Jerome is first ever ITS Michigan Risisng Star Award recipient

ITS Michigan 2025 Rising Star Award

Recipient: Zachary Jerome, PhD

 

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) post-doctoral research fellow Zachary Jerome, PhD, is the first recipient of the ITS Michigan Rising Start Award.

The award was presented to Jerome at the ITS Michigan 2025 Annual Meeting.

Jerome completed his PhD in civil engineering at U of M in summer 2025. He is now a post-doctoral research fellow at U of M’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI).

Bridging research, practice and entrepreneurship, he is also co-founder and CEO  Connected Traffic Intelligence, a start-up business commercializing his doctoral dissertation research.

Additionally, his technical contributions have already helped to shape how road agencies manage traffic signals, using connected-vehicle trajectories. He led the development of the world’s first large-scale, cloud-based, trajectory-only signal timing management and optimization system that functions robustly, even at low-penetration rates.

This system provides a scalable, cost-effective solution for traffic-signal diagnosis and automated retiming. The system has the potential to be applied to every fixed-time and vehicle-actuated traffic signal worldwide.

Already been implemented across 32 intersections in the City of Birmingham, Michigan, the system is in active roll-out for another 30-40 intersections with the Road Commission for Oakland County through the support of a US DOT SMART grant.

Jerome also has an impressive scholarly record, having published articles in multiple leading journals in the transportation field.

He exemplifies the spirit of the ITS Michigan Rising Star Award: He has led impactful innovations, demonstrated excellence in peer-reviewed research, provided leadership in the transportation community and is on a clear trajectory toward national influence.