After more than 40 years of construction and development, the transportation engineering of Kunming University of science and technology has formed adisciplinegroupofurban and rural planning, system science, civil engineering and other related disciplines. The engineering discipline of Kunming University of science and technology ranks first in the world in ESI. In 2018, thetransportation Engineering discipline won the right to confer a doctor's degree in the first level discipline.At present, Yunnan Provincial postdoctoralresearch station has been set up in the discipline, with a laboratory area of 10350 square meters and a total investment of 78.22 million yuan in equipment for postdoctoral use.

Under the national strategy of developing the Yunnan Province as a strong center that has a great influence on south Asian and southeast Asian countries, our faculty in this discipline has been striving on developing excellent research capabilities, with its root in the western frontier of China and its first-class doctorate discipline of Traffic Transportation Engineering, as well as its second-class doctorate discipline of Vehicle Engineering. We have established the following four main discipline directions with unique strengths: (1) planning and management of the urban and rural transportation systems of less-developed areas; (2) vehicle–road coordination in plateau mountainous regions and traffic system safety; (3) high-altitude operation characteristics and application management of transportation vehicles; and (4) operational safety and environmental protection of new energy automobiles. We have been actively engaged in the research of the fundamental theories and key technologies of high-altitude cold-climate vehicles and propulsion power systems, and the research of the border traffic safety controls in high-altitude mountainous regions, as well as integrated logistics and transportation security systems.

Thediscipline of Transportation Engineering currently has 72 faculty members, including 53 full-time members, 13 professors, 24 associate professors, and 14 supervisors of doctorates. Among them, 73% of the members are below the age of 45, and approximately half of the faculty members possess graduate degrees of prestigious national or international universities or have research experience in famous universities worldwide. Our energetic faculty team has developed a balanced structure in educational background and academic echelon. Professor Dongyuan YANG, a former vice chancellor of Tongji University, is the honorary Dean of our Faculty. There are many outstanding scholars in our faculty team, including one committee member of the Road Transportation & Engineering Teaching Steering Subcommittee under the Teaching Guidance Committee of Transportation University Specialties of the Department of Education, one committee member of the Transportation Engineering Teaching Steering Subcommittee, one Marie Curie Scholar of the European Union, one Introduced Foreign Talent Scholar of the Yunnan Province, one Industrial Technology Lead Scholar of the Yunnan Province Ten-Thousand Talent Plan, two Outstanding Young Scholars of the Yunnan Province Ten-Thousand Talent Plan, one high-end foreign expert of the Yunnan Province, one young talent scholar of the Yunnan Province One-Thousand Talent Plan, and five young lead experts of academic and technological research of the Yunnan Province.

In recent years, the college had 251 new research programs with a total research budget of 61.2 million Yuan RMB. Among them, 23 programs were supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation with a total budget of 13.9682 million Yuan RMB. The annual average research budget for each faculty member has reached 0.3 million Yuan RMB.

During the past several years, the college has published 472 research papers, with 156 papers collected by SCI, EI, or ISTP, which are the three major international retrieval systems. The papers with a quality rank B or above occupy 58% of the total number of the papers. Fifteen monographs and textbooks have been published. 158 national patents have been granted, with 35 patents being invention patents. The college has received 11 honors and awards of provisional or ministerial levels for engineering research, including two first-class prizes, three second-class prizes, and six third-class prizes.

【Traffic System Planning】Head: Professor Min HE

Fundamental theoretical research is conducted in this area on travel decision-making behavior, traffic system optimization and organization, and traffic big data for complicated traffic problems in rapid urbanization. Long-term support and technical services for decision-making are provided to the government and enterprises. Rail traffic forecast research was provided to more than ten cities including Dongguan, Kunming, Guiyang, Chengdu, and Dali, including key design parameters and analysis of operation risk. Solutions to traffic dredging systems were provided to the mountainous city of Guiyang, which has a high density of population and is very crowded, for its construction of rail traffic in order to ensure normal operation of the city traffic.

【Advanced Technologies of Internal Combustion Engines】Head: ProfessorJilin LEI

Our Yunnan Province High Altitude Engine Performance & Advanced Technology Innovation Team was established based on multiple research platforms including the Yunnan Province Key Laboratory of Internal Combustion Engines. We have successfully built an alliance of industry, education, and research with many enterprises in the Yunnan Province or in the nation to achieve seamless connections for the needs of all parties involved. Our modern design techniques and controls technologies have been implemented into the entire life cycle of high-efficiency and clean power machinery products. Our unique strength is high-altitude engine performance research. We have developed an effective and combined operation pattern of talent education, discipline development, and scientific research. We are in a leading role in high-altitude internal combustion engine research and product development in China.

【Safety and Simulation of Traffic System】Head: Professor Jian XIONG

Relying on the Virtual Simulation Experiment and Teaching Center and the university-level discipline platform of traffic human factors and safety, the following research is conducted: vehicle dynamics and simulation techniques, traffic safety psychology and behavior, traffic system safety evaluation, traffic environment and safety, automotive active safety and intelligent control technology, and traffic big data analysis. We have established stable research work on the fundamental theoretical research for traffic system safety and on the applied research for traffic human factors and safety, as well as on the simulation research of intelligent traffic systems. We have established a large-scale platform of road traffic simulation systems with our own independent intellectual property rights, and successfully achieved technology transfer.

【Comprehensive System Planning of Traffic and Logistics】Head: Professor Xiaofeng JI

Relying on an engineering research center and a new type of think tank of the Yunnan Province, as well as a university-level innovation team, we have developed many unique research directions as follows: data-driven regional traffic planning and public transportation optimization, multi-scale logistics space planning, network planning and operation organization of tourist transportation, and road traffic safety assessment of mountainous plateaus. Many of our research results have been successfully applied in the Yunnan Province, including comprehensive traffic planning, logistics hub planning, and tourist transportation planning.

【Intelligent Traffic System Research】Head: Professor Wei CHENG

Relying on the Yunnan Province University Intelligent Transportation Engineering Technology Research Center, fundamental research and application development are conducted on intelligent traffic management systems for the construction of traffic management information. We have developed a long-term coordinated innovation alliance with the Traffic Police Corps of the Yunnan Province Public Security Bureau with a joint cooperation pattern linking industry, education, research, and police. Our developed platforms of the comprehensive control of city traffic information and our software technologies related to traffic system simulation platforms have been applied in many cities with great social and economic benefits.

【New Energy Automobiles】Head: Professor Zheng CHEN

Relying on the research platform of the Yunnan Province New Energy Automotive Production Promotion Center, systematic research is conducted on key technologies related to worldwide new energy automotive power systems for the needs of developing the new energy automotive industry of the Yunnan Province, developing core technology innovation, developing the discipline of vehicle engineering, and developing talents. We also provide professional training in the field of electric vehicles in order to provide technology support for the electric vehicle industry of the Yunnan Province.

【Vehicle Chassis Control Technologies】Head: Professor Xiujian YANG

Relying on the platform of the Vehicle Engineering Test Center, the following research is conducted: vehicle system structural design, vehicle dynamics control, and intelligent network cars. These research work supports the First-Class Doctorate Discipline of Traffic Transportation Engineering, and focuses on the issues of vehicle operation safety, energy conservation, and emissions controls for achieving better vehicle dynamic performance and motion controls. Our research is unique in terms of addressing interdisciplinary topics of the vehicles and traffic in the road environment of mountainous plateaus.