Meet Our Team

The Chenxi Liu Lab works toward one goal: advancing the application of AI in transportation. Our research follows three directions, cyber-physical cooperation, trustworthy AI, and human-AI interaction, to make transportation systems safer, more efficient, and more resilient. We work side by side with transportation agencies, cities, and industry partners, using real data and real sensors on real roads.

Lab Director

Portrait of Professor Chenxi Liu (Dylan), primary investigator at the University of Utah, wearing glasses and a professional suit.

Chenxi (Dylan) Liu, Ph.D.

Lab Director

Chenxi Liu (刘晨曦), also known as Dylan, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah. His research bridges AI technologies and practical challenges in transportation engineering to enhance the safety, efficiency, and resilience of transportation systems.

Research Interests: Cyber-Physical Cooperation, Trustworthy AI, Human-AI Interaction

Ph.D. Students

Fengze Yang, a Ph.D. student, wearing glasses and a black jacket, with a desert landscape and bright sky in the background.

Fengze Yang

Ph.D. Student, 2024 – 2028 (expected)

Fengze is a Ph.D. student working at the intersection of traffic engineering and artificial intelligence, with a focus on large language models, V2X communication, and edge computing for traffic safety. He received the 2026 ITE Mountain District Outstanding Graduate Student Award and serves as president of the ITE University of Utah Student Chapter. Outside of research, he enjoys snowboarding, car racing, and painting.

Research Interests: LLMs, V2X, Edge Computing, Traffic Safety

Bo Yu, Ph.D. student, wearing glasses and a grey cap against a red background.

Bo Yu

Ph.D. Student, 2025 – 2029 (expected)

Bo is a Ph.D. student working at the intersection of AI and transportation. He applies multimodal machine learning and generative models to challenging problems in mobility systems and is a strong advocate for reproducible transportation research. Outside of research, he enjoys basketball and hiking, and studies the I Ching, a classic of Chinese philosophy that also inspires his research and life.

Research Interests: ITS, Generative AI, Multi-modal ML, Reproducible Research

Qingchang Yang

Ph.D. Student, 2026 – 2030 (expected)

Qingchang is a Ph.D. student exploring the intersection of intelligent transportation systems and artificial intelligence. Qingchang’s research applies explainable AI to understand vehicle interactions and to support decision-making, planning, and cooperative resource allocation between vehicles and roadside infrastructure. Outside of research, Qingchang enjoys basketball and a good movie.

Research Interests: ITS, Autonomous Driving, Explainable AI, V2X, Representation Learning

Summer Interns

Headshot of Lucas Shen, Summer Intern and student at the Waterford School, smiling against a dark gray background.

Lucas Shen

Summer Intern

Lucas is a high school junior at the Waterford School in Sandy with a strong interest in engineering and computer science. Whether programming for his school's robotics team or exploring new ideas on his own, he loves using technology to solve complex problems. He also rows crew, competes in Science Olympiad, and plays saxophone in his school's jazz band. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, hiking, chess, and strategy games like StarCraft and Civilization.

Headshot of Grayson Carter, Summer Intern and Skyline High School senior.

Grayson Carter

Summer Intern

Grayson is a senior at Skyline High School with a passion for physics and engineering. He loves building, optimizing, and solving complex problems, whether competing in FBLA, DECA, and Speech and Debate, or designing automated systems in games like Factorio and Satisfactory. Away from the keyboard, he's usually out hiking or hanging out with friends.

Lab Life

2026 summer research interns at the Block U

2026 summer research interns at the Block U

Chenxi Liu Lab at TRB 2026, Washington, D.C.

Chenxi Liu Lab at TRB 2026, Washington, D.C.

REACT poster at TRB 2026

REACT poster at TRB 2026

VisionCrash poster at TRB 2026

VisionCrash poster at TRB 2026

Field visit in Park City, Utah

Field visit in Park City, Utah

Chenxi Liu Lab at the TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Chenxi Liu Lab at the TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Lab members at the Block U

Lab members at the Block U

ITE Student Chapter at Utah Motorsports Campus

ITE Student Chapter at Utah Motorsports Campus

Go-kart outreach at Utah Motorsports Campus

Go-kart outreach at Utah Motorsports Campus

On the track at Utah Motorsports Campus

On the track at Utah Motorsports Campus

Talk at the AI Summit, S.J. Quinney College of Law

Talk at the AI Summit, S.J. Quinney College of Law

Student team presenting at an ITE meeting

Student team presenting at an ITE meeting

Safe Speed, Smart Drive project meeting

Safe Speed, Smart Drive project meeting

Field work at a traffic signal cabinet

Field work at a traffic signal cabinet

Presenting at an ASCE conference

Presenting at an ASCE conference

2025 summer research interns at the Block U

2025 summer research interns at the Block U

TRB 2025 Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

TRB 2025 Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Poster on generative models for equity at TRB 2025

Poster on generative models for equity at TRB 2025

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Alumni

We are proud of our former lab members and summer interns and wish them every success in what comes next.

Join Our Research Team

We are always recruiting Ph.D. students, master’s students, postdoctoral researchers, visiting scholars, undergraduate researchers, and summer interns. Passion is all you need: no specific background or prior papers are required.