Franklin Gbologah

Biography

Dr. Franklin Gbologah is a Research Engineer II at Georgia Institute of Technology. His work cuts across a broad range of transportation research, from operations of the multimodal freight transportation system to transportation energy and emission modeling, to operations and safety of highways. He received his masters degree and Ph.D. from the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2010 and 2015 respectively.

During his masters study Dr. Gbologah successfully developed the first temporally and spatially coupled simulation model of the multimodal port-freight transportation system to estimate container throughput in the southeastern US. His model includes the three maritime container ports at Savannah (GA), Charleston (SC), and Jacksonville (FL), and the connecting CSX intermodal terminals and connecting Class 1 railroads from Washington DC, Miami (FL), and Chicago (IL).

During his doctoral studies, Dr. Gbologah continued to make many pioneering and significant contributions to transportation research. He conducted the first research on roundabout illumination and safety in the U.S. and his work was selected as one of three best papers at the 4th International Conference on Roundabouts. He was subsequently invited by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) to present on a national webinar to commemorate 20 years of roundabout design in the U.S. The webinar was the most attended in TRB history with more than 1200 attendees. Dr. Gbologah also estimated the first potential roundabout illumination crash modification factor; an important safety parameter which is missing in the Highway Safety Manual. He also innovated a method to measure roadway illumination levels using a digital camera. His method offers 90 percent equipment cost savings and 70 percent time savings in auditing nighttime illumination at highway intersections. Dr. Gbologah is also the originator of a revolutionary bottom-up framework that uses travel activity data to predict energy and emission performance of public rail transit vehicles. His model is currently the rail analysis engine in the Transit Fleet and Emissions Calculator that is available for download from the National Center for Sustainable Transportation (NCST).

Dr. Gbologah was retained as a research engineer after receiving his Ph.D. He has since utilized his photographic light measurement method to lead the report to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) on the cost-effectiveness of illumination as a safety treatment at rural intersections. He has also recently concluded another GDOT project on the safety evaluations of roundabouts in Georgia.

Dr. Franklin Gbologah has also received awards for academic excellence and research. He received the National Society of Black Engineers Board of Corporate Affiliates Scholar award in 2009, the Georgia Tech Tower Award in 2010, the Dwight David Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship award in 2012 from the Federal Highway Administration.

Education

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015.
• M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010.