Intelligent Systems for Safer Roads

Danish Nadar (AI/M.A.S. AI 3rd Year) changed the way that he looked at transportation after he was struck by a speeding car. That experience got him thinking about how quickly everyday travel can become dangerous, and how he could affect change.

“After that incident, that topic transformed from an interest to personal ambition,” he says.  “It clarified what I want to spend my life working on, motivated me to use (artificial intelligence) and autonomy to build safer road travel systems, improve decision-making in complex environments, and leverage novel technologies to develop exceptional and life-changing applications.”

Danish is fascinated by autonomous vehicle technology and the idea that software could reduce human error. He is exploring his fascination through Illinois Tech’s Elevate initiative and by joining the university’s EcoCAR team as a connected and autonomous vehicle engineer.

“The Elevate [initiative] stood out because it emphasized internship access, real professional experience, and a clear pathway to develop industry-ready skills,” he says. “After I arrived, I discovered even more opportunities that reinforced that decision, including hands-on teams such as EcoCAR, engineering organizations, and development groups. Those experiences ended up aligning perfectly with my ambitions.”

Danish says he has also found a culture of mentorship and support at Illinois Tech, especially from Teaching Professor of Computer Science Jacek Dzikowski, whose challenges have pushed Danish to aim higher than he thought imaginable. Dzikowski’s standards pushed him to tackle bigger goals, stay disciplined, and follow through at a high level.

“I have developed a structured process for breaking problems down, testing assumptions, and improving systems through iteration,” he says. “That shift in my mindset has shown me the difference between writing code and engineering AI systems.”

Danish has been pursuing practical, applied coursework in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, and deep learning to further align his studies with his career goals. He says that he has gained meaningful hands-on experience through his courses, which enabled him to contribute effectively to collaborative research teams and student organizations, including EcoCAR, Illinois Tech Robotics, the Railroad Club, the International Game Developers Association, and Podium Pros.

“One example is an AI-powered autonomous robot system that I led in Illinois Tech Robotics,” he says. “It combined sensor fusion and machine learning to navigate independently and coordinate a small fleet of robots. Building that system felt like bringing real-world autonomy principles to life on a smaller scale.”

Danish says that he hopes to use his Illinois Tech education and experiences to make transportation safer and more efficient through AI and autonomy.

His goal is to help develop autonomous and connected vehicle systems to reduce preventable accidents, improve decision-making in complex road environments, and make daily travel more reliable for everyone.

“Illinois Tech has trained me to think like an engineer and build under real constraints, and I want to take that mindset into industry and research to create safety-focused technology that scales,” he says. “Ultimately, I want my work to help shift road travel from being reactive to being intelligent and predictive, while also positioning me to lead in my field and use my expertise to drive meaningful change.”