• UTRC II SUBMISSION SYSTEM
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Login / Register

Search form

Home
  • Home
  • About
    • Welcome to the UTRC Site
    • Theme
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
    • Press
    • Annual Report
    • Program Progress Performance Report
    • Newsletter
  • Research
    • Projects
    • RFPs
    • Submit Your Proposal
    • Funding Categories
      • UTRC Research Initiative
      • UTRC Advanced Technology Initiative
      • UTRC Faculty Development Mini-grants
      • UTRC Best Transportation Paper Competition
      • News
  • Publications
  • Directory
    • Consortium Universities
    • Partners
    • Principal Investigators
    • Staff
    • Board of Directors
  • Education
    • Where to Study
    • Transportation and Planning Doctoral Series
    • AITE Scholarships
    • UTRC Dissertation Grants
    • Summer Institute
    • September 11th Memorial Program
    • Technology Transfer and Training
    • Online Graduate Certificate Program
    • UTRC Travel Grants
    • Student Award Recipients
    • Apply For Scholarships
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • Visiting Scholar Seminar Series
  • Resources

Michael Silas

  • Bio
  • Projects
  • Publications
  • Awards

For his independent research topic, Michael Silas conducted research into the effectiveness of policies to shift freight deliveries to the off-peak hours of the day. The objective of his research was to gain a better understanding of how to increase the participation in off-peak deliveries through the use of behavioral simulation and economic incentives. Secondary goals were to understand how different characteristics and market segments of receivers and carriers influence the participation of off-peak deliveries, and to understand how receivers and carriers interact when agreeing on the scheduling of deliveries in congested urban areas.

He developed a micro-simulation optimization framework to look at how sensitive delivery behavior is to economic incentives, using stated preference data from receivers and carriers in the New York City area. His advisors were Dr. José Holguín Veras of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Nathan Erlbaum of NYSDOT.

Update

Michael Silas earned his Ph.D. in the summer of 2009 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Michael’s dissertation was titled “An Investigation on Off-Hour Delivery Policy Design using Optimal Incentives and a Behavioral Micro-Simulation Approach.” He has extensive research experience in operations research, applied mathematics, statistics, economics, and freight transportation – all centered on policy analysis. Michael also worked on time-ofday tolls and off-hour delivery research projects funded by the New Jersey DOT, the Port Authority, NYSDOT, and the United States DOT. Michael co-authored the UTRC’s Region 2’s Best Transportation Paper in 2007. Michael was awarded UTRC Student of the Year in January 2010. Currently, he works in Washington, DC, as a research analyst, adjunct professor, and transportation consultant. He supports the Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration, and the Department of Transportation with risk analyses related to critical infrastructure.


Publications
Title Publication Type
A Simulation-Optimization Student Report
Final Report: "A Behavioral Micro-Simulation Formulation for the Design of Off-Peak Deliveries Policies in New York City" Student Report

Personal Information

Civil Engineering
Michael
Silas
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Student Award Year: 
2008-09
Student Award Type: 
UTRC Region 2 Student of the Year

UTRC Directory Links

Universities

Partners

Principal Investigators

Staff

Board of Directors

Students

Please subscribe to our Newsletter:

Get our newsletter

Please enter your email address to subscribe to our newsletter:

Contact Us

University Transportation Research Center

Marshak Hall - Science Building, Suite 910 

The City College of New York

138th Street & Convent Avenue ,New York, NY 10031