

New Research Grant from NSF
Dr. Choi is expected to award a new NSF grant,  with further details to be shared shortly. 
June 2, 2025

New Research Grant from TxDOT to Improve Temporary Roads during Construction
Dr. Choi and his team led by TTI’s Darlene Goehl have been awarded a new three-year research grant from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), totaling $663,869. The project will focus on improving the design of temporary detour roads used during construction activities across the state. With increasing traffic volumes and rising heavy truck usage, driven in part by the continued growth of e-commerce, many existing detour pavements are deteriorating more rapidly than anticipated. In response, Dr. Choi will lead a key research task aimed at developing a smarter, data-driven approach to detour design. The goal is to create more resilient temporary pavements that can better withstand real-world conditions, ultimately reducing maintenance costs, minimizing delays, and enhancing safety for the traveling public during construction.
May 23, 2025

New Research Grant from NCHRP to Mitigate Community Impacts during Construction
The National Cooperative Highway Research Program has awarded $350,000 to a Texas A&M Transportation Institute team led by Jason Crawford to develop a Practitioner’s Guide for mitigating community impacts during transportation construction. This two-year project will give state DOTs practical, scalable strategies to deliver needed infrastructure while protecting the quality of life for residents and businesses. Congratulations! 
April 22, 2025

New Research Grant to Create ‘Pavement-Maintenance-GPT’ Large Language Model
We are excited to announce the launch of our new 18-month research project, “Pavement-Maintenance-GPT,” supported by a $75,000 grant from the Center for Health and Efficient Mobility (CHEM). This project harnesses the power of generative AI to develop a large language model that optimizes pavement repair prioritization using high-fidelity ground penetrating radar video log data. By simulating expert decision-making through generative AI, the model will deliver precise maintenance strategies that reduce unnecessary lane closures, minimize worker exposure to hazards, and cut vehicle emissions from idling. Darlene Goehl, Associate Agency Director of Infrastructure Group at TTI, is the sole Co-PI for this project. 
April 9, 2025

Time to Say Goodbye & Heartfelt Congratulations
Sky has successfully completed his PhD defense with flying colors and is now navigating the academic job market. I wish him the very best in his future career. He has been exceptionally inventive, productive, and persistent throughout his time here at A&M. Congratulations, Dr. Yin!
October 2, 2024

Strong Showing by 2024 NSF IRES Korea Cohort: Three Papers Accepted for TRB

I am pleased to announce that three papers from the 2024 NSF IRES Korea program have been accepted for presentation at the TRB Annual Meeting and are under consideration for publication in the Transportation Research Record (TRR). This is a significant achievement, given the fact that the program lasted only for three summer weeks. One additional paper, while not accepted, proposed an innovative GenAI model that reviewers recognized as a promising early-stage concept requiring further real-world validation. These outcomes will strongly affect the upcoming 2026–2028 NSF IRES Korea Program, co-organized with Dr. Hwasoo Yeo at KAIST, toward a more experimental and innovative direction.
September 29, 2024

New NSF Grant to Implement and Test Innovative US-Korea Mutual Workforce Development Initiative 
Dr. Choi has been awarded a 3-year research grant from the National Science Foundation, totaling $450,000. As the Principal Investigator, Dr. Choi will collaborate with two Co-PIs, Dr. Chai and Dr. Zhang. This program advances cutting-edge research integrating large language models into adaptive mobility solutions. This project aims to cultivate a diverse, globally engaged workforce and accelerate the exchange of innovative ideas among IRES fellows.
July 1, 2024

Welcome Minhao
We welcome Mr. Minhao Wu, a bright, creative, and talented new Ph.D. student. We are delighted to have Minhao join us from Georgia Tech and eagerly anticipate a fruitful and successful journey together.
September 1, 2023

New TxDOT Grant to Build Decision-Support Tool for Autonomous Production Rate Estimate
The research team, led by Dr. David Jeong, has been awarded a three-year research grant, totaling $374,459, from the TxDOT. This research leverages TxDOT’s historical data to develop an interactive tool with color-coded heat maps showing production rate ranges across Texas. The tool will support on-time project delivery, improve contract time estimates, and enhance schedule and progress evaluations.
May 15, 2023 

AASHTO Award for Excellence in Research
For the project (TxDOT 0-6985) titled “Perform Feasibility Study on Use of Innovative Tools and Techniques to Accelerate Pavement Construction,” TxDOT chose this project and turned it in for the prestigious AASHTO High-Value Research Sweet 16 Award, which is highly competitive. Our project won! More information on previous years' Sweet 16 winners can be found [here]. 
May 26, 2022 

New TxDOT Grant to Develop Methodologies for Reducing Costs in FDR Construction
The research team, led by TTI’s Stephen Sebesta, will perform the new TxDOT-funded $679,485 study in four years. Researchers investigate the performance of asphalt-based full-depth reclamation (so-called “FDR”) materials with and without the cement additive. With a potential cement supply shortage, constructing FDR layers using only the asphalt treatments could save materials cost, reduce schedule slip risk, and increase daily productivity since one less step would be required. Dr. Choi leads a research task that quantifies the operational and economic benefits of the FDR mix designs.
May 6, 2022 

Promotion to Full Professor with Tenure
Dr. Choi is officially promoted to Full Professor with tenure, effective September 1, 2022.
February 16, 2022 

New Grant from NOAA to Improve Community Disaster Resilience
Dr. Choi has been awarded a 18-month external research grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the Texas National Sea Grant Program. Dr. Choi is the Principal Investigator on this $300K project to create a novel AI system that identifies evacuation routes during extreme flooding events. [link]
August 26, 2021 

Dr. Choi Named Chancellor EDGES Fellow for Excellence in Research 
Dr. Choi received a 2020 Chancellor EDGES Fellowship Award. This fellowship honors and recognizes Texas A&M faculty who demonstrate significant accomplishment in their discipline and gain recognition nationally and internationally for their scholarship. As an honoree, Dr. Choi receives the honorific title Chancellor EDGES Fellow for a lifetime with generous funding support of over $100K.
October 6, 2020 

New NCHRP Grant on Contingency Risks in Early Project Scoping
The research team led by Dr. David Jeong has been awarded a two-year federal external research grant from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) by the National Academies (Role: Co-PI, $250,000). In this project, PIs investigate contingency risk factors associated with the early project scoping phase and develop a contingency plan guidebook. Congratulations. 
July 1, 2020

New USDOT Grant on Infrastructure Rehab Prioritization Using Deep Learning
Dr. Choi has been awarded an external research grant from USDOT through the Transportation Consortium of South-Central States. This project will create and test a deep reinforcement learning-based project prioritization model for rapid post-disaster recovery of damaged infrastructure systems. 
June 20, 2020

New NSF Grant to Foster Next-Generation of Workforce 
Prof. Choi is studying ways to improve road construction zone safety and efficiency with $224.6K in National Science Foundation (NSF) funding. This project advances intelligent transportation through AI-driven research in data analytics, simulation, and deep learning. The program fosters global collaboration, innovation, and workforce development in AI-powered mobility solutions.
May 13, 2020

AI-Powered Construction Phasing Model: Dr. Choi Receives Tran-SET Research Grant
Dr. Choi has been awarded an external research grant from the Tran-SET University Transportation Center. He is taking the Principal Investigator role on this 18-month $150,000 project, which involves developing and testing a new AI-driven decision-support model for determining the most feasible construction phasing plans.
September 3, 2019 

New USDOT Grant to Explore Roadway Damage Models
Prof. Choi has been awarded a 18-month external research grant from the Tran-SET University Transportation Center. Dr. Choi is the sole co-PI on this $120,000 project, which involves developing and implementing a holistic roadway damage assessment model on several pilot projects.
September 3, 2019

New MPO Grant
The research team led by Dr. Charles Gurganus has been awarded an external research grant from the Maricopa Association of Government (MAG), the primary regional planning and metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the Phoenix Metropolitan area. This 10-month-$97,502 project investigates the effectiveness of design-build over the benchmarking design-bid-build on the aspects of project performance, such as schedule, cost, change order, and risk. June 1, 2019

The Tran-SET has invited Prof. Choi to submit two full proposals. Tran-SET is a US DOT-funded University Transportation Center housed in LSU. More “good" news will follow in April 2019.  
November 20, 2018.  

A new Ph.D. student, Yangtian Yin (“Sky”), has joined the lab. Welcome Sky!! We look forward to great years together. 
August 1, 2018

Such a fruitful year so far. Prof. Choi’s research team has won two TxDOT research projects totaling $780,815. For more info, click the college’s e-news article that relays detailed awards/projects info. 
June 12, 2018

The lab welcomes two new scholars from Korea. Welcome Professor Bum Hwan Park (visiting professor) and Dr. Seung Hyun Kim (post-doc). 
June 11, 2018

Kyeong Rok (Chris) Ryu will enter the second phase of his academic life this fall as an Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Arlington. Congratulations Chris!! We’ll see you around. 
June 11, 2018  

Prof. Choi has been awarded an external federal research grant from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) by the National Academies (Role: Co-PI, $500,000 for 20 months led by PI Jeong at Texas A&M).
February 2018

Reflection on the years 2016 & 2017: we published nine (9) articles in top-ranked journals and five (5) conference papers with eight (8) manuscripts currently under review. 

A paper led by Dr. Sarel Lavy on the impact of technologies on facility management received the Best Paper Award at the 1st International Conference on Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Constructed Infrastructure Facilities held in Seoul, South Korea. 
July 21, 2017

A new Ph.D. student, Inwoo Jung, has joined the lab. Welcome, Inwoo!!
August 1, 2017

Kyeong R. Ryu passed his doctoral preliminary exam, moving one step closer to getting a Ph. inishe..D! Congratulations, Chris!
May 8, 2017

Prof. Choi has been awarded a two-year federal research grant from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) by the National Academies (Role: Co-PI, $500,000 for 24 months).
January 2017

Junseo completed his doctoral dissertation defense with flying colors. Hard work paid off. Congratulations Junseo!!
September 22, 2016

For the third consecutive year, from 2013 to 2015, Prof. Choi was named a 2015 Outstanding Reviewer by the ASCE's Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, widely regarded as one of the highest-impact journals by his peers. 
April 14, 2016

Prof. Choi has been awarded a two-year research grant ($211,381) from the Texas Department of Transportation. (Role: Co-Principal Investigator).
May 21, 2015  

For excellence in teaching, Professor Choi recently earned the honorable “2015 Fluor Educator of the Year” Award for the second time by having the highest teaching evaluation scores and by a vote of the graduating class. The award honors one faculty member who has distinguished him/herself in teaching excellence. Professor Choi receives a generous honorarium through a donation from Fluor Corporation. Professor Choi was awarded the honor on April 9 at the COSC annual scholarship & awards banquet at College Station Hilton. 
April 14, 2015

For the second year in a row, Prof. Choi was named a recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Reviewer Award by the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 
March 23, 2015

Eight talented graduate students joined the lab in the spring of 2015. A warm welcome goes to JK, Vanshdeep, Rohan, Sri, Abhishek, Binith, Vihita, and Bhavik. 
January 06, 2015

Many congratulations to Junseo. He has passed a preliminary exam with flying colors. Congratulations are extended to Hyunsoung for completing the final thesis defense. Way to go, Junseo and Hyunsoung!!
December 09, 2014

Prof. Choi’s proposal, “Scoping and Managing Critical Transportation Infrastructure Projects,” has been selected for funding. In this initiative, Prof. Choi's research activities will be closely interwoven with his innovative, comprehensive educational plan, whose overall goal is to enhance students’ learning outcomes and promote integrative and lifelong learning. 
May 21, 2014

Prof. Choi has been selected as a 2013 Outstanding Reviewer by ASCE’s Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. Besides his extensive activity as a reviewer, Dr. Choi also serves on the editorial board of the journal and is an Assistant Specialty Editor for the Cost and Schedule section of the journal.  
April 10, 2014

Two graduate students just joined the lab, including a Ph.D. student Kris Kyeong Rok Ryu. They would be playing a pivotal role as a new momentum for the expansion and growth of the lab. Welcome aboard, Kris & Ankit. Blessed days will come ahead as the lab’s expertise and experience, combined with its cross-disciplinary work approach, will be fully utilized to position you all uniquely competent to conduct high-payoff research studies. 
April 08, 2014

Prof. Choi has received the prestigious 2013-2014 'Montague-CTE Scholars Award. The Montague-CTE Scholars program recognizes one tenure-track assistant professor in each college who has already demonstrated a commitment to and evidence of excellence in undergraduate teaching. 
August 13, 2013

Prof. Choi was named the winner of the honorable “2013 Fluor Educator of the Year" Award for Teaching Excellence, earned by having the highest teaching evaluation scores and by a vote of the graduating class. 
April 11, 2013

Five graduate students joined the lab this semester. Welcome aboard, Junseo (Ph.D.), Prateek, Nelson, Mia, and Hyunsoung.
April 01, 2013

Prof. Choi has been named Assistant Specialty Editor of Cost and Schedule for the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. The journal is published by the American Society of Civil Engineers and is widely regarded as one of the top journals in its field.
January 15, 2013

Prof. Choi’s research paper, “Macroeconomic Labor Productivity and Its Impact on Firm's Profitability,” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of The Operational Research Society (JORS: Special Issue on Construction Management). JORS is the flagship journal of the Operational Research Society and is widely regarded as one of the top journals in its field.
October 26, 2012 

Prof. Choi has been awarded a research contract ($184,490) from the Texas Department of Transportation. (Role: Co-Principal Investigator)
August 08, 2012  

Yoo Hyun, Parth, and Zhuting have finished their two-year journey to earn a MS degree—hats off to all for contributing valuable work to the lab.
July 18, 2012

The journal article by Cho et al. on pavement marking removal methods has been accepted for publication in the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 
May 17, 2012

Prof. Choi won a research award ($56,625) from the U.S. Department of Transportation UTC Program (SWUTC) (Role: Principal Investigator).
March 02, 2012

Prof. Choi receives a NCHRP research grant ($250,000) from the National Academies Transportation Research Board (Role: Co-PI).
April 02, 2012