Arsalan Heydarian

About

Arsalan Heydarian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia, as well as a member of the UVA Link Lab. His research focuses on the user-centered design, construction, and operation of intelligent infrastructure, with the goal of enhancing sustainability, adaptability, and resilience. His work is organized into four primary research streams: intelligent built environments, mobility and infrastructure design, smart transportation, and data-driven mixed reality. Dr. Heydarian holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and an M.Sc. in Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California, along with B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Civil Engineering from Virginia Tech. He is also a co-founder of the Omni Reality and Cognition Lab (ORCL Lab), a facility that utilizes virtual and augmented reality technologies to study human behavior and responses to various infrastructure designs. His research interests include integrating human considerations within infrastructure systems, focusing on how buildings and vehicles can sense behaviors and collaborate with users to achieve personal goals, as well as designing transportation systems that enhance well-being, safety, and comfort.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Artificial Intelligence
• Human–computer interaction
• Architectural engineering
• Business
• Psychology
• Mechanical engineering
• Environmental science
• Meteorology

Selected publications

• Trend Analysis on Adoption of Virtual and Augmented Reality in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Industry

  Data · 2020 · 226 citations

  With advances in Building Information Modeling (BIM), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies have many potential applications in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. However, the AEC industry, relative to other industries, has been slow in adopting AR/VR technologies, partly due to lack of feasibility studies examining the actual cost of implementation versus an increase in profit. The main objectives of this paper are to understand the industry t…

  DOI

• Flood mitigation in coastal urban catchments using real-time stormwater infrastructure control and reinforcement learning

  Journal of Hydroinformatics · 2020 · 73 citations

  Abstract Flooding in coastal cities is increasing due to climate change and sea-level rise, stressing the traditional stormwater systems these communities rely on. Automated real-time control (RTC) of these systems can improve performance, and creating control policies for smart stormwater systems is an active area of study. This research explores reinforcement learning (RL) to create control policies to mitigate flood risk. RL is trained using a model of hypothetical urban catchments with a tid…

  DOI

• Evaluating current and future pedestrian mid-block crossing safety treatments using virtual reality simulation

  Accident Analysis & Prevention · 2024-07-10 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  Virtual reality (VR) simulation offers a proactive, cost effective, immersive, and low risk platform for studying pedestrian safety. Within immersive virtual environments (IVEs), existing and alternative design conditions and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) technologies can be directly compared, prior to real-world implementation, to assess the impacts alternatives may have on pedestrian safety, perception, and behavior. Environmental factors can be controlled within IVEs so that test t…

  PublisherDOI

• Adoption of virtual and augmented reality in the architecture, engineering, construction, and facilities management (AEC-FM): mixed method analysis of trends, gaps, and solutions

  Frontiers in Built Environment · 2025-06-26 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Management (AEC-FM) industry is undergoing a transformative phase with the integration of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies. This study investigates adoption trends, challenges, and future potential of AR/VR technologies within the AEC-FM using a mixed-methods approach, including surveys of over 200 industry experts (2018, 2020, and 2023) and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews. Findings reveal initial…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Detecting Plant Voc Traces Using Indoor Air Quality Sensors

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• CRI:II-New: The Living Link Lab: Infrastructure for Enhancing Occupant Experience and Building Operations

  NSF · $755k · 2018–2022

Frequent coauthors

• Arash Tavakoli

  Stanford University

  67 shared

• Xiang Guo

  University of Virginia

  39 shared

• Vahid Balali

  34 shared

• Erin Robartes

  Virginia Transportation Research Council

  23 shared

• Austin Angulo

  University at Buffalo, State University of New York

  22 shared

• Mahsa Pahlavikhah Varnosfaderani

  21 shared

• T. Donna Chen

  20 shared

• Farrokh Jazizadeh

  Virginia Tech

  17 shared

Labs

• Link LabPI

Education

• PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering

  University of Southern California

  2017

Similar researchers at University of Virginia

• James A. Smithh-77
• Larry Bandh-72
• James H. Lamberth-47