Ypsilanti
Michigan, USA
Urban Collaboratory researchers are working with Ypsilanti stakeholders to improve social and water resources in the community.
About Ypsilanti
Ypsilanti Michigan, home to Eastern Michigan University, sits just a few miles east of Ann Arbor in Southeast Michigan.
The Urban Collaboratory is involved in several projects in Ypsilanti. As Ann Arbor’s neighbor, Ypsilanti (often called “Ypsi” for short) is connected to Ann Arbor by the Huron River, which flows through both cities as well as by a shared transit authority (“The Ride”) and a major interstate (I-94).
- Population: 21,018
- Area: 4.33 square miles
- Median Household Income: $33,055
- Poverty Rate: 31.3%
"Ypsilanti Township's residents are strong and proud. And we have so many residents who have lived here for 40, 50, 60 years...their entire lives, really. It is so exciting to partner with the Urban Collaboratory because they're developing this intuitive technology that will help our strong, proud elder residents to continue to live on their own...Through this technology, they can still get the help and support that they need. They can be connected in a way that maintains their mobility and more importantly, their independence. It really is ground breaking and exciting. We're happy that our residents get to be a part of it."
Brenda Stumbo
Ypsilanti Township Supervisor
Related Projects
in Ypsilanti
Principal Investigators in Ann Arbor
SangHyun Lee PhD, MSc
Principal Investigator
Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
John L. Tishman Faculty Scholar of Civil and Environmental Engineering
SangHyun Lee is an Associate Professor and John L. Tishman Faculty Scholar of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan, and leads the Dynamic Project Management group. He is also Acting CEO of Kinetica. He received both his MSc and PhD from MIT, and his research aims to understand and manage construction dynamics and human-infrastructure interface through sensing, data analytics and computer simulation. He served as a board of governors in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Construction Institute, Chair of the ASCE Construction Research Council, and Chair of the ASCE Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation Committee. In addition, he is serving as the Specialty Editor for the ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, and as an Associate Editor for the ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering. He received the ASCE Daniel W. Halpin Award for Scholarship in Construction, ASCE Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize, the FIATCH CETI Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award, the Stephen G. Revay Award from the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering, CII Distinguished Professor Award, Tom Waters Award, and Henry Russel Award, the highest honor the University of Michigan bestows upon junior faculty, among many others as well as seven best paper awards including the 2014 ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering best paper award. He has over 170 peer-reviewed articles including 74 journal articles as well as 2 patents, 2 books and 1 start-up company.
Recent Projects
Victor Li PhD
Principal Investigator
James R. Rice Distinguished University Professor of Engineering
E. Benjamin Wylie Collegiate Professor of Civil Engineering
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Professor of Macromolecular Science and Engineering
Dr. Victor Li is the James R. Rice Distinguished University Professor of Engineering, and the E.B. Wylie Collegiate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research interest is in multifunctional materials targeted at enhancing civil infrastructure sustainability and resiliency. He led the research team that invented Engineering Cementitious Composites, popularly known as “Bendable Concrete”. Professor Li was awarded the International Grand Prize for Innovation by the Construction Industry Council and the RILEM Life-time Achievement Award in 2016. He received the Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award in 2015 and the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2006 from the University of Michigan. In 2005, he received the Stephen S. Attwood award, the highest honor bestowed by the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan. In 2004, Professor Li was honored by the Technical University of Denmark with a “Doctor technics honoris causa” in recognition of his “outstanding, innovative contributions to materials research and engineering and providing our society and the construction industry with new, safe and sustainable building materials”. Professor Li is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the World Innovation Forum, and the American Concrete Institute. His research and societal impacts have been featured in the CBS Evening News, CNN, the Discovery Channel, the Architectural Record, the American Ceramic Society, the Portland Cement Association, and the Forbes Magazine, amongst many other public media. Professor Li is named inventor on ten US patents.
Watch Victor Li testify to the Michigan House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation discussing the potential benefits of using bendable concrete on Michigan roads and bridges.
Recent Projects
+ Bendable Concrete Utilized on a Bridge Deck (Engineered Cementitious Composite or ECC)