Georgia Tech Ph.D. Candidate Reid Passmore Uses Modeling to Explore Cycling Behavior in His Research
Meet Georgia Tech Ph.D. Candidate, Reid Passmore!
The early 2000s Spiderman movies and a few family trips to New York City and Washington D.C. sparked an early fascination in cities for Reid Passmore – a Civil Engineering Ph.D. candidate in the Transportation Systems Engineering graduate group at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). From riding the D.C. Metro to observing the crowded streets and towering buildings in N.Y.C., Reid recognized the importance of making transportation accessible and desirable at a young age. This lesson continues to permeate through Reid’s research as he studies how cyclists navigate cities in order to plan better bicycle networks.
Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., Reid received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech. While biking as an undergraduate, Reid discovered the Atlanta Beltline – a multi-use trail built on an abandoned rail corridor aiming to promote mixed-use development and connect neighborhoods. Inspired by this discovery, Reid chose to pursue a Ph.D. in transportation engineering to help support Beltline-like projects and cycling for transportation in other parts of the U.S. Reid has worked on many research projects throughout his Ph.D., including studying user preferences for bicycle infrastructure, providing supporting research for a Walking School Bus smartphone application involving parent-led groups walking children to and from school, and analyzing bike-transit accessibility.
Reid’s current research looks at how cyclists navigate street networks. Cyclists often avoid hills and dangerous roads without bike lanes, and Reid captures these behaviors with machine learning models. The goal of the research is to help provide supporting evidence for building cycling infrastructure in cities across the U.S., particularly in cities with few existing cyclists or bike lanes.
Along with his research endeavors, Reid has experience working at the Georgia Department of Transportation as a Bike and Pedestrian Program Intern and at the Atlanta Regional Commission as a Bike Pedestrian Planning Intern. Reid also enjoys volunteering at bicycle cooperatives, which provide accessible and affordable bicycle education, empowering people to fix their bikes.
As Reid prepares to finish his Georgia Tech Ph.D. at UC Davis, he aspires to work in a West Coast city supporting active transportation and public transportation while taking advantage of nearby outdoor recreational opportunities.
Some of Reid’s awards include the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship, the Georgia Tech President’s Fellowship, and receiving the Center for Transportation Equity, Decisions, and Dollars (CTEDD) Student Thesis/Dissertation Scholarship.
Congratulations on your accomplishments, Reid!