Working to improve public transit, Dr. Vanessa Frias-Martinez is using a combination of cloud computing and AI.
University of Maryland iSchool Associate Professor Vanessa Frias-Martinez was featured in the Science Magazine article, “U.S. law sets stage for boost to artificial intelligence research” written by Jeffery Mervis. The article explains how the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act (NAIIA) of 2020 will improve AI activities at government agencies.
Dr. Frias-Martinez is working to ease the commute for low-income individuals that rely on public transportation. She discusses how harnessing cloud computing and AI will allow for the tracking of thousands of Baltimore commuters while also protecting their privacy. By applying AI algorithms to the datasets, Dr. Frias-Martinez “hopes to identify ways to eliminate transit bottlenecks and improve service.”
Dr. Frias-Martinez plans to do this with the use of CloudBank, a National Science Foundation funded effort that subsidizes access to commercial cloud services. She shares that CloudBank “has allowed her to stretch her research dollars and, as a result, improve the quality and scope of her analyses.”