Presenter: Abhishek Dubey, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University 

Seminar Title: From Lab to Real-World: The challenges of Decision Making Under Uncertainty for Societal Scale Cyber Physical Systems

Abstract:

Cyber-physical systems that underpin critical urban infrastructure, such as public transit, emergency response, and electrical grids, are characterized by complex spatial and temporal dimensions. The spatial aspect involves location-specific variables like traffic congestion, transportation demand, and incident frequency, while the temporal aspect reflects the dynamic nature of these systems, where conditions such as traffic congestion evolve over time. These systems operate in highly dynamic environments, requiring sequential decision-making under uncertainty across high-dimensional spaces. In this talk, Abhishek Dubey will present research from his lab at Vanderbilt University focused on developing core methods for decision-making under uncertainty, with a particular emphasis on addressing non-stationary dynamics. He will also highlight the challenges of translating these methods from lab to real-world applications, using case studies from pilot operations of fixed-line, paratransit, and microtransit systems in Chattanooga, TN, and emergency response systems in collaboration with the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Bio:

Abhishek Dubey is an Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Science, as well as a Chancellor Faculty Fellow at Vanderbilt University. He also serves as a Senior Research Scientist at the Institute for Software-Integrated Systems and holds an expert appointment with the National Science Foundation. Additionally, he is the Chief Science Officer of Mobius AI, Inc. His research focuses on decision-making procedures for smart and connected communities, particularly in transportation and energy networks. Dubey specializes in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) with AI components (AI-CPS), with a focus on optimizing public transit systems, emergency response systems, and power grids. His lab investigates the design, operation, and optimization of these systems, emphasizing resilience, performance, and assurance. Key contributions from his research include the development of hierarchical decision procedures for motor vehicle crash responses, efficient public transit operations, and transactive energy systems. Dubey received the NSF CAREER Award in 2022, and his research has been supported by NSF, NASA, DOE, ARPA-E, AFRL, DARPA, Nissan, Siemens, Cisco, and IBM. He earned his PhD and MS in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and his BS in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University).