Dr Haowen Xu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., Civil Engineering
2015 - 2019
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Cumulative GPA: 3.90/4.00
Dissertation Title: “Data-Driven Framework for Forecasting Sedimentation at Culverts”
Focus Area: Hydroinformatics and Environmental Informatics
Passed the final thesis defense (on December 5th, 2018)
- Received multiple travel grants and research fellowship from NSF, UCGIS, and CGRER
- UI SETP (the University of Iowa Student Employee of the Year) Nominee
Graduate Certificate in Geoinformatics,
2014 to 2016
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Cumulative GPA: 3.94/4.00
MS, Civil and Environmental Engineering
2013 - 2015
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Cumulative GPA: 4.00/4.00
Dissertation Title: “Prototype Hydroinformatics-based System for Supporting Decision Making in Culvert Design and Monitoring”
- Received a Full-tuition Scholarship
B.S.E., Civil Engineering
2009 to 2013
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Cumulative G.P.A.: 3.54/4.00; Dean’s List
Thesis Title: “Search Engine for Iowa Watershed Data Information System”
- Graduated with Honors in Civil Engineering
Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA)
School of Built Environment
Dr. Haowen Xu is a Research Fellow with the Geospatial Research Innovation and Development (GRID) Group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. He previously served as a Research Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory, and as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Dr. Xu received his PhD from the University of Iowa, USA, and holds a Graduate Certificate in Informatics. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 35 conference papers, technical reports, and book chapters. He has secured competitive research funding and served as Co-Principal Investigator on multiple projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. His scholarly work has received over 1,000 citations and achieved an h-index of 17. His research contributions have been recognised through multiple Best Paper, Best Research, and Best Poster Awards from leading international conferences and professional organisations, including IEEE, IBPSA, CIE, and AWRA. He is also an inventor on multiple U.S. patents in smart city and intelligent infrastructure technologies.
E-mail
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Title: A Cognitive Freight Transportation Digital Twin for Resiliency and Emission Control Through Optimizing Intermodal Logistics (RECOIL) Role: Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) Duration: Fiscal Year 2023-Present Project URL: https://recoil.utk.edu/ URL: https://arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/exploratory-topics/intermodal-freight
Title: ML-Assisted Atmospheric Hazard Modeling for Effective Geospatial Risk Analysis Role: Co-Investigator Duration: Fiscal Year 2023-Present
Title: Scaling up the Realtime Data, Simulation and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Control for Optimizing Regional Mobility Role: Task Lead for developing Digital Twins Duration: Fiscal Year 2021-2023 URL: https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/regional-mobility-chattanooga
Title: Forecasting and Mitigation of Sedimentation at Culverts Role: Co-Investigator Duration: 01/2015-12/2015 |
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2024 |
Best Research Paper Award from the 51st International Conference on Computers & Industrial Engineering (CIE51), UNSW, Australia |
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2022 |
Best Poster Award from the 19th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad-hoc and Smart Systems (MASS) |
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2022 |
Award for the Most Creative Demonstration from IBPSA HackSimBuild 2022 competition in conjunction with Building Performance Analysis Conference and SimBuild 2022 |
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2021 |
Invited presenter at the 1st GeoScale Workshop |
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2020 |
Significant Event Award (SEA) – ORNL, USDOE Release of Real-time Ctwin v1.1 -- The Chattanooga Digital Twin for Mobility/Transportation |
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2018 |
Wayne L. Paulson Scholarship Award (1000 USD) |
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2018 |
Graduate College Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship (9000 USD) |
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2017 |
UCGIS & NSF Travel Awards (2000 USD) |
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2017 |
CGRER Travel Award (600 USD) |
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2017 |
UI SETP (the University of Iowa Student Employee of the Year) Nominee |
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2016 |
Invited presenter at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) headquarters |
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2016 |
Best Student Oral Presentation Award from the American Water Resources Association (AWRA) |
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2015 |
CGRER Travel Award (750 USD) |
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2013 |
Study Abroad International Student Merit-based Scholarship |
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2013 |
Segal Family Foundation Scholarship |
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2013 |
The University of Iowa Engineering College Merit-based Scholarship
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His research focuses on the development and application of Generative AI, Agentic AI, Digital Twins, Scientific Computing, High-Performance Computing, Geospatial AI, and Physics-Informed Voxel Simulation for urban, environmental, transportation, and infrastructure systems. His work aims to bridge artificial intelligence, computational modelling, operations resaerch and decision support systems to address complex challenges in smart cities, environmental sustainability, infrastructure resilience, and emergency management.