Erika Ziraldo Wins Student/Young Professional Technical Paper Competition

Erika Ziraldo in the DRiVE lab
Erika Ziraldo in the DRiVE lab. Photo credit: Junelle Fisher, Research Innovation Office

Erika Ziraldo, PhD student supervised by engineering professor Michele Oliver and member of the DRiVE lab at U of G, is one of four winners of the 2020 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Student/Young Professional Technical Paper Competition. The award was given as part of this year's World Congress (ultimately cancelled for this year due to COVID-19), a conference generally attended by more that 9,000 delegates from around the world each year. Ziraldo submitted two papers which will be full-length journal articles in the SAE International Journal of Advances and Current Practices in Mobility. Though both submissions were deemed top papers by the judges, Driver Response to Left Incurring Path Intrusions at Sign-Controlled Intersections was the paper that ultimately earned one of four coveted spots in the competition.

Ziraldo was interviewed by SAE on her success. An excerpt from her interview in the SAE members' magazine: 

At the School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Ziraldo’s doctoral research involves investigating patterns in human driving behaviour for applications in accident reconstruction and decision-making for autonomous vehicles.

How satisfying is it for you to have been named winner of SAE’s tech paper competition?
Being named as a winner of SAE’s tech paper competition was unexpected, but very satisfying. This was my first time through the academic publishing process, and it feels wonderful to know I’m on the right track. I feel especially grateful to my co-authors and our reviewers who steered the paper in an impactful direction.