Future City Initiative

Fostering Smart Urban Transformation and Ubiquitous Resilience with Connected Infrastructure and Technology

FUTURe CITy Initiative at UCF

Smart cities are emerging as an important investment focus for the application of advanced technologies–and civil engineers have an important role to play.

With over 50% of the world’s population living in urban areas, cities need to be as effective and efficient as possible. The smartest cities will combine sensing, communications, and management technologies to create urban environments that are adaptable, connected, able to be monitored at any given time and focused on the achievement of a specific set of objectives.

Successful application of these advanced technologies in cities requires skills and experience that a leading engineering university can offer. With this in mind, the University of Central Florida is proud to develop the FUTURE CITy Initiative.

The FUTURE CITy initiative is led by the Chair of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering Department at UCF and draws on the strengths of several disciplines including applications of advanced computing and technologies in infrastructures, transportation, environment, and water resources.

Dr. Abdel-Aty’s Road Safety System Demo

UCF Smart & Safe Transportation Lab

Automated Roadway Conflicts Identify System (A.R.C.I.S)

News

UCF Transportation Researchers at TRB 100th Annual Meeting

November 16th, 2020|Comments Off on UCF Transportation Researchers at TRB 100th Annual Meeting

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) today announced the TRB 100th Annual Meeting (TRBAM), originally scheduled to take place in Washington, [...]

UCF Transportation Researchers at TRB 99th Annual Meeting

November 20th, 2019|Comments Off on UCF Transportation Researchers at TRB 99th Annual Meeting

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 99th Annual Meeting will be held January 12–16, 2020, at the Walter E. [...]

Real-Time Data Analytics Aims to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

January 24th, 2019|Comments Off on Real-Time Data Analytics Aims to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

Researchers at the University of Central Florida, in partnership with the city of Orlando, are using real-time traffic data [...]

We Are One Of Five Semi-Finalists Selected In USDOT Safety Data Contest

November 23rd, 2018|Comments Off on We Are One Of Five Semi-Finalists Selected In USDOT Safety Data Contest

The USDOT chose five semi-finalists on Oct. 26 for its Solving for Safety Visualization Challenge, which seeks “innovative analytical visualization [...]

UCF Transportation Researchers at TRB 98th Annual Meeting

November 17th, 2018|Comments Off on UCF Transportation Researchers at TRB 98th Annual Meeting

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) 98th Annual Meeting will be held January 13–17, 2019, at the Walter E. [...]

Smart Cities in the Media

Events

Areas of Interests

  • Smart Transportation: Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (V2X), Integrated Traffic Management, Proactive Traffic safety, Sustainable Planning, Active Mobility, Ridesharing, Mobility as a Service (MaaS),
  • Smart Infrastructure: Smart Buildings, Structural Health Monitoring, Building Information Modeling
  • Resilient Cities: Interdependent Infrastructure Systems, Hurricane and Flood Prediction, Evacuation Management
  • Emerging Inter-disciplinary Techniques: Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Internet of Things, Ad-hoc Networks, Cyber Security, Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality
  • Smart Water and Waste Management: Drinking water purification, Water recycling
  • Smart Health: Air pollution monitoring and healthy urban communities
  • Smart Tourism: Urban Tourism and/or Destination Planning and Development for Smart City Residents and Visitors
  • Smart Policies: Decision Modeling of Interacting Physical and Social Infrastructure Network, Interconnected Risks, and Visualization for Future City Operations.
  • City Sensing Technologies: Cyber-physical systems, Pervasive Computing, various computer applications in transportation and infrastructure monitoring.
  • Smart and Connected Communities: Livability and quality of services for citizens and visitors, social media analytics, economic vitality.

Featured Projects

MS Civil Engineering – Smart Cities Track

Track Description

In 2017, FUTURe CITy initiative was launched by CECS and CECE department. FUTURe CITy initiative at UCF brings together a group of researchers and educators with a vision to synergistically explore the wide-ranging technological advances towards better serving urban residents. The initiative is a pioneering effort in the state and country geared toward many aspects of CECE including: Smart transportation, Smart and resilient infrastructure, Smart and technological advancements in Environmental Engineering, and Water resources.

 

The CECE department believes that the Civil and Environmental Engineers of the future need to learn and adapt to the new challenges in our field and be prepared with the appropriate and state-of-the-art education, which is the primary reason to request this new track. We also envision that this MS track will bridge some of the gaps with other engineering disciplines and open the door for collaboration on research and education that are relevant to the cities of the future.

 

Curriculum

The Smart City track in the Civil Engineering MS program is for students with appropriate science or engineering baccalaureate backgrounds. Both thesis and non-thesis options are available with each requiring 30 credit hours. The thesis option requires 3 credit hours for the required course, 9 credit hours of Core courses, 12 credit hours of elective graduate coursework exclusive of thesis and research, and a thesis (6 credit hours). The nonthesis option requires 3 credit hours of required course, 15 credit hours of required graduate coursework, 12 credit hours of electives, and submission of an end-of-program portfolio. Each student must have an individual program of study approved by his/her faculty committee and have completed all required articulation coursework as described below. At least one-half of the required credits must be taken at the 6000 level.

 

Total Credit Hours Required: 30 Credit Hours

Minimum beyond the Bachelor’s Degree

Research studies or projects are required in one or more courses. The research study or project will focus on reviewing and analyzing contemporary research or engineering issues in a student’s particular specialization within the profession in order to help students acquire knowledge and skills pertaining to research-based best practices in that specialization area.

Prerequisites (Articulation)

There is no specific articulation for graduates with relevant BS degree. Several courses have specific pre-requisites that are indicated for each course. The structure of the program is flexible so the student can choose his/her own courses by selecting among 15 core courses. 

Required course: 3 credit hours

Both thesis and nonthesis students must choose the course below:

  • CGN5555 – Interdisciplinary Introduction to Smart Cities’ Applications – Abdel-Aty *

 

Core Courses – Choose minimum 9 hours for thesis and 15 hours for non-thesis

  • CES6876 – Smart City Built Infrastructure – 3 credit hours
  • TTE6200 – Mobility in Smart Cities: Technologies and Application Areas – 3 credit hours
  • CGN6200 – Cyber-physical Systems and Smart Cities – 3 credit hours
  • TTE6500 – Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – 3 credit hours
  • CGN6100 – Modeling Human Behavior with Emerging Data – 3 credit hours
  • ENV 5650 – Smart Air Quality Monitoring and Air Pollution Control – 3 credit hours
  • ENV 6300 – Smart water and wastewater management – 3 credit hours
  • CEG6150 – Smart Underground Structures: Tunnels and Shafts – 3 credit hours
  • TTE5020 – Active mobility and Technologies: Synergy and Challenges – 3 credit hours
  • CGN5200: Proposed Course- Internet of Things: Applications in Smart Cities – 3 credit hours
  • TTE5252: Policy Aspects of Smart City Transportation – 3 credit hours
  • CGN 5550: Intelligent infrastructure management – 3 credit hours
  • TTE6608 – Data Science in Smart Cities – 3 credit hours
  • CCE5220 – Sustainable Infrastructure Systems – 3 credit hours
  • STA5703: Data Mining Methodology I – 3 credit hours
  • Thesis (6 credit) – Advisor

Elective Courses: 9 Credit Hours

All students, both thesis and nonthesis, are required to take at most 12 credit hours of approved electives. The courses may be from the list above or other courses as approved by the student’s adviser. Directed Research (XXX 6918) is not permitted in the MS program of study.

  • HMG XXXX – Smart Travel and Tourism – (new course) Arthur Huang
  • PAD 5337    Urban Design
  • PAD 6387    Transportation Policy
  • PAD 6339    Housing Development and Planning
  • PAD 5356    Managing Community & Economic Development
  • URP 6711    Sustainable Transportation Planning
  • PAD 6716    Information Systems for Public Managers and Planners
  • Global Cities and Urban Resilience (New Course).
  • Urban Policy and Governance (new course)
  • CAP 5415 – Computer Vision
  • CAP 5610 – Machine Learning
  • CEN 5016 – Software Engineering
  • STA 5104 – Advanced Computer Processing of Statistical Data
  • STA 5206 – Statistical Analysis
  • STA 5825 – Stochastic Processes and Applied Probability Theory
  • STA – Data Mining Methodology II
  • STA 6707 Multivariate Statistical Methods
  • STA 6709 – Spatial Statistics
  • CGN 6665 Regional Planning, Design and Development
  • TTE 6667 Discrete Choice Models in Transportation
  • TTE6270 Intelligent Transportation Systems
  • EEL 5825 Pattern Recognition
  • EEL 6683 Cooperative Control of Networked Autonomous Systems
  • EEL 6026 Optimization of Engineering Systems
  • EEL 6671 Modern and Optimal Control Systems
  • EMA 5326: Corrosion Science and Engineering.
  • EMA 5104 – Intermediate Structure and Properties of Materials
  • EMA 6626 – Mechanical Behavior of Materials
  • EMA 5504 – Modern Characterization of Materials