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dr.ir. M.B. Ulak PhD (Baran)

Assistant Professor

About Me

Mehmet Baran Ulak (Baran) is an assistant professor of Traffic Safety, Smart Mobility, and Resilience Science at the Transport Systems cluster research group. His research interest spans from transportation safety, mobility, and accessibility to resilience and disaster assessment. He is focused on the statistical and spatial analysis of traffic safety problems, network modelling of mobility and accessibility, demographic and socioeconomic assessment of daily transportation incidents and natural hazards, and smart city concepts. He teaches Traffic Safety, Smart Mobility, and Urban Resilience master courses. He is also the department coordinator of the BSc thesis projects in transport.

Before joining the University of Twente, he worked as a postdoctoral associate at the Civil Engineering department of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He holds a PhD degree (2018) in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Florida State University with a concentration in traffic safety, urban mobility, and transportation data analysis. He received his M.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (2011) and B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from the Middle East Technical University (2009).

Professional Experience

  • 2020-current: Assistant Professor, Transport Engineering and Management (TEM) group, Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente
  • 2019-2020: Postdoctoral Associate, Civil Engineering, the State University of New York at Stony Brook
  • 2014–2018: Graduate Research Assistant, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida State University
  • 2012–2014: Civil Engineer, SWS Engineering and Dia Holding FZCO, Turkey

Education

  • 2018 PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Florida State University, USA. Dissertation: Geographical Information Systems-Based Spatial and Statistical Investigation to Enhance Transportation Safety for the Aging Population
  • 2011 MSc, Civil Engineering for Risk Mitigation, Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Thesis: On the Influence of Pore Pressure, on the Apparent Tensile Strength of Concrete
  • 2009 BSc, Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Turkey. Thesis: Design of Post-Tensioned Concrete Bridge on Yeşilırmak River

Expertise

Engineering & Materials Science
Bicycles
Extreme Weather
Hurricanes
Social Sciences
Bicycle
Driver
Pedestrian
Business & Economics
Crash
Safety

Research

My research interests are diverse and they span from traffic safety and accessibility to smart mobility and resilience science. Of the various subjects, I am interested in broad interdisciplinary areas including the statistical and spatial analysis of traffic problems, geographical aspects of mobility and accessibility, geospatial analysis, intelligent transportation systems, and smart city concepts. I have a particular curiosity about the often disregarded importance and role of demographics and socioeconomics, or the human element in general, in tackling issues related to urban mobility.

Publications

Recent
Uijtdewilligen, T. , Ulak, M. B., Bijleveld, F. , Geurs, K., & Dijkstra, A. (2023). Examining the crash risk factors associated with cycling: findings from four Dutch cities. 115-117. Abstract from 11th International Cycling Safety Conference, ICSC 2023, The Hague, Netherlands.
Asadi, M. , Ulak, M. B. , Geurs, K. T. , & Weijermars, W. (2023). Development of a new zone-based cycling safety metric to determine the crash risk associated with work trips. In Book of Abstracts 11th International Cycling Safety Conference 2023, 15-17 November 2023, The Hague, the Netherlands SWOV.
Kapousizis, G., Sarker, R. , Ulak, M. B. , & Geurs, K. (2023). Which road safety-related factors influence users’ acceptance towards Smart e-bikes: A European based survey. 84-86. Abstract from 7th Annual Meeting of the Cycling Research Board, Wuppertal, Germany.
Kapousizis, G., Sarker, R. , Ulak, M. B. , & Geurs, K. (2023). Acceptance of new technologies affecting safety on electric bicycles: evidence from five European countries.. Abstract from 11th Symposium of the European Association for Research in Transportation, hEART 2023, Zürich, Switzerland.
Girgin, S. , Ulak, M. B. , & Eikenbroek, O. A. L. (2023). An agent-based electric vehicle charging demand modelling framework to assess the needs for the energy transition in transport. In L. Duboz, & B. Ciuffo (Eds.), 10th International Symposium on Transportation Data & Modelling (ISTDM2023): Booklet of Abstracts (pp. 155-158). Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10207489
Boot, M. , Ulak, B. , Geurs, K. , & Havinga, P. (2023). Using body sensors in evaluations of the impact of smart cycling technologies on cycling experience. In A. Komninos, C. Santoro, D. Gavalas, J. Schoening, M. Matera, & L. A. Leiva (Eds.), MobileHCI '23 Companion: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Mobile Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 1-4). Article 43 https://doi.org/10.1145/3565066.3609736
Alisan, O. , Ulak, M. B., Ozguven, E. E., & Horner, M. W. (2023). Location selection of field hospitals amid COVID-19 considering effectiveness and fairness: A case study of Florida. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 93, Article 103794. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103794
Koloushani, M., Ghorbanzadeh, M. , Ulak, M. B., Ozguven, E. E., Horner, M. W., & Vanli, O. A. (2022). The Analysis of Spatial Patterns and Significant Factors Associated with Young-Driver-Involved Crashes in Florida. Sustainability (Switzerland), 14(2), Article 696. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020696
Ulak, M. B., Ozguven, E. E., Horner, M. W., Weaver, L., Puente, J., Crute, J., Smith, D. J., Duncan, M., & Whitton, E. (2022). Ridership dynamics and characteristics of potential riders of a transit system: The SunRail of Central Florida. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 16, Article 100720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2022.100720

UT Research Information System

Google Scholar Link

Education

Coordinator of the BSc thesis project for transport studies.

Affiliated Study Programmes

Bachelor

Master

Courses Academic Year  2023/2024

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
 

Courses Academic Year  2022/2023

Media

Researchers at FAMU-FSU Engineering Use Metric Specific Technology to Keep Seniors Safer on the Road (click for more information)

Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Eren Ozguven and graduate student Mehmet Baran Ulak published a new study in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention that uses metrics to analyze the location of crashes, the time they occur and how this relates to the crash occurrence. The study resulted in some interesting revelations including how location is related to senior driver crash rates.


Civil engineering postdoc selected for 4TU Resilience Engineering Fellowship (click for more information)

Onur Alisan, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research associate at the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center (RIDER) has received an esteemed fellowship award from the 4TU Center for Resilience Engineering. “I welcome the opportunity to work with Dr. Alisan on such an important topic,” Mehmet Baran Ulak, assistant professor at the University of Twente, said. “Through the collaboration between 4TU RE and RIDER, we have an excellent opportunity to conduct cutting-edge multi-disciplinary research to improve the resilience of our vulnerable communities.

Contact Details

Visiting Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Engineering Technology
Horst Complex (building no. 20)
De Horst 2
7522LW  Enschede
The Netherlands

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Mailing Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Engineering Technology
Horst Complex
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands

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