My research seeks a deeper understanding of behavioral mechanisms underlying activity-travel patterns by individuals and communities, which helps promote smart, sustainable, equitable, healthy, and resilient cities. In so doing, I have been working on big data (e.g., passively collected via smartphone apps) and small but rich data (e.g., collected via transportation surveys). My current research topics include:

(1) the attitudes, adoption/frequency, substitution/complementarity patterns, and social/environmental impacts of emerging mobility services and technology, enabled by advanced information and communication technology (e.g., ridehailing, bikesharing, e-scooter sharing, and autonomous vehicles)

(2) temporary changes in work arrangement, shopping channels, social interactions, and recreational activities during the COVID-19 pandemic and their longer-term implications to sustainable transportation and social inequality

(3) changing values, attitudes, and lifestyles of young adults today (e.g., millennials and Generation Z), compared to preceding generations at the same age, and their implications to travel multimodality, residential location choice, and the spatial distribution of households and jobs in cities

To better understand implications of these transforming trends in society, I combine theories, frameworks, and analytical approaches from land use & transportation interaction, travel behavior, urban economics, machine learning, and transport geography. I employ data from new sources, innovative analytical methods, and effective communication tools. In addition, I bring my research to the classroom to improve students' learning experience.