John P. Wikander

Wikander, John

Assistant Transportation Researcher

Mobility Analysis - Valley Park
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
The Texas A&M University System
3135 TAMU
College Station, TX 77845
ph. (979) 862-2673 Ext. 22673
j-wikander@tamu.edu

Short Biography

John Wikander is an Assistant Transportation Researcher at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, where he has been active in statistical analyses of traffic operations since 2000.

For the past several years, Mr. Wikander has assisted in the study of traffic data from TxDOT's operations-based traffic detector system in Austin. He has worked on developing visual and quantitative quality assurance methods for traffic data troubleshooting, optimizing parameters for incident detection algorithms, and contributing to improvements in the data archiving process.

More recently, Mr. Wikander has performed data processing and analysis for many traffic data collection and performance reporting projects, including toll facility performance monitoring projects in Texas and Minnesota, statistical validation of traffic information furnished by data service vendors for projects in Ohio, Texas, and Arizona cities, and performance evaluation of real-time data filtering algorithms on travel time estimates generated from Bluetooth data.

Other efforts in the area of statistical analysis include developing improved sample designs and data integrity procedures for the TTI's Materials and Pavement division, examining the effectiveness of pavement maintenance treatments for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and investigating incident data to determine the safety benefits of both proposed and implemented freeway improvement projects in Austin, Texas.

In other research, Mr. Wikander has worked with research related to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) facilities and high-occupancy toll (HOT) facilities, and has co-authored reports on HOV/HOT enforcement and monitoring technologies for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP).

Education

  • M.S., Statistics, Texas A&M University, 2002.
  • M.A., Statistics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, 1996.
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, 1992.

Experience

  • Assistant Transportation Researcher, Mobility Management, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, May 2001 - Present.
  • Graduate Research Assistant, Austin Liason Office, Texas Transportation Institute, 2000 - 2001.
  • Graduate Research Assistant, Materials and Pavement Division, Texas Transportation Institute, 1999 - 2000.
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University, 1997 - 1999.
  • Teaching Assistant, Department of Statistics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, 1996.

Honors & Awards

Regents' Fellowship, Texas A&M University.

Graduate Enhancement Fund Fellowship, Texas A&M University.

Presidential Honors Scholar, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Empire State Scholarship, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Regents' Scholarship, State University of New York at Buffalo.

Statistics in Chemistry Award, American Statistical Association, 2002, for the paper, A Simple Method for Linearizing Nonlinear Spectra for Calibration.

Selected Publications

P.E. Krugler, T.J. Freeman, J.E. Wirth, J.P. Wikander, C.K. Estakhri, A.J. Wimsatt. Quantifying the Effects in Order to Optimize the Use of Grade 3 and Grade 4 Seal Coats. 0-6496-S. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. 2012.

P.E. Krugler, T.J. Freeman, J.E. Wirth, J.P. Wikander, C.K. Estakhri, A.J. Wimsatt. Performance Comparison of Various Seal Coat Grades Used in Texas. 0-6496-1. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. July 2012.