Carolina Osorio

"Traffic jams are an inconvenience for those driving cars, and a headache for urban transit planners. In order to help with the analysis of big data, Carolina Osorio, professor and researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) has created a system of algorithms that study the transit system and is capable of proposing improvements to optimize traffic through evaluations and forecasts.

The algorithms recreate traffic simulations using data captured by a network of urban sensors and cameras. This analysis is able to reduce traffic jams as well as CO2 emissions, and can also inform drivers of how their movements affect traffic, how much energy they consume, and the amount of emissions they produce.

This young Colombian´s project is a clear example of how to influence people´s lives thanks to new advances given that managing traffic is key to the development of cities."