Research Projects

Current Research

Natural Hazards

Travel Times During Hurricane Evacuations

Research conducted while a Research Assistant/Fellow at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Predict travel times during hurricane evacuations using historical travel time trends and predictive modeling in R

Hurricane Evacuation Departure Times

Research conducted while a Research Assistant/Fellow at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Develop methods to infer hurricane evacuation behavior from mobile phone location data
Use statistical models in R to examine evacuation departure times during Hurricanes Matthew and Irma
Analyze large datasets containing billions of data points

Presentations:

Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2022, Dec. 7). “A method for identifying locations and times of hurricane evacuations from mobile phone location data”. Society for Risk Analysis 2022 Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL.
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2022, Jul. 13). “Mobile Phone Location Data Informing Better Hurricane Evacuation”. 2022 Natural Hazards Workshop, virtual. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gjEHUOIRh4
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2022, Jun. 13). “A Method for Identifying Locations and Times of Hurricane Evacuations from Mobile Phone Location Data”. One Concern, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2021, Dec. 9). “Using Location Data for Hurricane Evacuation Departure Time Estimates”. Society for Risk Analysis 2021 Annual Meeting, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2021, Feb. 5). “Modeling hurricane evacuation departure times using location data”. Poster presented at Engineering Research Symposium.
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2020, Dec. 14). “Modeling Hurricane Evacuation Departure Times Using Location Data”. Poster presented at Society for Risk Analysis 2020 Annual Meeting.
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2020, Nov. 10). “Modeling Hurricane Evacuation Departure Times Using Location Data”. Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 2020 Annual Meeting, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S., Mondisa, J.-L. & Misra, A. (2020, Jul. 15). “Using Location Data to Evaluate Factors Influencing Hurricane Evacuation Departure Times”. Natural Hazards Workshop, virtual.

Effects of Flood Insurance Subsidies on Communities

Research conducted while a Research Assistant/Fellow at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Simulate impact of floods on communities with an agent-based model developed in R and Python in order to evaluate the effect of subsidized and unsubsidized flood insurance on damages and mitigation strategies

Presentations:

Washington, V., Guikema, S. D., Mondisa, J.-L., & Tonn, G. L. (2021, Oct. 27). “Evaluating The Effect Of Flood Insurance Subsidies With An Agent-based Model.” Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 2021 Annual Meeting, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S. D., Mondisa, J.-L., & Tonn, G. L. (2021, Oct. 14). “Evaluating the Effect of Flood Insurance Subsidies with an Agent-based Model.” Bill Anderson Fund 2021 Fall Workshop 2021, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S. D., Mondisa, J.-L., & Tonn, G. L. (2021, Jul. 15). “Evaluating the effect of flood insurance subsidies with an agent-based model.” Natural Hazards 2021 Researchers Meeting, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S. D., Mondisa, J.-L., & Tonn, G. L. (2021, Jun. 16). “Evaluating the effect of flood insurance subsidies with an agent-based model.” 29^th Annual Conference of the Society for Risk Analysis – Europe, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S. D., Mondisa, J.-L., & Tonn, G. L. (2021, Feb. 26). “The Effect of Flood Insurance Subsidies on Communities.” Michigan University-Wide Sustainability & Environment Conference, virtual.
Washington, V., Guikema, S. D., Tonn, G. L., & Mondisa, J.-L. (2019, Dec. 10). “An Agent-Based Model of Subsidized Flooding Insurance.” Society for Risk Analysis 2019 Annual Meeting, Arlington, VA.

PAST Research

Water Systems

Stormwater Flooding

Research conducted while an Intern at RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA

Modeled hydrologic and hydraulic systems via 1D/2D flood models in PCSWMM to evaluate stormwater flooding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Met with community members about stormwater flooding in town hall meeting

Outreach:

Assisted with organizing a two-day workshop for leaders in urban stormwater and wastewater, which addressed topics including modeling tools, uncertainty analysis, policy, and climate resilience

Professional Development:

Sustainable Climate Risk Management Summer School, Penn State University, 07/2019 – 08/2019

Publications:

Fischbach, J. R., Grocholski, K. R., Knopman, D., Washington, V., Cohn, A., & Brock, J. (2020, Mar.). “Climate-Resilient Planning for Urban Stormwater and Wastewater Utilities.” Water Research Foundation. https://www.waterrf.org/research/projects/climate-resilient-planning-urban-stormwater-and-wastewater-utilities-workshop.

Evaluating J100-10 Water Systems Risk Analysis Standard

Research conducted while a Research Assistant/Fellow at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Assessed conceptual shortcomings of the J100-10 water systems risk analysis standard to guide future improvements

Publications:

Chen, T. Y., Washington, V. N., Aven, T., & Guikema, S. D. (2019, Nov.). "Review and Evaluation of the J100-10 Risk and Resilience Management Standard for Water and Wastewater Systems." Risk Analysis, 40:608-623. doi:10.1111/risa.13421.

Climate CHange

Projecting Shifts in Bee Habitat Locations

Research conducted while a Research Assistant at Bee INSPIRED (INtegrating Service Projects Into REsearch and Design) Summer Research Program, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Studied the possible role native bees can play to alleviate reliance on managed honey bees in the southeastern United States
Projected bee habitat distributions under four Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change scenarios using simulation developed in R

Outreach:

Weekly community service involving urban agriculture and urban beekeeping with the program’s community partners
Assisted with an outreach event to introduce high school students to the importance of bees to food security

Presentations:

Washington, V., Williams, O., & Dilkina, B. (2016, Sep. 9). “Filling the Gaps: The Role of Native Bees in Alleviating Honey Bee Habitat Losses due to Climate Change.” Poster presented at Environmental Protection Agency 2016 International Environmental Youth Symposium, Atlanta, GA.
Washington, V., Williams, O., & Dilkina, B. (2016, Jul. 27). “Impact of Climate Change on Bee Habitats.” Poster presented at Georgia Institute of Technology Research Experience for Undergraduates Poster Session, Atlanta, GA.
Washington, V., Williams, O., & Dilkina, B. (2016, Jul. 20). “Impact of Climate Change on Bee Habitats.” Georgia Institute of Technology Research Experience for Undergraduates Research Presentations, Atlanta, GA.

Healthcare

Use of Connected Fitness Technologies to Improve Health

Research conducted while a Research Assistant at Kennesaw State University, Marietta, GA

Offered insights to improve systems architecture, design processes, and user experience of wearable connected fitness devices by identifying knowledge and action gaps in the connected fitness space
Proposed study to investigate use of connected fitness technologies in chronic disease management as a way to uncover design opportunities

Publications:

Winchester III, W. W., & Washington, V. (2017, Apr.). “Fulfilling the potential of consumer connected fitness technologies: Towards framing systems engineering involvement in user experience design.” Systems Conference (SysCon), 2017 Annual IEEE International. doi:10.1109/SYSCON.2017.7934768.
Winchester III, W. W., & Washington, V. (2015, Dec.). “Realizing the Potential of Connected Fitness Technologies: A Case for Systems Engineering Involvement.” INCOSE INSIGHT. doi:10.1002/inst.12061.

Presentations:

Washington, V., & Winchester III, W. W. (2016, Apr. 21). “Fulfilling the Potential of Connected Fitness Devices: Towards Defining a Systems Engineering Research Framework.” Kennesaw State University Symposium of Student Scholars, Kennesaw, GA.

Optimizing Patient Flow through Emergency Departments

Research conducted while a Research Assistant at Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Optimized emergency department patient flow to decrease time to first treatment through discrete-event simulation coded in MATLAB
Analyzed hospital data in Excel and met with and shadowed hospital staff to gain insights to refine simulation model

Publications:

Chavis, J., Cochran, A. L., Kocher, K. E., Washington, V. N., & Zayas-Cabán, G. (2016, Dec. 11). “A Simulation Model of Patient Flow Through the Emergency Department to Determine the Impact of a Short Stay Unit on Hospital Congestion.” 2016 Winter Simulation Conference. doi:10.1109/WSC.2016.7822243.

Presentations:

University of Michigan Grad Ed. (2015, Sep. 28). SROP 2015: Optimizing Patient Flow in Emergency Department through Observation Unit. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWUrSMpsGIk.
Washington, V., Zayas-Cabán, G., Cochran, A. L., & Lavieri, M. S. (2015, Jun. 30). “Optimizing Patient Flow in Emergency Department through Implementation of Observation Unit.” Poster presented at the 2015 University of Michigan Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) Symposium, Ann Arbor, MI.

Education

Social Community in Undergraduate Engineering Mentoring Programs

Research conducted while a Research Assistant/Fellow at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Conducted statistical analysis of survey data in R and conducted and analyzed interviews to evaluate the role of undergraduate engineering intervention programs in the development of social community

Awards:

Rackham Travel Grant, University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School, 10/2019

Outreach:

Mentored and supervised three undergraduate summer researchers

Publications:

Washington, V. & Mondisa, J.-L. (2021, Sep.). “A need for engagement opportunities and personal connections: Understanding the social community outcomes of engineering undergraduates in a mentoring program.” Journal of Engineering Education. doi:10.1002/jee.20422

Presentations:

Washington, V. & Mondisa, J.-L. (2019, Oct. 23). “Enhancing Engineering Undergraduates’ Academic and Professional Experiences Through Social Community.” Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences 2019 Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA.

Effect of Implementation Intentions on Assignment Completion Rates

Research conducted while a Research Assistant at Kennesaw State University, Marietta, GA

Administered surveys to engineering technology students and instructed them on how to write one of three types of goal statements for the study
Analyzed survey data in Excel and Minitab to evaluate impact of implementation intentions on assignment completion rates

Publications:

Scherrer, C. R., Sharma, L., Vandenbussche, J., & Washington, V. (2015, Jun.). “An Introductory Study of the Impact of Implementation Intentions on Assignment Completion Rates with an Emphasis on Engineering Technology Students.” 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, 26.200.1-26.200.13. doi:10.18260/p.23539

Page updated

Report abuse