Beginning January 1, 2016, Professor Chris Zegras of the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning will be the new Lead Principal Investigator for the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Future Mobility Inter-disciplinary Research Group (IRG). He replaces the former Lead PI, Emilio Frazzoli of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Professor Zegras will be responsible for managing the strategic research direction for the IRG, which has been in operation for over five years. This will include working closely with his faculty colleagues, researchers, Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) entities and Singapore governmental agencies. He will also work on developing additional funding opportunities for the IRG.

The Future Mobility IRG aims to harness new technologies for data collection, processing and exploitation to provide more efficient, accessible, safe, and environmentally-friendly mobility to the citizens and businesses of Singapore and of the other metropolitan areas worldwide.

Emphasis will be placed on three cross-cutting areas and interdependent research themes:         

1) People and Urban Mobility

2) Real-time traffic estimation and content and

3) Demand responsive mobility.

Chris has a BA in Economics and Spanish from Tufts University, a Master in City Planning and a Master of Science in Transportation from MIT and a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning, also from MIT.

The SMART Headquarters and other IRGs look forward to working with Professor Zegras as we continue to advance SMART’s mission and vision.