Education and Licensure

• Professional Engineer, State of Iowa, License No. 13862
• MS, Civil Engineering, Iowa State University, 1990
• BS, Civil Engineering, University of Oklahoma, 1988

Professional Experience

• Associate Director, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University, 2016–present
• Director, Center for Transportation Research and Education, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University, 2010–2016
• Director, Center for Weather Impacts on Mobility and Safety, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University, 2009–2016
• Pooled Fund Manager (Co-PI), FHWA Aurora RWIS, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University, 2010–present
• Traffic Operations Engineer (25% appointment with the Iowa DOT), 2013–present
• Traffic Safety Engineer (25% appointment with the Iowa DOT), 2009–2013
• MTC Research Coordinator, Midwest Transportation Consortium, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University, 2009–2012
• Associate Director, Traffic Operations at Center for Transportation Research and Education, Institute for Transportation, Iowa State University, 2003–2010
• Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University, 2003–present

Selected Research

• Iowa DOT Traffic Operations Research Program and REACTOR Laboratory – Leads statewide transportation operations, safety, and data analytics research supporting Iowa DOT decision-making. Established and co-directs the REACTOR Laboratory, a collaborative research initiative focused on streaming analytics and decision-support tools for public agencies. The program applies large-scale transportation data analytics to improve safety, mobility, operations, work zone performance, winter operations, and system management.
• Iowa DOT Connected Vehicle and Emerging Data Analytics – Leads research and deployment activities using connected vehicle data, weather, and other emerging data sources for safety and operations applications. Work includes near-real-time connected vehicle probe data analysis, open data services, signalized intersection data applications, work zone monitoring, and coordination with Iowa DOT operations staff.
• Roadway Safety Data, Crash Integration, and Data-Driven Safety Analysis – Leads and supports safety research that integrates roadway, traffic, crash, connected vehicle, and operational data sets to improve state DOT safety decision-making. Work addresses both traditional crash-based analysis and emerging proactive safety methods using continuous, network-wide behavioral and operational data.
• Work Zone, Weather, and Operations Data Integration – Leads research and agency support integrating traffic operations, work zone, weather, connected vehicle, AVL, and sensor data. Work includes statewide analytics and decision-support methods for operational monitoring, queue detection, work zone performance, winter operations, and agency response.
• FHWA Roadway Data Improvement Program (RDIP) Assistance Project – Worked with states directly to discuss and recommend opportunities to improve data collection and safety analysis. Mr. Hawkins participated in eight one-week DOT reviews for the following states: NC, LA, RI, NH, NE, TN, and AK.
• FHWA Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Sequential Dynamic Curve Warning System – Served as co-PI and was involved in all aspects of this national field evaluation of a promising new technology for the Highways for Life program.
• Iowa DOT Development of a Comprehensive Access Management Policy and Guidelines – Served as co-PI on all aspects of this research by developing guidance on the basis of a quantitative risk assessment related to crash rates and access management strategies.
• Illinois DOT Evaluating All-Weather Pavement Markings and Laboratory Methods to Simulate Field Exposure -Served as PI for a multi-university team documenting the wet performance of different marking materials across Illinois over a six-year study period.

Recent Publications

• Kandiboina, R., S. Knickerbocker, N. Hawkins, and A. Sharma. 2026. Leveraging Connected Vehicle Trajectories to Estimate Driver Compliance at Stop-Controlled Intersections: A Novel Approach. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2680 (1), 194–209.
• Hawkins, N. and W. Sorenson. 2025. Keeping Drivers Right: Iowa’s Low-cost Strategy to Prevent Wrong-way Entries. Journal of Traffic Control Device Research, 3 (1).
• Dumka, A., R. Kandiboina, S. Knickerbocker, N. Hawkins, J. Wood, and A. Sharma. 2025. Integrating Spatial and Temporal Effects in Seat-belt Compliance Assessment with Telematics Data.
• Garrett, K., N. Hawkins, J. Dong-O’Brien, H. Monteiro, and R. Schaefer. 2024. Adaptive Route Optimization for Operations: Concept of Operations Version 2 (Report No. FHWA-HOP-24-055). Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.

Professional Affiliations, Honors, and Awards

• National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices: Vice-Chair, Research Committee; Member, Pavement Markings Technical Committee; Associate Member, ITE Delegation
• Transportation Research Board: Member, Winter Maintenance and Response to Weather Events Committee; Lead, WG1, Forecasting Extreme Weather & Providing Decision Support for Responders
• Institute of Transportation Engineers: ITE Fellow; Past President, Missouri Valley Section; Past Chair, ITE Ethics Task Force
• Distinguished Member Award: Missouri Valley Section, Institute of Transportation Engineers
• Melvin B. Meyer Transportation Professional of the Year: Missouri Valley Section, Institute of Transportation Engineers