Mohamadhossein (Hossein) Noruzoliaee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering (Transportation Systems)

Dr. Noruzoliaee is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) since Fall 2019. At UTRGV, he is the Founding Deputy Director of the​ NSF CREST Center for Multidisciplinary Research Excellence in Cyber-Physical Infrastructure Systems (MECIS) and the UTRGV Director of the USDOT Safety21 National University Transportation Center (UTC). Prior to that, he earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Transportation Systems) from the University of Illinois Chicago under the supervision of Prof. Bo Zou. His recent research focuses on smart and resilient transportation networks under cyber-physical disruptions and data-driven analytics under uncertainty. Dr. Noruzoliaee is a former member of the ASCE T&DI AI in Transportation Committee and recipient of the Olegario Vazquez Rana Endowed Faculty Fellowship (2022-2024) and the Emerging Scholar Faculty Excellence Award (2025) at UTRGV.

Mark Hernandez, Ph.D. Student (2024-present)

Mark joined the X-ResilieNT Lab as a senior undergraduate in Civil Engineering in 2021, contributing to research on AI-driven shared mobility network analytics. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he continued for one year as a Civil Engineering master’s student before transitioning to the newly launched Computer Science with Interdisciplinary Applications Ph.D. program in Fall 2024, where he is focusing his dissertation on transportation cybersecurity. This undergraduate-to-graduate pathway reflects Mark’s expanding expertise at the intersection of AI and transportation. Mark is also a recipient of the USDOT Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship at UTRGV.

Oziel Sauceda, Master's Student (2025-present)

Oziel joined the X-ResilieNT Lab as a computer science junior undergraduate in 2023, gaining early research experience in data-driven autonomous driving control. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Oziel continued in the lab as a computer science master’s student, where his graduate research now focuses on transportation cybersecurity. This undergraduate-to-graduate pathway reflects Oziel’s expanding expertise at the intersection of computing and intelligent transportation systems.