AUGUST 29, 2023 — Jiannan Cai, an assistant professor in the UTSA Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction Management has received the Alfred Noble Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for her paper on a new computational framework for tracking multiple workers on construction job sites.
Named for Alfred Noble, past president of the ASCE and Western Society of Engineers, the award recognizes members who have developed “a technical paper of exceptional merit.”
Cai shares the award with her co-author and Ph.D. advisor Hubo Cai of Purdue University. Their paper, “Robust Hybrid Approach of Vision-Based Tracking and Radio-Based Identification and Localization for 3D Tracking of Multiple Construction Workers,” was published in ASCE’s Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering.
“This is a prestigious award that has been presented to engineers for more than 90 years,” said Eric Brey, dean of the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design, where Cai is a faculty member. “In receiving this award, Dr. Cai has distinguished herself as an outstanding engineer and an amazing contributor to our program and the students who will benefit from her instruction and creativity. We cannot wait to see what is next for her.”
Hundreds, and sometimes thousands of construction workers may be involved in a large building or infrastructure project.
“Having information about real-time location and identity of construction workers and other resources is critical for efficient jobsite safety and productive management,” Cai said.
She proposed creating a hybrid framework where vision-based and radio-based tracking systems are complementary, thus leading to improved accuracy and robustness.
Vision-based tracking provides accurate location information as long as there is line of sight. Meanwhile, radio-based tracking offers reliable detection and identification but lacks location accuracy. Creating a hybrid system makes it possible to create ID-linked 3D trajectories that will improve tracking accuracy. Two indoor experiments showed that overall accuracy went from a high of 88% using the individual methods to a high of 95% using the hybrid model.
“This prestigious award is an important milestone in my academic career,” Cai said. “I deeply appreciate the recognition of my work. I am also glad to see that our field has obtained increasing recognition for great work and research done by scholars and practitioners.”
The award ceremony will take place during ASCE’s annual convention, October 18-21.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Learn to use the simple but powerful features of EndNote®, a citation management tool. In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn to setup an EndNote library, save references and PDFs, and automatically create and edit a bibliography.
Virtual Event ( Zoom)The Urban Bird Project at UTSA will discuss urban bird populations, conservation efforts, and how you can get involved.
JPL Assembly Room (4.04.22,) Main CampusThe DMPTool is a free online resource that helps researchers create data management plans. This workshop will cover the main components of DMPs and how to create them using the DMPTool. Attendees will learn to: locate templates by funding agency, add research collaborators, and identify institutional guidance.
Virtual Event (Zoom)Join UTSA Libraries and Museums to learn more about the publishing discounts available for UTSA researchers. Current agreements include Elsevier, Cambridge University Press, Wiley, and more. Bring your questions and feedback for the library as we continue to pursue partnerships with publishers to reduce costs for our researchers.
Virtual Event (Zoom)Citation managers such as Zotero® can help you store and organize the citations you find during your research. Zotero can also generate bibliographies in various styles, insert in-text citations and allow you to share sources with collaborators.
Virtual Event (Zoom)Have questions about making your OER accessible on UTSA Pressbooks? The OER Team and the Digital Accessibility are ready to answer them! Bring your questions about OER and accessibility and receive guidance from our two teams.
Virtual Event (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.