Staff Bio

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Pan Lu, Ph.D.
Program Director – RISE-Freight Center
Professor
Advanced Research Fellow
Phone: (701)212-3795
Email: pan.lu@ndsu.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-1640-3598

Dr. Pan Lu is an accomplished academic and researcher specializing in transportation. She began her career as a research analyst with the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute / North Dakota State University (UGPTI/NDSU) in 2005. She is currently a professor, a center director for the Rural Innovations in Sustainable Economy and Freight (RISE-Freight) with UGPTI/NDSU, and an associate center director with the Tier one Center on Multi-Modal Mobility in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Areas (CMMM). Her research interests include Connected and Autonomous Trucking, Multimodal Freight Transportation, Geospatial Modeling, Transportation Safety, and Advanced Sensor Application in Transportation.

She has a well-established academic career with over 200 peer-reviewed journal, research report and conference publications which can be found in Google Scholar. She has successfully secured more than $16.5 million in research funding as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) from various sources. She mentored two peer-researchers, four post-docs, along with over 40 graduate students. Among them, 11 received their PhD degrees, and 16 received their MS degrees. In addition, she also mentored more than 80 middle school/high school students through her outreach mentoring activities. Her extensive research portfolio and substantial funding underscore her significant contribution to the field of transportation systems. In addition, she also actively contributes to the profession community by serving as TRB committee member and Research Coordinator, NSF review panels, committee/conference session chairs, and editorial board members/reviewers.

Research Interests

Rural Connected and Autonomous Trucking
Smart Material and Structure Health Monitoring
Multimodal Freight Transportation
Transportation Safety
Infrastructure Management
Sensing Technology and AI

Recent Research Activities/Major Programs of Activity

Assessing Critical Vulnerabilities to Natural Gas Power Plants from Pipeline Infrastructure Disruptions – DOE/Oakridge Laboratory
Assessing Condition of Rehabilitated Concrete Pavement with Slab Fracturing and Asphalt Overlay Using Distributed Fiber Optic Sensors – USDOT/Center for Transformative Infrastructure Preservation and Sustainability
Expanding Summer Youth Programs in Rail through Virtual Learning and a National Camps Network – USDOT FRA/Michigan Technological University
Center for Multi-Modal Mobility in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Areas – USDOT/University of Maryland
All-In-One Data Collection Station for Real-Time Traffic and Pavement Bottom-Up Cracking Monitoring – FHWA/NDDOT
NCHRP 17-99 Assessing Safety Effectiveness of Treatments and Technologies at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings – FHWA/Oklahoma State University

Employment

2025-Present, Director, The Rural Innovations in Sustainable Economies and Freight (RISE-Freight) Center
2025-Present, Professor, Department of Transportation, Logistics, and Finance, College of Business, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2022-Present, Associate Director, TIER 1 University Transportation Center (UTC) for Multi-Modal Mobility in Urban, Rural, and Tribal Areas (CMMM)
2022-Present, Advanced Research Fellow, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2017-2025, Associate Professor, Department of Transportation, Logistics, and Finance, College of Business, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2012-2021, Associate Research Fellow, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2015-2016, Assistant Professor of Transportation, Department of Transportation and Logistics, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institution, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2012-2014, Adjunct Professor of Transportation, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, College of Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2010-2011, Research Analyst, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
2005-2009, Research Assistant, Department of Transportation and Logistics, Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

Education

Ph.D., Transportation and Logistics, North Dakota State University, 2011
B.S., Technological Economics, North China Electric Power University, 2002

Professional Memberships/Affiliations

Committee Research Coordinator (CRC) and member, TRB AR080 Committee on Highway/Rail Grade Crossings, 2023-Present
Chair and Moderator, Presentation Planning Subcommittee of 14th IACIP Annual Workshop, 2023
Member, Automated Vehicles Symposium (AVS2020) AI Breakout Session Planning Committee, 2020
Chair, Green and Extreme Weather Pavement Maintenance Committee, World Transport Convention (WTC), 2018-Present
Member, Freight and Logistics Committee, Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Member, Rail Transport Committee, Transportation and Development Institute (T&DI), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Editorial board, World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 2015-Present
Editorial board, International Journal of Scientific Research and Civil Engineering, 2015-Present
Editorial board, Global Environment, Health and Safety, 2017-Present
Member, International Association of Chinese Infrastructure Professionals (IACIP), 2016-Present
Member, Chinese Overseas Transportation Association (COTA), 2017-Present
Member, World Transport Convention, Infrastructures Investment, Financing and Management Committee, 2017-Present
Member, Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS), 2010-2012
Member, SAS & Analytics Users, 2010-Present
Member, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2016-2017
Member, Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, 2013-2014
Member, American Statistical Association (ASA), 2014-Present