WHO WE ARE

Michael L. Pack

As the Director of the CATT Lab, Michael shapes the vision of the lab to improve transportation operations and management through research and development, technology implementation, training, and education. He has previously worked for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Transportation Analysis and the University of Virginia’s Smart Travel Laboratory. Michael is the Chair of Visualization Committee of the National Academies of Science Transportation Research Board. Michael’s background is in Digital Instrumentation and Measurement, Computer Science, Image Processing, and Systems Engineering.  Michael holds degrees from James Madison University and the University of Virginia

Nikola Ivanov

Nikola Ivanov joined the CATT Lab in 2003, and serves as the Lab’s Senior Technology Adviser.  Nikola is a past president of the Intelligent Transportation Society of Maryland, and the Chair of the Data for Operations Subcommittee Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Committee of the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board. In this role, he focuses on publishing research and facilitating information exchange as it pertains to transportation data collection, analysis, standardization, and use in transportation operations.  Nikola is also Chair of the Operations and Preservation Group of the Young Members Council of the Transportation Research Board.

Michael VanDaniker

As the Visualization Programs Manager, Michael primarily oversees and develops data visualization applications built on top of many of the different datasets the CATT Lab hosts. Michael acts as a mentor and supervisor to full-time employees along with graduate and undergraduate students, introducing them to the concepts and tools they need to develop enterprise-level applications and managing them as they work on those applications. Michael is also the lead developer for several high-profile contracts, including training simulators, user feedback systems, and an array of custom data visualizations for state and local DOTs and the federal government. Michael holds a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and has published multiple papers on the topic of data visualization in the transportation industry.

Jenny Lees

Jenny is the Lead 3D artist for the CATT Lab where she is responsible for the art team in charge of creating 2D and 3D environments and models for Incident Management Training Simulations.  She also serves as the lab’s graphic design artist for logo and web design.  She is frequently involved in the mock-up and design of UI elements for CATT Lab visualization tools.  Jenny holds a BA in Simulation and Digital Entertainment form the University of Baltimore.

Ray Douglass

Ray joined the CATT Lab in 2009 and is the lead Java Software Engineer. He specializes in enterprise level Java software including back-end web services and related technologies. He works with graduate and undergraduate students as a mentor and research adviser. Ray holds a BS in Computer Science from University of Maryland.

Michael ‘Mic’ Couture

Mic graduated from the University of Baltimore with a Bachelors of Science in Simulation and Digital Entertainment. Mic’s skill set includes various platforms of game and simulation development. He has been actively developing in Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio framework, developing a variety of 2D, 3D, and educational games. He excels at developing game and simulation scenarios, player control and functionality, and various levels of in-game graphical user interfaces.

Drew Lund

Drew is the Senior Database Administrator for the CATT Laboratory’s many relational databases covering hundreds of thousands of miles of roadways.

Tapan Patel

As the Senior IT Specialist, Mr. Patel is responsible for the 24/7 operations of the CATT Laboratory’s multiple data centers.

Walter Lucman

Walter is the 3D Development Manager for the CATT Lab.  He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and and M.S. from Southern Methodist University in Interactive Technology.

Dayana El Azhari

Dayana joined the CATT lab in 2010 as a graduate student at the University of Maryland College Park, and transitioned to become the Lab’s GIS and Remote Sensing Imagery Analyst.  She is responsible for maintaining the lab’s spatial and geographic data, as well as managing the general roadway and evacuation support data.

Benjamin Chang

Ben has been with the CATT Lab since 2009 as a software engineer where he leads a team of other engineers, developers, and students to create innovative web technologies for monitoring situational awareness, evacuation monitoring, and traveler information.  He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Maryland and specializes in front-end web development.

Matt Brown

Matt has worked at the CATT Lab since the Spring of 2010 as a software developer.  Matt focuses on web programming including interface design, data management, and security. He develops applications that provide real-time data and situational awareness to users across the country.

Syed Nasir

John Toman

Barry Smith

Donald Funk

Donald has been with the CATT Lab since 2012 as a software developer. He is part of the detector tools team and head of the TreeVersity project focusing on efficient data visualizations in web based applications. Donald holds a degree from the
University of Maryland in Computer Science.

Kevin Van

Kevin joined the CATTLab as a software developer in the summer of 2010. Kevin has since worked on a number of the lab’s data visualization applications. Currently, he is focused on web application development where he actively works in both the front and middle end. Kevin holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.

James Litton

Prior to joining the CATT Lab, James worked in software development for four years at several other organizations. In these organizations he developed skills in a wide variety of areas and was a valued and productive member of the teams he was a member of. After establishing a successful career, a strange blood fever occurred and he felt compelled to obtain degrees in mathematics and computer science at the University of Maryland, after which he joined the CATT Lab. There he works on the infrastructure related to the distributed computation and serving of tiles as well as helping out elsewhere when the opportunity for mischief arises. In his abundant free time, he is pursuing a PhD in computer science at the University of Maryland.