Our Director

Jean-Daniel Saphores

  • UGSRBS, Ingénieur CivilEcole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées19841988
  • GSRMS, Geotechnical EngineeringUniversity of Colorado, Boulder19881989
  • GSRMS, Environmental Systems EngineeringCornell University19891994
  • GSRMA, EconomicsCornell University19891994
  • GSRPhD, Applied Economics/Civil EngineeringCornell University19941996
  • ChairDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringSamueli School of EngineeringUC Irvine20222025
  • DirectorITS-IrvineUC Irvine2025
  • ProfessorDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringSamueli School of EngineeringUC Irvine2013
  • ProfessorDepartment of EconomicsSchool of Social SciencesUC Irvine2013
  • ProfessorUrban Planning and Public PolicySchool of Social EcologyUC Irvine2013
  • UGSRBS, Ingénieur CivilEcole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées19841988
  • GSRMS, Geotechnical EngineeringUniversity of Colorado, Boulder19881989
  • GSRMS, Environmental Systems EngineeringCornell University19891994
  • GSRMA, EconomicsCornell University19891994
  • GSRPhD, Applied Economics/Civil EngineeringCornell University19941996
  • Assistant ProfessorPlanning, Policy and DesignSchool of Social EcologyUC Irvine20002006
  • Assistant ProfessorDepartment of EconomicsSchool of Social SciencesUC Irvine20002006
  • Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringSamueli School of EngineeringUC Irvine20002006
  • Associate ProfessorDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringSamueli School of EngineeringUC Irvine20062013
  • Associate ProfessorPlanning, Policy and DesignSchool of Social EcologyUC Irvine20062013
  • Associate ProfessorDepartment of EconomicsSchool of Social SciencesUC Irvine20062013
  • Faculty AssociateITS-IrvineUC Irvine2006

Dr. Jean-Daniel Saphores is Director of UC Irvine’s Institute of Transportation Studies and a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, with secondary appointments in the departments of Planning, Policy and Design and in Economics. He is a former Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCI. Dr. Saphores was educated at École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris, France), the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Cornell University (Ithaca, New York), where he earned a PhD in Applied Economics with specializations in resource economics, statistics, and finance. He also worked for three years as a consulting engineer for Woodward-Clyde Consultants in Denver, Colorado. His research focuses on transportation and environmental systems, which he analyzes using statistical and economic methods combined with simulation and optimization tools. His current interests include transportation-energy-environment interactions (particularly air pollution), travel behavior analysis, alternative fuel vehicles, automated (self-driving) vehicles, transit use, sustainable infrastructure management, and decision making under uncertainty, including real options analysis. He has authored over sixty research articles and served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on projects funded by NSF, the EPA, the US DOE, Caltrans, and the USDOT under the University Transportation Centers program.

Record last updated: September 25, 2026.

Contact

ITS Affiliations