Professor Nigel Wilson

IAS Annual Theme: AI:Facts, Fictions, Futures

MIT, USA

Professor Nigel Wilson, director of the MIT Transit Research Program, has more than 30 years experience dealing with operations, management and planning issues associated with transit systems worldwide. His research and teaching focus on urban public transportation, including topics related to the operation, analysis, planning and management of transit systems. Specific research activities he has directed include using automated data systems to improve planning and operations, workforce planning in the transit industry, short-range transit planning methods, the role of private operators in public transportation and the potential for computers and communication systems to improve the performance of transit systems.

Professor Wilson directs major long-term collaborative research programs with urban public transport agencies including Transport for London, MTR (Hong Kong), Chicago Transit Authority and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. He has written more than 100 articles and reports on the results of his research. During sabbatical leaves from MIT, Professor Wilson worked in three large transit agencies, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, London Transport, and Metro Transit (Minnesota), and has served as consultant to a number of other North American transit authorities. He has been a visiting faculty member at Stanford University, University College London, Napier University (Edinburgh), Delft University of Technology, and the University of Minnesota.

Professor Wilson received the bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Imperial College, London and the master’s and doctoral degrees in civil engineering and transportation systems respectively, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.