Dr. Alfredo Núñez Vicencio – My Team

Wassamon Phusakulkajorn, July 2024 – April 2025, "Artificial intelligence methodologies for engineering structures". Postdoc researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Dr. Alfredo Núñez and Dr. Hongrui Wang. Last known position: National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand.

Siwarak Unsiwilai, June 2024 – May 2025, "Condition assessment of railway track embankments". Postdoc researcher Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Prof. Zili Li and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Faculty member at the Chulalongkorn University - Thailand.

Taniya Kapoor, June 2024 – August 2025, "Advanced physics-informed machine learning and applications". Postdoc researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Dr. Hongrui Wang and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Postdoc AI fellow, University of Oxford.

Xinxin Yu, August 2023 – June 2024, "Multibody dynamics and traction control for friction monitoring in railway systems". Postdoc researcher, IAM4RAIL project, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisor: Prof. Zili Li. Supervisor on IAM4RAIL related topics: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Assistant Professor, Tampere University, Pirkanmaa, Finland.

Yuanchen Zeng, August 2023 – July 2026, "Vehicle-mounted laser Doppler vibrometer technologies". Postdoc researcher IAM4RAIL Project, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Prof. Zili Li and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Postdoc researcher at TUDelft.

Pan Zhang, September 2021 – August 2024, "Railway track and system dynamics". Postdoc researcher. Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Prof. Zili Li and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Postdoc researcher at TUDelft.

Dr. Hongrui Wang, August 2019 – November 2020, "Big Data and AI methods for railway catenary asset management". Postdoc researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisor: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet. Daily Supervisor: Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Structures, Delft University of Technology.

Dr. Ali Jamshidi, February 2018 – July 2018, "Multi-objective design for rail maintenance optimization". Postdoc researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet and Prof. Zili Li. Daily Supervisor: Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Lead Development Engineer at Praedico.

Dr. Maider Oregui, August 2015 – March 2016, "Needs tailored interoperable railway". Postdoc researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Dr. Zili Li and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Structural Calculations Engineer, CAF. Maider was awarded the Young Researcher Award of the International Union of Railways UIC to recognize young engineers and researchers who have made significant contributions in rail research and innovation (link UIC).

Dr. Maria Molodova, January 2013 – December 2015, "Axle box acceleration modeling and validation". Part-time Postdoc researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Dr. Zili Li and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Director, OkazoLab Ltd. Maria won the Dutch Institute World Class Maintenance Innovation Research Award for her PhD thesis. Maria also won the best student paper awards at the 16th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (link Delta).

Marco Andres Auza Sanchez, June 2024 – today, "Digital and AI-driven process solutions for sustainable concrete". PhD researcher, DETOCS EU-project, Section of Resources and Recycling, Department of Engineering Structures, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Daily Supervisor and co-promotor: Dr. Yongli Wu. Promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez.

Nikhil Manakshya, November 2023 – today, "Real-time assessment and control of electric locomotives for traction and braking". PhD researcher, IAM4RAIL EU-project, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Promotors: Prof. Zili Li and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Daily Supervisor: Dr. Hongrui Wang.

Reza Riahi Samani, August 2023 – today, "Data-driven prediction and decision-making for maintenance of railway tracks". PhD researcher, IAM4RAIL project, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Promotor and Daily Supervisor: Prof. Bart De Schutter. Promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez.

Taniya Kapoor, November 2021 – May 2024, "Physics-informed machine learning: from methods to beam structures" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: October 2024. Promotor: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet. Co-promotors: Dr. Hongrui Wang (daily supervisor) and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Postdoc AI fellow, University of Oxford.

Wassamon Phusakulkajorn, October 2020 – June 2024, "AI Solutions for maintenance decision support in railway infrastructure" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: March 2024. Promotor: Prof. Zili Li. Co-promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand. Wassamon received the best paper award for her publication in the journal Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure - Oxford editorial.

Yuanchen Zeng, February 2020 – August 2023, "Monitoring dynamic properties of railway tracks using train-borne vibrometer measurement" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: December 2023. Promotor: Prof. Zili Li. Co-promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Postdoc researcher at TUDelft. Yuanchen received the best PhD Thesis award from the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) and ERJU.

Jianfeng Fu, October 2018 – August 2022, "Failure prevention and restoration in power systems" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: September 2022. Promotor: Prof. Bart De Schutter. Co-promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Assistant Professor at Dalian Maritime University, China.

Siwarak Unsiwilai, September 2018 – May 2024, "Railway track support condition assessment: from onboard measurement to maintenance decision support" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: November 2024. Promotor: Prof. Zili Li. Co-promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Faculty member at the Chulalongkorn University - Thailand.

Marko Kapetanovic, July 2018 – September 2022, "Improving the sustainability of regional railway services" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Transport and Planning, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: October 2022. Promotor: Prof. Rob Goverde. Co-promotor: Dr. Niels van Oort. Daily Supervisor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Full-time Postdoc researcher at TUDelft. In Dec. 2021, the paper "Analysis of hydrogen-powered propulsion system alternatives for diesel-electric multiple unit regional trains" was selected in the group of best papers at the 9th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis (RailBeijing 2021).In May 2023, the paper "Vehicle-to-Grid Concept for Hydrogen Fuel Cell Hybrid-Electric Regional Trains" was selected in the group of best papers at the 10th International Conference on Railway Operations Modelling and Analysis (RailBelgrade 2023).

Tim Vernaillen, July 2018 – today (part-time), "Rail wear and rolling contact fatigue". Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Promotors: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet, Prof. Zili Li, and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Track Maintenance Civil Engineer at Infrabel, Belgium.

Jurjen Hendriks, tFebruary 2018 – today (part-time), "Structural health monitoring of railway systems". Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Promotors: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet and Dr. Alfredo Núñez.

Dr. Hongrui Wang, December 2016 – December 2019, "Data-based dynamic condition assessment of railway catenaries" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: December 2019. Promotor: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet. Co-Promotor: Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Assistant Professor at TUDelft, The Netherlands. In Dec. 2021, Hongrui Wang received the PhD thesis award from the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC) and Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking. As of July/August 2020, the journal paper "Junwen Chen, Zhigang Liu, Hongrui Wang, Alfredo Núñez, and Zhiwei Han, Automatic defect detection of fasteners on the catenary support device using deep convolutional neural network, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement 67(2):257-269, 2018" is in the highly cited list, the top 1% of the field Engineering, Data from Essential Science Indicators (ISI-Web of Science).

Pan Zhang, September 2016 – August 2021, "Mechanisms and mitigation of short pitch rail corrugation" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: December 2022. Promotor: Prof. Zili Li (daily supervisor). Co-promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Postdoc researcher at TUDelft.

Dr. Luis Marin, March 2014 – December 2018, "Hierarchical energy management system based on fuzzy prediction intervals for operation and coordination of microgrids" (UChile repository). Ph.D. researcher, Electrical Engineering Department, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. Defense date: December 2018. Promotor: Prof. Doris Saez Hueichapan. Co-Promotors: Prof. Mark Sumner and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Professor at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá – Colombia.

Dr. Ali Jamshidi, January 2014 – January 2018, "Intelligent rail maintenance decision support system using KPIs" (TUDelft repository). Ph.D. researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: September 2019. Promotors: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet and Prof. Zili Li. Co-Promotor: Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Lead Development Engineer at Praedico.

Zulkifli Hidayat, January 2011 – January 2015, "Identification of finite dimensional spatiotemporal systems". Ph.D. researcher, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: April 2025. Promotors: Prof. Robert Babuška and Prof. Bart De Schutter. Co-Promotor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Academic from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Indonesia.

Bojan Bogojević, September 2023 – today, "Robust rail surface defect detection based on axle box accelerations of in-service passenger trains". Engineering Doctorate researcher, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Chair: Prof. Rolf Dollevoet. Supervisors: Alfredo Núñez and Theo Kruse (ProRail). Committee: Prof. Rob Goverde, Ellard Groenewegen, Ilse Oonk.

Karim El Laham, September 2021 – September 2023, "A big data methodology for tamping decisions using sensors from sky, railway track and substructure". Professional doctorate, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: September 2023. Chair: Prof. Zili Li. Supervisors: Dr. Valeri Markine, Dr. Alfredo Núñez and Dr. Neda Sepasian (Fugro). Thesis committee: Prof. Zoran Kapelan, Ellard Groenewegen, and Ilse Oonk. Karim received the Institution for Rail Infrastructure Engineering PWI Young Achiever's Award, which recognises the achievements of young people working in the rail industry.

Paul Le Lan, February 2018 – February 2020, "Rail surface defect treatment decision support". Professional doctorate, Section of Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense date: February 2020. Supervisors: Dr. Alfredo Núñez and Dr. Maarten van Riel (BAM). Advisor: Dr. Zhen Yang. Thesis committee: Prof. Pieter van Gelder, Prof. Zili Li, Ellard Groenewegen, and Ilse Oonk.

Yuan Lei, "Physics-informed neural networks for engineering structures". PhD researcher, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Supervisor: Prof. Yi-Qing Ni. Visit period: June 2023 to December 2023.

Junping Zhong, "Fault diagnosis for the catenary components in high-speed railway based on computer vision". Ph.D. researcher, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China. Supervisor: Prof. Zhigang Liu. Visit period: October 2019 to October 2020.

Wenqiang Liu, "Fault detection and diagnosis theory of electrified railway catenary and track". Ph.D. researcher, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China. Supervisor: Prof. Zhigang Liu. Visit period: September 2017 to February 2019.

Tijmen Hoedjes, "Unsupervised analysis of tramway infrastructure degradation in transition zones using InSAR". MSc Civil Engineering, Track Traffic and Transport Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisor: Alfredo Núñez (daily supervisor). Committee: Anupam Kumar (TUDelft), Noa Peteroff (GVB), and Michel Huijsmans (GVB). Defense: May 6, 2025.

Jose Stradi, "A digital twin approach for cross-border maintenance operations". MSc Civil Engineering, Track Traffic and Transport Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Rolf Dollevoet (Chair) and Alfredo Núñez (daily supervisor). Committee: Mahnam Saeednia, Arjen Zoeteman (ProRail), and Tim Vernaillen (Infrabel). Defense: August 29, 2024.

Wessel Roodenburg, "Rail infrastructure quality monitoring through smartphone accelerometer measurements". MSc Civil Engineering, Track Traffic and Transport Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Zili Li (Chair) and Alfredo Núñez (daily supervisor). Committee: Anupam Kumar, Yuanchen Zeng, Jurjen Hendriks, Arjen Zoeteman (ProRail). Defense: July 30, 2024.

Siew Chee Wong, "Assessing the resilience of railway organisation for unexpected external events" (TUDelft Repository). MSc thesis, Department of Transportation and Planning, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Niels van Oort (Chair), Alfredo Núñez, Hongrui Wang (Daily Supervisor). Defense: November 13, 2023.

Brian Kwee, "A heuristic method for the distribution of freight wagons on a rail yard taking into account dangerous goods" (TUDelft Repository). MSc thesis, Master track Transport & Planning, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Committee chair: Prof. Rob Goverde. Daily supervisor: Dr. Alfredo Núñez and Bogdan Godziejewski (Mott MacDonald). Defense: May 12, 2022.

Noa Peteroff, "Rail wear in curves at the tramway of Amsterdam" (TUDelft Repository). MSc thesis, Civil Engineering, Track: Structural Engineering - Road and Railway Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Supervisors: Prof. Zili Li (chair), Dr. Alfredo Núñez, and Janneke Tax (GVB-Amsterdam). Committee members: Dr. Yuguang Yang and Michel Huijsmans (GVB-Amsterdam). Defense: December 23, 2021.

Arif Nurhidayat, "Deep learning for monitoring the health condition of railway crossings" (TUDelft Repository). Master of Science in Systems and Control, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense: January 24, 2018. Supervisor: Prof. Bart De Schutter. Daily supervisors: Alfredo Núñez and Anthonie Boogaard.

Muhammad Faris, "Distributed optimization for railway track maintenance operations planning" (TUDelft Repository). Master of Science in Systems and Control, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense: January 18, 2018. Supervisor: Prof. Bart De Schutter. Daily supervisors: Alfredo Núñez, Zhou Su, Ali Jamshidi.

Suzan van Ginkel, "Multi-objective project portfolio optimization - Application in railway infrastructure networks" (TUDelft Repository). Master of Science in Systems and Control, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense: November 27, 2017. Supervisor: Prof. Bart De Schutter. Daily supervisor: Alfredo Núñez. In cooperation with ORTEC.

Wei Xie, "Decision support for the maintenance regarding tram wheel-rail interface based on multi-source data analysis". MSc thesis, Transport, Infrastructure & Logistics Master Program, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense: October 19, 2017. Supervisor: Prof. Zili Li. Daily supervisors: Alfredo Núñez and Ron Maas (Sensornet). In cooperation with Sensornet.

Franka Veltman, "Hybrid human in the loop model predictive control for polder management, case study Ommoord". Master of Science in Systems and Control, Delft Center for Systems and Control, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense: October 24, 2016. Supervisor: Prof. Bart De Schutter. Daily supervisor: Alfredo Núñez. Franka was awarded an ACM-W scholarship for attendance at the 2015 IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence in South Africa.

Rick Schalk, "Data analytics for RCF damages on the Dutch HSL track". MSc thesis, Construction, Management, and Engineering Master Program, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Defense: September 23, 2016. Supervisors: Prof. Rogier Wolfert and Dr. Arjen Zoeteman. Daily Supervisors: Alfredo Núñez and Aad Hertogs (Infraspeed).

Marco Rinaldi, "Identificazione di modelli e controllo predittivo di traffic autostradale (in Italian)". Thesis for the Master’s Degree of Science in Information Technology Engineering - Control Systems Engineering, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Pavia, Italy, Oct. 2011. Supervisor: Prof. Antonella Ferrara. Co-supervisors: Dr. Luca Capisani and Dr. Alfredo Núñez. Last known position: Assistant Professor (tenure tracker) at TUDelft, CEG Faculty, Department of Transport and Planning.