Huynh named director of Nebraska Transportation Center

Nathan Huynh has been named the second director of the Nebraska Transportation Center (NTC). Huynh, who was selected from a nationwide search, will start at UNL on January 2, 2023.

He replaces Aemal Khattak, who serves as interim director of NTC after the departure of the founding director Laurence Rilett.

Huynh is currently a professor at the University of South Carolina, where he has developed and maintained a strong research program over the last 14 years with extramural funding from a variety of federal and state agencies. He has served as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI of 52 funded projects totaling more than $36 million; nearly half of this amount was secured as PI. Previously, Huynh was a faculty member at North Carolina A&T State University and worked for the Port of Houston Authority as a project manager and systems analyst. Huynh received his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in transportation engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Huynh’s research interests and expertise include supply chain and logistics, intermodal network design, freight transportation systems, civil infrastructure systems, and health care systems. He served in a number of leadership positions, including the Undergraduate Program Director, Chair of UofSC’s Faculty Senate Admissions Committee, Chair of the Transportation Research Board’s Intermodal Freight Terminal Design and Operations Committee, and Associate Director of the Center for Connected Multimodal Mobility (a US DOT Tier 1 Center).

“I am truly honored to have been selected to lead NTC. I see a wealth of opportunities to elevate the stature of NTC,” Huynh said. “I look forward to working with our sponsors, partners, and affiliates to improve NTC’s core missions in the areas of research, education, technology transfer, and outreach. Ultimately, our goal is to make long-lasting, positive impacts on the lives of Nebraskans and the state’s economy.”