Curriculum Vitae

PhD Candidate, Transportation Engineering · Boca Raton, Florida · Download as PDF

Education

Ph.D. in Transportation and Environmental Engineering 2024 – Present

Florida Atlantic University · GPA 4.0/4.0 · Advisor: Dr. Jinwoo Jang

M.Sc. in Civil Engineering 2018 – 2020

University of New Brunswick · Thesis: Vibration testing of cracked reinforced concrete beams under sustained load

M.Sc. in Civil/Earthquake Engineering 2014 – 2017

Iran University of Science and Technology · Thesis: Structural damage detection via finite element model updating

B.Sc. in Civil Engineering 2010 – 2014

Iran University of Science and Technology

Research Interests

Deep Learning for Intelligent Transportation SystemsMulti-Agent Trajectory PredictionSpatial Graph Neural NetworksComputer Vision & LiDAR ProcessingUrban Transportation Safety ModelingUrban Digital Twins & CFD SimulationSpatiotemporal Flow Prediction

Experience

Doctoral Research Assistant Aug. 2024 – Present

Florida Atlantic University — I-SENSE Lab · Boca Raton, FL

Developed SIPT for multi-agent trajectory prediction: ADE 0.76 m, 26.2% better than Social LSTM on 64,000+ COSMOS trajectories.
Built a Transformer model for LiDAR-based trajectory prediction with 15.24%/13.88% ADE gains over LSTM, published in IEEE OJ-ITS.
Manage the NIH longitudinal dataset (R01AG068472): multi-sensor data and cognitive assessments from 750 older drivers across 12 waves over 3 years.
Run OpenFOAM CFD simulations on HPC for hurricane wind-load analysis of downtown Miami, assessing pedestrian comfort and street-level wind conditions.

Graduate Research Mentor Jan. 2026 – Present

Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program, FAU · Boca Raton, FL

Oversee 12 undergraduates across two groups (Environment & Sustainability; Safety & Security) on AI-driven smart sensor applications for coastal resilience.

Data Analyst Nov. 2022 – Jul. 2024

Freelance · Fredericton, NB, Canada

Analyzed import/export data for trade compliance and logistics optimization; built import-volume forecasting models and Tableau dashboards for small and medium-sized businesses.

Graduate Research Assistant Sep. 2018 – Oct. 2020

University of New Brunswick · Fredericton, NB, Canada

Modeled reinforced concrete beams under sustained and cyclic loading in ABAQUS (concrete damage plasticity); conducted accelerometer-based vibration testing.
Evaluated long-term deflection, natural frequencies and mode shapes against ACI 318-19 and CSA A23.3 effective moment of inertia formulations.

Graduate Research Assistant Sep. 2014 – Apr. 2017

Iran University of Science and Technology · Tehran, Iran

Investigated structural health monitoring and damage detection via optimization-based algorithms (grey wolf optimization, genetic algorithm) for civil infrastructure assessment.

Teaching

Graduate Teaching Assistant Jan. 2019 – Apr. 2020

University of New Brunswick · Fredericton, NB, Canada

Mechanics of Materials Experimental Lab (Jan.–Apr. 2019; Sep.–Dec. 2019) — ran lab sections on tensile, compression and torsion testing; responsible for lab safety and for the quality of the data students collected.
Statics Computational Lab (Jan.–Apr. 2020) — taught computational methods for force analysis, moment calculation and structural equilibrium.

Publications

Transformer-Based Trajectory Prediction Using LiDAR Data for Situational Awareness in Complex Urban EnvironmentsPublished

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

IEEE Open Journal of Intelligent Transportation Systems, Vol. 7, pp. 16–28 — 2026

DOI · IEEE Xplore · Scholar · Abstract
Baseline updating method for structural damage identification using modal residual force and grey wolf optimizationPublished

A. Zare Hosseinzadeh, G. Ghodrati Amiri, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, A. Ghadimi Hamzehkolaei

Engineering Optimization, Vol. 52, No. 4 — 2020

DOI · Scholar · Abstract
Model Updating-Based Approach for Damage Prognosis in Frames via Modal Residual ForcePublished

G. Ghodrati Amiri, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, A. Zare Hosseinzadeh

Int. J. of Civil, Environmental, Structural, Construction and Architectural Engineering, Vol. 10, No. 8 — 2016

DOI · Scholar · Abstract
A new two-stage method for damage identification in linear-shaped structures via Grey System Theory and optimization algorithmPublished

G. Ghodrati Amiri, A. Zare Hosseinzadeh, M. Jafarian Abyaneh

Journal of Rehabilitation in Civil Engineering, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 45–58 — 2015

DOAJ · Scholar · Abstract

Working Papers & Under Review

Spatial Interaction Pooling Transformer (SIPT) for Multi-Agent Trajectory Prediction in Urban StreetscapesIn Revision

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang, A. W. Smyth, M. K. Turkcan

IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems — 2026
Spatial Graph Convolutional Network for Predicting Bike-Sharing Origin–Destination Spatiotemporal FlowsPreprint

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang, E. I. Kaisar

SSRN Working Paper No. 5801889 — 2025

SSRN · DOI · Scholar
What Simplified City Models Miss: Hurricane Pedestrian Wind Hazard from Voxelized Photorealistic Urban GeometryIn Prep

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

In preparation — 2026

Conference Presentations

Spatial Graph Convolutional Network for Predicting Bike-Sharing Origin–Destination Spatiotemporal Flows

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang, E. I. Kaisar

105th Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC · Jan. 2026 (Poster presentation)

Workshop Presentations

Predicting the Crowd: Spatially-Informed Transformers for Urban Traffic Agents

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

CS3 NSF Renewal Site Visit, Columbia Engineering Innovation Hub — CS3 HQ, New York, NY · May 2026 (Poster presentation)
Voxelized High-Fidelity 3D Models for City-scale Wind Simulations

D. K. Smith, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

CS3 NSF Renewal Site Visit, Columbia Engineering Innovation Hub — CS3 HQ, New York, NY · May 2026 (Poster presentation)
Context-Aware Deep Learning for Predicting Pedestrian and Vehicle Movement Patterns in Urban Traffic Scenarios

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

8th Annual Celebration of Academic Excellence, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL · Mar. 2026 (Poster presentation)
Testing the Accuracy of Urban 3D Models With Airflow Simulations

D. K. Smith, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

Florida Undergraduate Research Conference (FURC), University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL · Mar. 2026 (Poster presentation)
Spatial Interaction Pooling Transformer (SIPT) for Multi-Agent Trajectory Prediction

M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

CS3 Innovation Summit, Columbia University, New York, NY · Feb. 2026 (Perfect Pitch Competition, 90-second research talk & poster presentation)
Automated Voxelization Pipeline for High-Fidelity Urban Digital Twins

D. K. Smith, J. Lalla, M. Jafarian Abyaneh, J. Jang

CS3 Innovation Summit, Columbia University, New York, NY · Feb. 2026 (Poster presentation)

Research Funding

NSF Engineering Research Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3), Award No. EEC-2133516 — Graduate Researcher
NIH In-Vehicle Sensors to Detect Cognitive Change in Older Drivers, Award No. R01AG068472 — Graduate Researcher
FAU Vertically Integrated Projects: Smart Sensors and AI for Coastal Destination Resilience — Graduate Research Mentor

Mentoring

NSF CS3 (EEC-2133516) — Digital Twins for Smart Streetscapes, FAU Jan. 2026 – Present

Dana K. Smith — Civil Eng., FAU — voxelization & CFD-ready digital twin pipelines
Jonathan Lalla — CS, FAU — voxelization & CFD-ready digital twin pipelines
Cyrus Khan — CS, UC Riverside (NSF REU) — GPS-to-behavior-metric pipeline, Fast Map Matching
Vedant Sundriyal — CS, Lehman College (NSF REU) — QuASAR: watertight 3D city reconstruction (GitHub)

FAU VIP Program — Smart Sensors and AI for Coastal Destination Resilience Jan. 2026 – Present

Environment & Sustainability — Dana K. Smith, Iris York, Felicia Phan, James Kane, Dana Urbano Prieto, Sammie Chamberlain (FAU)
Safety & Security — Jonathan Lalla, Mykyta Garkusha, Mohammed Mered, Howard Lowe, Nicolette Madrazo (FAU)

Awards

ASCE Palm Beach Branch Scholarship (2026) — $1,000 competitive award
Esterbauer Civil Engineering Graduate Award, University of New Brunswick (2018–2020)
New Brunswick Innovation Foundation (NBIF) Graduate Award (2018–2019)

Professional Affiliations

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Member
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Member

Code

Interactive 2D Beam Solver

Drag supports and loads onto a beam. Shear, moment and deflection update live.

A teaching tool for structural analysis — indeterminate beams, 7 support types, 14 worked examples.

One HTML file · no dependencies · works offline

Try it · GitHub

FluidX3D Urban Wind Simulation Guide

GPU lattice-Boltzmann wind flow over real city geometry, start to finish.

Written so the next person can reproduce the run — setup, physics defines, ParaView.

Workflow guide + two reference docs · C++/OpenCL · ParaView

GitHub

transformer-eth-wpbl

PyTorch framework comparing LSTM and Transformer models for multi-agent trajectory prediction on LiDAR data and the ETH/UCY benchmarks — the code behind the IEEE OJ-ITS paper.

Python
beam-segmentation-dataset-pipeline

Computer-vision pipeline that turns structural beam experiment photos into annotated ML datasets — calibration, segmentation export, perspective correction.

Python

Technical Skills

Programming & Tools: Python, MATLAB, LaTeX, Typst, Git, Tableau

AI & Machine Learning: PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, Transformers, Spatial GNNs, Computer Vision, LiDAR Processing

Data Science: Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-learn, ArcGIS, GeoPandas, Statistical Analysis

Engineering Software: OpenFOAM (HPC), ABAQUS, ParaView, SAP2000, ETABS, Civil 3D, Synchro, AutoCAD