Bio
Dr. Wei Li is an Associate Professor of Transportation Planning at Texas A&M University. He is committed to research, education, and service activities that lead to smart solutions for challenges faced by underserved communities and underprivileged populations. In 2019, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from Texas A&M University and the Association of Former Students - an accolade for those who exhibit the highest standards of excellence at Texas A&M. Since 2019, Dr. Li's pedagogical model called ENDEAVR has enabled 300 Texas A&M students from 10 different majors to serve small, underserved communities with emerging technologies. Dr. Li is also an inspirational social entrepreneur. In 2020, he founded the ENDEAVR Institute - a 501c3 public charity dedicated to bringing smart-city technologies to small communities and underprivileged populations, and ENVDEAVRide - a novel "Transport + Telemedicine 2-in-1" service delivered on a self-driving van. The latter has become an inspirational model for solving small-town transportation and healthcare problems. Dr. Li's work received the 2021 Smart 50 Award, the 2021 W.K. Kellogg Award for Exemplary Community Engagement, and the 2022 American Planning Association TX Implementation Award.

Email
wli@tamu.edu

Bio
Dr. Xinyue Ye is the Harold Adams Endowed Professor in Urban Informatics at Texas A&M University, where he serves as the Faculty Fellow of Strategic Initiatives for the Division of Research. His research integrates computational social science, urban data science, and geospatial artificial intelligence to address issues ranging from infrastructure resilience and climate change to social justice and community perceptions. This work is funded by 13 federal agencies and various industry partners and foundations. Due to his innovative research integrating computer science, geography, and planning, Dr. Ye is the first scholar to be elected for the Early/Mid-Career category for a Fellow of the American Association of Geographers. Dr. Ye is the Director of the Center for Geospatial Sciences, Applications, and Technology (GeoSAT) established by the Texas A&M Board of Regents, with the aim of facilitating the convergence of computing and geospatial science. He also leads the Urban Artificial Intelligence Lab, funded through the Texas A&M Institute of Data Science. In 2023, Dr. Ye was named in Stanford University's list of Top 2% Scientists.

Email
xinyue.ye@tamu.edu

Bio
Tara Goddard is an Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University. After earning a master's degree in Civil Engineering from UC Davis, she worked as an Associate Transportation Planner for the City of Sacramento. From 2007 to 2011, she served as the Bicycle/Pedestrian Program Coordinator for the city of Davis, California. Dr. Goddard earned her PhD in Urban Studies at Portland State University. She joined the faculty of Texas A&M in 2017, where her research focuses on creating a just transportation system through safe roadway design and inclusive transportation planning. She is known internationally for her expertise on reducing traffic deaths and injuries - particularly for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users, her work on roadway safety culture, and her studies examining racial and gender biases in transportation safety. Dr. Goddard currently serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Her recent and ongoing research focuses on transportation safety and justice in the context of wildfire evacuation, urban heat, and other issues of planning in the Pyrocene.

Email
goddard@tamu.edu