Civil engineering student explores driver behavior with advanced VR eye tracking software

Published November 10, 2025

Hayden Radel is a junior in UB’s Civil Engineering BS program. During summer 2025, Radel completed an externship at the City of Buffalo Mayor’s Office of Strategic Planning, through the UB Startup and Innovation Collaboratory. Radel completed a 9-week planning internship, working under Senior Planner, Nkosi Alleyne, who focuses on transportation planning.

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Hayden Radel.

Hayden Radel

Through this experience, Radel connected with the Buffalo community as part of the Envision Neighborhoods Initiative. Radel met community members through outreach events, completed literature reviews and performed demographic data analysis. 

She presented the results of these actions at the end of summer poster event. Radel also works as a student research assistant in the Transportation Research and Visualization Laboratory (TRAVL). 

In the spring, Radel primarily worked directly with participants, ensuring protocol was correctly followed and necessary data was collected. Currently, she is working with PhD student Daisha Cárdenas to analyze eye tracking data collected from VR driving simulations. This comprehensive look at different types of eye movements will be used to expand understanding of how drivers, with and without anxiety, behave as road users. 

Radel’s research with the TRAVL lab is funded through the UB Experiential Learning Network, which supports undergraduate work on research projects across UB. 

At the end of the experience, Radel will earn a digital badge for Mentored Research completed in TRAVL under the mentorship of CSEE Assistant Professor Dr. Irena Benedyk and present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium in December.