Dr. Yao-Jan Wu is a Professor of Transportation Engineering in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Arizona (UArizona). He is the Founder and Executive Director of both the Center for Applied Transportation Sciences (CATS) and the Arizona Transportation Institute (AZTI). In these roles, Dr. Wu actively collaborates with local and state transportation agencies to address and resolve real-world transportation challenges. As the Executive Director of AZTI, he also fosters a strong partnership with the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), Arizona State University (ASU), and Northern Arizona University (NAU) to advance transportation research needs, innovation, and workforce development across Arizona. Dr. Wu is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in both Arizona and Missouri and has served as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI on more than 60 research projects at the national and international levels. He has authored or co-authored over 190 refereed publications, including more than 90 journal articles, and has presented his work at over 100 national and international conferences and invited events.

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His research focuses on a strong connection between information technology (IT) and traditional transportation research. His research broadly covers four major fields: 1) intelligent transportation systems (e.g., advanced traffic detection technologies, sensor data quality control, and computer vision applications), 2) data-driven large-scale transportation system analysis and optimization (e.g., freeway and arterial operations, traffic data management and mining, and traveler behavior analysis), 3) traffic safety (e.g., accident modeling, prediction, and analysis), and 4) sustainable transportation planning (e.g., transit, bicycle, and pedestrian planning, as well as climate change impacts.

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Dr. Wu currently serves as an Associate Editor of the Transportation Research Record (TRR) and as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems. In addition, he is a member of the Arizona Council for Transportation Innovation.