PI spotlight: Yan Qi

Yan Qi, assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, is currently serving as co-Principal Investigator for Project R27-164 “Design of Living Barriers to Reduce the Impacts of Snow Drifts on Illinois Freeways,” sponsored by the Illinois Department of Transportation and administered by the Illinois Center for Transportation.This project aims to develop a numerical model to help IDOT design living snow fences. “The model will be calibrated using field experiment data and snow and ice control expenditure and costs associated with blowing and drifting snow will be identified to quantify the savings for IDOT resulting from implementing the living snow fence program,” says Yan.

Yan also served as PI for the recently completed ICT-IDOT Project R27-167 “Establishing Procedures and Guidelines for Pedestrian Treatments at Uncontrolled Locations,” which aimed to identify best practices for approving pedestrian crossings and pedestrian-crossing treatments at uncontrolled locations, in addition to developing procedures and guidelines for use by IDOT and local agencies.

As part of the project, contributing factors to severe pedestrian crashes at uncontrolled locations in Illinois were identified through crash data analysis and field high crash corridor review. Procedures and guidelines were developed to help IDOT engineers identify proper uncontrolled locations for pedestrian crossings and select appropriate treatments to ensure pedestrian safety. Findings of this research are anticipated to contribute to more consistent selection and design of effective pedestrian safety countermeasures, decreased man-hours and engineering costs, and improved pedestrian safety statewide.

In addition, Yan is serving as Principal Investigator for another ongoing project titled “Develop a Training Video and Manual for Best Practices and Techniques in Clearing Different Interchange Configurations and Other Geometric Layouts,” sponsored by Clear Roads, a national research consortium. This project focuses on developing training materials for snow plow operators on the best methods for clearing complex intersection/interchange configurations. She has also recently completed a project for the Montana DOT, “Montana Weigh-in-Motion and Automatic Traffic Recorder Strategy,” wherein she reviewed the current permanent traffic collection sites in Montana and made recommendations for an implementation strategy for WIMs and ATRs.

Yan Qi obtained her Ph.D. in civil engineering from Louisiana State University in 2010, M.S. in applied statistics from Louisiana State University in 2008, M.S. in civil engineering from Southeast University, China, in 1999, and B.S. in civil engineering from Shandong University, China, in 1996.