Ming Xu

My research focuses on developing and applying computational and data-enabled methodology in the broader area of sustainability. Main thrusts are as follows:

1. Human mobility dynamics. I am interested in mining large-scale real-world travel trajectory data to understand human mobility dynamics. This involves the processing and analyzing travel trajectory data, characterizing individual mobility patterns, and evaluating environmental impacts of transportation systems/technologies (e.g., electric vehicles, ride-sharing) based on individual mobility dynamics.
2. Global supply chains. Increasingly intensified international trade has created a connected global supply chain network. I am interested in understanding the structure of the global supply chain network and economic/environmental performance of nations.
3. Networked infrastructure systems. Many infrastructure systems (e.g., power grid, water supply infrastructure) are networked systems. I am interested in understanding the basic structural features of these systems and how they relate to the system-level properties (e.g., stability, resilience, sustainability).

A network visualization (force-directed graph) of the 2012 US economy using the industry-by-industry Input-Output Table (15 sectors) provided by BEA contains 405 industries. Each node represents a sector. The size of the node represents the economic output of the sector. The size and darkness of links represent the value of exchanges of goods/services between sectors. An interactive version and other data visualizations are available at http://mingxugroup.org/