Cools Mario

Educational Background

2005 – 2009

2004 – 2005

2000 – 2004

Doctor of Philosophy in Transportation Sciences

University: Hasselt University, Belgium

Grade: Not applicable

Dissertation: Inter- and intraday variability of Flemish travel behaviour

Promotor: Prof. dr. Geert Wets

Copromotor: dr. Elke Moons

Master of science in applied statistics

University: Hasselt University, Belgium

Grade: Distinction (75%)

Thesis: Social, economic and policy analysis of recreational fisheries in Flanders

Promotor: dr. Alain De Vocht

Master in applied economic sciences

University: Antwerp University, Belgium

Grade: Satisfaction (69,83%)

Thesis: The liability of internet service providers (in Dutch)

Promotor: Prof. dr. Hendrik Vanhees

Work Experience

10/2012 – present

04/2012 – present

10/2011 – 09/2012

10/2010 – 09/2012

12/2009 – 09/2010

08/2009 – 11/2009

08/2005 – 07/2009

Transport, Logistique, Urbanisme, Conception (TLU+C), University of Liege (Université de Liège (ULg)), Belgium

Assistant professor

Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Belgium

Assistant professor (10%)

Center for Information Modeling and Simulation (CIMS), Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), Belgium

Assistant professor

Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Belgium

Post-doctoral researcher

Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Belgium

Post-doctoral researcher

Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Belgium

Researcher

Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Belgium

PhD. Candidate

Memberships

Member of the Society for Multivariate Analysis in the Behavioural Sciences (SMABS)

Member of the European Survey Research Association (ESRA)

Member of the Association of American Geographers (AAG)

Scientific Articles

A. Publications in journals with peer review

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2007), Investigating Effect of Holidays on Daily Traffic Counts: Time Series Approach, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2019, pp. 22-31.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2009), Investigating the Variability in Daily Traffic Counts Trough Use of ARIMAX and SARIMAX Models: Assessing the Effect of Holidays on Two Site Locations, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2136, pp. 57-66.

Cools, M., E. Moons, B. Janssens, and G. Wets (2009), Shifting Towards Environment-Friendly Modes: Profiling Travelers using Q-Methodology, Transportation, 36(4), pp. 437-453.

Janssens, D., M. Cools, E. Moons, G. Wets, T. Arentze, H. Timmermans (2009), Road Pricing as an Impetus for Environment-Friendly Travel Behavior: Results from a Stated Adaptation Experiment, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2115, pp. 50-59.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Assessing the Impact of Weather on Traffic Intensity, Weather, Climate and Society, 2(1), pp. 60-68.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Assessing the Impact of Public Holidays on Travel Time Expenditure: Differentiation by Trip Motive, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2157, pp. 29-37.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Assessing the Quality of Origin-Destination Matrices Derived from Activity Travel Surveys: Results from a Monte Carlo Experiment, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2183, pp. 49-59.

Cools, M., E. Moons, L. Creemers, and G. Wets (2010), Changes in Travel Behavior in Response to Weather Conditions: Do Type of Weather and Trip Purpose Matter, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2157, pp. 22-28.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Calibrating Activity-Based Models with External Origin-Destination Information: Overview Of Different Possibilities, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2175, pp. 98-110.

Cools, M., K. Brijs, H. Tormans, E. Moons, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), The socio-cognitive links between road pricing acceptability and changes in travel behaviour, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 45(8), pp. 779-788.

Perrakis, K., D. Karlis, M. Cools, D. Janssens, K. Vanhoof, and G. Wets (2012), A Bayesian approach for modelling origin-destination matrices, Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 46(1), pp. 200-212.

Cools, M., K. Brijs, H. Tormans, J. De Laender, G. Wets (2012), Optimizing the implementation of policy measures through social acceptance segmentation, Transport Policy, 22, pp. 80-87.

Creemers, L., M. Cools, H. Tormans, P.-J. Lateur, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2012), Identifying the Determinants of Light Rail Mode Choice for Medium- and Long-Distance Trips: Results from a State Preference Study, Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2275, pp. 30-38.

Tormans, H., W. Miermans, M. Cools, E. Polders, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2012), Performance Assessment of Local Mobility Policy-Making Administrations Using the Principles of Total Quality Management in Flanders, Belgium: Expounding the Decision-Making Processes, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, in press. doi: 10.1080/15568318.2011.633155.    

B. Publications in international conference proceedings with peer review (full paper)

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2007), Investigating Effect of Holidays on Daily Traffic Counts: Time Series Approach, Proceedings of the 86^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2007), Travel time expenditure in Flanders: Towards a better understanding of travel behavior, Proceedings of the 10^th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management (CUPUM), Iguassu Falls, Brazil.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2008), Assessing the Impact of Weather on Traffic Intensity, Proceedings of the 87^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., E. Moons, T. Bellemans, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2009) Surveying activity-travel behavior in Flanders: Assessing the impact of the survey design. In C. Macharis, and L. Turcksin (eds.), Proceedings of the BIVEC-GIBET Transport Research Day 2009, Part II, VUBPress, Brussels, pp. 727-741.

Cools, M., E. Moons, B. Janssens, and G. Wets (2009), Shifting Towards Environment-Friendly Modes: Profiling Travelers using Q-Methodology, Proceedings of the 88^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2009), Investigating the Variability in Daily Traffic Counts Trough the Use of ARIMAX and SARIMAX Models: Assessing the Effect of Holidays on two diverse site locations, Proceedings of the 88^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Janssens, D., C. Beckx, M. Cools, G. Wets, T. Bellemans, L. Int Panis, and K. Vanhoof (2009), The presentation of an integrated microsimulation modeling framework to measure and predict emissions and dynamic exposure, Proceedings of the Next Generation Data Summit 2009, Columbia, MD.

Janssens, D., M. Cools, E. Moons, G. Wets, T. Arentze, H. Timmermans (2009), Road Pricing as an Impetus for Environment-Friendly Travel Behavior: Results from Stated Adaptation Experiment, Proceedings of the 88^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., K. Brijs, E. Moons, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2010), The psychology behind road pricing: Identification of socio-cognitive factors inducing changes in activity-travel behavior, Proceedings of the 12 World Conference on Transport Research, Lisbon, Portugal.

Cools, M., E. Moons, L. Creemers, and G. Wets (2010), Changes in Travel Behavior in Response to Weather Conditions: Do Type of Weather and Trip Purpose Matter, Proceedings of the 89^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Assessing Quality of Origin-Destination Matrices Derived from Activity and Travel Surveys: Results from a Monte Carlo Experiment, Proceedings of the 89^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Assessing the Impact of Public Holidays on Travel Time Expenditure: Differentiation by Trip Motive, Proceedings of the 89^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2010), Calibrating Activity-Based Models with External OD Information: Overview Of Different Possibilities, Proceedings of the 89^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Ramaekers, K., M. Cools, S. Reumers, and G. Wets (2010), Modelling Shortest Path Decisions Using an Activity-Based Segmentation. In G. K. Janssens, K. Ramaekers, and A. Caris (eds.), ESM '2010 The European Simulation and Modeling Conference, Eurosis-ETI, Ostend, Belgium, pp. 358-365.

Cools, M., K. Brijs, H. Tormans, J. De Laender, and G. Wets (2011), Improved Policy Support Through Segmentation Based on Social Acceptance, Proceedings of the 90^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., B. Kochan, T. Bellemans, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), Assessment of the Effect of Micro-Simulation Error on Key Travel Indices: Evidence from the Activity-Based Model FEATHERS, Proceedings of the 90^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Cools, M., K. Ramaekers, S. Reumers, and G. Wets (2011), Modeling Route Choice of Car Travelers using an Activity-Based Segmentation, Proceedings of the 90^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Perrakis, K., D. Karlis, M. Cools, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), A Bayesian Approach for Modeling Origin-Destination Matrices, Proceedings of the 90^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Kochan, B., T. Bellemans, M. Cools, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), An estimation of total vehicle travel reduction in the case of telecommuting. Detailed analysis using an activity-based modeling approach. In E. Cornelis (ed.), Proceedings of the BIVEC-GIBET Transport Research Day 2011, University Press, Zelzate, Belgium, pp. 206-213.

Kochan, B., T. Bellemans, M. Cools, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), An estimation of total vehicle travel reduction in the case of telecommuting. Detailed analysis using an activity-based modeling approach, Proceedings of the 39^th European Transport Conference, Association for European Transport, Glasgow UK.

Yang, B., D. Janssens, D. Ruan, M. Cools, T. Bellemans, and G. Wets (2011), A Data Imputation Method with Support Vector Machines for Activity-Based Transportation Models. In Y. Wang, and T. Li (eds.), Foundations of Intelligent Systems Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Knowledge Engineering (ISKE), Shanghai, China, pp. 249-258.

Creemers, L., M. Cools, H. Tormans, P.-J. Lateur, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2012), Identifying the Determinants of Light Rail Mode Choice for Medium/Long Distance Trips: Results from a Stated Preference Study, Proceedings of the 91^st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Perrakis, K., M. Cools, D. Karlis, D. Janssens, B. Kochan, T. Bellemans, and G. Wets (2012), Quantifying Input Uncertainty in Traffic Assignment Models, Proceedings of the 91^st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

Creemers, L., M. Cools, H. Tormans, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2012), Knowledge of the Concept Light Rail Transit: Determinants of the Cognitive Mismatch between Actual and Perceived Knowledge, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research, International Association for Travel Behaviour Research (IATBR), Toronto, Canada.

Rasouli, S., M.Cools, B. Kochan, T. Arentze, T. Bellemans, D. Janssens, and H. Timmermans (2012), Uncertainty in forecasts of complex rule-based systems of travel demand: Comparative analysis of the Albatross/Feathers model system, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research, International Association for Travel Behaviour Research (IATBR), Toronto, Canada.

Perrakis, K., D. Karlis, M. Cools, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2012), Quantifying Input Uncertainty in Traffic Assignment Models, Proceedings of the 91^st Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.

C. Publications in international conference proceedings with peer review (abstract)

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2006), Regular events in travel behaviour research: setup of a longitudinal websurvey, 25^th Biennial meeting of the Society for Multivariate Analysis in the Behavioural Sciences (SMABS) jointly with the 2nd Conference of the European Association of Methodology (EAM), Budapest, Hungary.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2007), An activity-based approach for surveying and modelling travel behaviour: analysis of the mixed-mode design effects, 2^nd European Survey Research Association Conference, Prague, Czech Republic.

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2009), The use of time use surveys to study activity participation: emerging issues, 3^rd European Survey Research Association Conference, Warsaw, Poland.

Janssens, D., M. Cools, K. Vanhoof, G. Wets, T. Bellemans, C. Beckx, L. Int Panis, I. Mitov, and K. Markov (2010), An integrated micro-simulation modeling framework to measure and predict emissions and dynamic exposure, GMES Operational Capacity Workshop, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Cools, M., L. Creemers, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), The dual role of weather forecasts on changes in activity-travel behavior, Association of American Geographers (AAG) 2011 Annual Meeting, Seattle, USA.

Caris, A., M. Cools, and D. Debels (2011) Avoiding congestion in freight transport planning: a case study in Flanders, NECTAR 2011 Conference, Antwerp, Belgium.

D. Articles in books

Cools, M., E. Moons, and G. Wets (2009), Modeling Daily Traffic Counts: Analyzing the Effects of Holidays. In B.W. Sloboda (ed.), Transportation Statistics, J. Ross Publishing, Fort Lauderdale, FL, pp. 103-122.

Reports

Cools, M., and D. Janssens (2010), Onderzoek Verplaatsingsgedrag Vlaanderen 3 (2007-2008): Tabellenrapport betreffende het verplaatsingsgedrag van de West-Vlamingen (in Dutch), Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium.
Translated title: “Travel behaviour research Flanders 3 (2007-2008) Table report concerning the travel behaviour of the West-Flemish”.

Cools, M., K. Declercq, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2010), Onderzoek Verplaatsingsgedrag Vlaanderen 4.1 (2008-2009): Tabellenrapport (in Dutch), Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. Translated title: “Travel behaviour research Flanders 4.1 (2008-2009) Table report”.

Miermans, W., D. Janssens, M. Cools, and G. Wets (2010), Onderzoek Verplaatsingsgedrag Vlaanderen 4.1 (2008-2009): Verkeerskundige interpretatie van de belangrijkste gegevens (in Dutch), Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. Translated title: “Travel behaviour research Flanders 4.1 (2008-2009) Transportation interpretation of the most important data”.

Cools, M., K. Declercq, D. Janssens, and G. Wets (2011), Onderzoek Verplaatsingsgedrag Vlaanderen 4.2 (2009-2010): Tabellenrapport (in Dutch), Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. Translated title: “Travel behaviour research Flanders 4.2 (2009-2010) Table report”.

Janssens, D., M. Cools, W. Miermans, K. Declercq, and G. Wets (2011), Onderzoek Verplaatsingsgedrag Vlaanderen 4.2 (2009-2010): Analyserapport (in Dutch), Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. Translated title: “Travel behaviour research Flanders 4.2 (2009-2010) Analytical report”.

Other Publications

Cools, M. (2009) Inter- and Intraday Variability of Flemish Travel Behavior, PhD Dissertation, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. (Promotor: Prof. dr. Geert Wets, Copromotor: Dr. Elke Moons)

Cools, M. (2005) Social, economic and policy analysis of recreational fisheries in Flanders, Master Thesis, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium. (Promotors: Dr. Alain De Vocht, Dr. Ariel Alonso Abad)

Cools, M. (2004) The liability of internet service providers (in Dutch), Master Thesis, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. ( Promotor: Prof. dr. Hendrik Vanhees)

Scientific Awards and Scholarships

Research Projects

The involvement in the following research projects includes the writing of the project proposals and project reports, the project management in terms of handling the communication with other research partners, and the actual execution of the research projects (set-up of the study, analyses, scientific reporting, etc.).

Research projects funded by the public administration

1.    Research into the profile of motor- and moped cyclists in Flanders: data analysis  (Flemish Region)

2.    Focus on household mobility and energy consumption (Flemish Parliament)

3.    In-depth analysis of accidents with motorcyclists (Flemish Region)

4.    Traffic models (Flanders and other provinces): further elaboration (Flemish Region)

5.    Research on travel behaviour in Flanders: supporting and controlling assignment and analysis (Flemish Government)

6.    Layout of development scenarios and implementation paths for a new mobility plan Flanders (Flemish Government)

7.    Research into functional bicycle trips in Limburg - state of affairs of the bicycle trips, bicycle infrastructure and preconditions (Province of Limburg)

8.    Further development of Flemish traffic models (Flemish Government)

9.    Executing a statistical analysis on the transportation behaviour for the province of West-Flanders (Province of West-Flanders)

Research projects funded by research institutions and universities

1.    Automated collection of activity-diary data to support dynamic travel behaviour modelling (Hasselt University-BOF GP)

2.    An activity-based approach for surveying and modelling travel behaviour (IWT-SBO)

3.    The valorisation of transportation models to enable sustainable transportation (DWTC-PODO)

4.    ESTiMATE  A behavioural analysis and examination of environmental implications of multimodal transportation choice (DWTC-SSD2)

5.    Measuring road safety impacts of traffic policy measures using travel demand models (Hasselt University-BOF GP) 

6.    A model-based approach for evaluating the safety and environmental effects of traffic policy measures (IWT-SBO)

7.    BELDAM Belgian Daily Mobility (BELSPO)

8.    BITS Bicycle Traffic indicators: identification and harmonization of data sources (BELSPO)

9.    MEBETA Methods for estimating Belgian traffic abroad and foreign traffic in Belgium (BELSPO)

10.  COST - action TU0804: Survey HArmonisation with New Technologies Improvement (SHANTI)  (ESF-COST)

11.  CONTRAP: Congestion-averse planning of transport  (IWT-O&O)

12.  ORDERin F: Organizing Rhizomic DEvelopment along a Regional pilot network in Flanders (IWT-SBO)

13.  The inclusion of monetary constraints in activity-based models to account for the economic uncertainty of long term predictions of travel demand. (FWO-Post-doc)