Xishun Liao is an assistant professor in the UCF Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering and is affiliated with the Knight’s Digital Twin initiative. His research focuses on developing AI-powered digital twins through interdisciplinary approaches that integrate AI and machine learning, data science, control theory and optimization to enable human-centered, intelligent mobility systems that are safe, efficient, equitable and sustainable. Before joining UCF, he was a research scientist at the UCLA Mobility Lab, focusing on AI and mobility digital twins, and at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.