RailTEC is pleased to welcome Dr. Yuanchen Zeng who will be joining the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in summer 2026 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Dr. Zeng is currently at Delft University of Technology where he has held a postdoctoral research position in their Railway Engineering section since completing his Ph.D. there in December 2023. He also holds a Ph.D. in Vehicle Operation Engineering from the State Key Laboratory of Rail Vehicle Systems at Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, China.
“We are excited that Dr. Zeng will be joining RailTEC” said Christopher P.L. Barkan, Professor, George Krambles Director of RailTEC, and Director of the NURail Center of Excellence. “I’ve thought for many years that we needed to expand our research program in the very topics that he is interested in. Beyond RailTEC, he will be a valuable addition to the North American rail research and practitioner community.”
RailTEC’s three business pillars of Education, Research, and Service fit nicely with Zeng’s teaching, research, and outreach experience. Zeng has had 14 first-authored papers published in international, peer-reviewed journals. He participated in developing and teaching several TU Delft Master courses on transportation infrastructure, structural health monitoring, and uncertainty quantification and has served as a mentor for two Ph.D., two M.Sc., and four B.Sc. students at TU Delft and supported several M.Sc. and B.Sc. students in their research at Southwest Jiaotong University.
Dr. Zeng’s expertise in rail vehicle-track systems and their safety includes the following areas:
- Advanced sensing, condition monitoring, and data fusion
- Data-driven risk analysis and remaining useful life prediction
- Predictive maintenance and lifespan control
- Structural dynamics and experimental/operational modal analysis
- High-speed train systems
His recent research includes work on use of train-borne laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) for infrastructure monitoring. He is validating this technology in both the laboratory and field, contributing to the success of an EU project (IAM4RAIL) and a Holland High Tech project (MemoLDV). His work also led to new projects sponsored by the Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail (RESET) and Holland High Tech (3D LDVom), in which he is supervising two Ph.D. students. Application of this technology will facilitate frequent, network-level monitoring of railway tracks and support predictive maintenance strategies. 
“Dr. Zeng’s research expertise in vehicle-track interaction will complement the rail research expertise throughout CEE at Illinois and will grow our ability to tackle research challenges that span the wheel-rail interface” said J. Riley Edwards, CEE Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the NURail Center of Excellence.
At Southwest Jiaotong University, Dr. Zeng pioneered machine-learning models that characterize wheel degradation using regularly collected data and enabling damage risk quantification, operational safety and performance assessment, and remaining useful life prediction. Based on these models, he further developed a reinforcement learning method that optimizes wheel operation and maintenance decisions to minimize the life cycle cost while enhancing safety. The technology has been patented and applied to more than 1,000 high-speed train sets from over 10 depots in China.
For a more in-depth look at Dr. Zeng’s research, please visit his Google Scholar profile.