Research
National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 20-138: Defining, Assessing, and Monitoring Transportation Systems Health: Guide (Role: Graduate Research Assistant (GRA), Principal Investigator (PI): Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Supported the development of a winning proposal for an NCHRP project to create a practitioner-oriented guide to define, assess, and monitor transportation system health.
National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST): Characterizing Adaptive Capacity for Rail Transportation Resilience (Role: PI, Co-PI: Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Developed and won grant proposal for project examining adaptations while supervising undergraduate and graduate students to perform content assessment in NVivo.
- Planned and led a workshop hosted in summer 2025 to inform a module on rail system resilience and adaptation (implemented in Fall 2025).
Sustainability Next Moving Teams Forward: Interdisciplinary Program in Transportation – Transportation and Community Resilience (Role: GRA, Co-PIs: Dr. Sofia Perez-Guzman, Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Worked with an interdisciplinary team of industrial engineering, earth and atmospheric sciences, international affairs, and transportation scholars to conduct a targeted survey and syllabus review to identify trends in transportation resilience curriculum.
- Developed flexible four-part module with an interdisciplinary team to integrate transportation resilience-focused curriculum into existing graduate-level courses.
National Science Foundation Revolutionizing Engineering Departments (NSF RED): Developing a Computational/AI Mindset (Role: GRA, PI: Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Worked with a cross-disciplinary, cross-level team to define AI literacy and fluency through literature review and semi-structured interviews with practitioners and scholars.
NCST: Applying Vulnerability Assessments and Triple Bottom Line Considerations to Rail Infrastructure Management (Role: PI, Co-PI: Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Developed and won grant proposal to synthesize literature to inform and apply a new multi-dimensional resilience assessment approach to an urban rail transit system using ridership and Qualtrics survey data, with analysis conducted in Python.
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT): Incorporating Resilience Considerations in Transportation Planning, TSMO and Asset Management (Role: GRA, PI: Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Co-developed planning and analytical tools, including GIS-based resources, for multi-hazard climate exposure, vulnerability, criticality, and risk assessment to inform state DOT project prioritization.
- Presented research findings at TRBAM (January 2025 – workshop; January 2024 – poster), TRB Resilience Conference (November 2023 – lectern), and GDOT Research Expo (September 2025, September 2024, September 2023).
USDOT Center for Equity, Decisions and Dollars (CTEDD): Inter-Agency approach to Planning for Transportation System Resilience for Underserved Populations and General Populations (Role: GRA, PI: Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy)
- Co-created Negotiated Resilience Capability Maturity Model (NR-CMM) and self-assessment tool to support the implementation of effective resilience-building and public engagement practices at maturing levels. Tools are available for use by state DOTs, metropolitan planning organizations, emergency planning entities, and other agencies.
Publications
Developing Transportation Resilience Adaptively to Climate Change
A. Amekudzi-Kennedy, Prerna Singh, Emily Williams, Manuel Cuadra, B. Ashuri, Brian Woodall, Adair Garrett, Mandani Tennakoon, Russell Clark, Amalapurapu Dheeraj
Transportation Research Record, 2023
A. Amekudzi-Kennedy, Prerna Singh, Zhongyu Yang, Adair Garrett
Smart and Resilient Transportation, 2024
Manuel Cuadra, Adair Garrett, Mandani Tennakoon, A. Amekudzi-Kennedy, Brian Woodall, B. Ashuri
Transportation Research Record, 2024
Adair Garrett, Katherine Ginensky, Xi Wang, Hina Ahmed, Jingyuan Shen, Takahiro Yoshida, Akito Murayama, Perry Yang
Energy Proceedings, 2024
Adair Garrett, Maya Orthous Inchauste, Collin Yarbrough, A. Amekudzi-Kennedy, Brian Woodall
Transportation Research Record, 2025
Review on approaches to assess rail system resilience: a multi-capability perspective
Adair Garrett, Taylor Sherwood, Jose Antonio Pañero, A. Amekudzi-Kennedy
Civil engineering and environmental systems (Print), 2025
Grants
Proposal Development Support, National Cooperative Highway Research Program 20-138, 2026 – 2028
- Amount: $350,000 (20% sub-contract) | Status: Funded (Contract Pending)
- Defining, Assessing, and Monitoring Transportation Systems Health: Guide
Lead, National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST) Dissertation Grant, 2024 – 2026
- Amount: $104,000 (50% matching funds from academic advisor) | Status: Funded (In Progress)
- Characterizing Adaptive Capacity for Rail Transportation Resilience
Proposal Development Support, Georgia Tech Sustainability Next Seed Grant, 2024 – 2025
- Amount: $30,000 | Status: Funded (Completed)
- Interdisciplinary Program in Transportation – Transportation and Community Resilience
Lead, National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST) Dissertation Grant, 2023 – 2025
- Amount: $104,000 (50% matching funds from academic advisor) | Status: Funded (Completed)
- Applying Vulnerability Assessments and Triple Bottom Line Considerations to Rail Infrastructure Management: Toward an Integrated Framework for Rail Resilience and Sustainability