Hi there, Rajat here!

About me

I’m a transport researcher and data scientist working at the intersection of human mobility, geospatial data and urban systems. I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Transport & Planning at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), working with Prof. Oded Cats on the ERC-funded 3MARS project.

I use large-scale mobility and geospatial data to understand how people travel, how transport networks connect places and how access to opportunities varies across communities. My work combines Python and PySpark for big data processing with GIS, SQL and PostgreSQL/PostGIS geodatabases for spatial analysis. At Purdue University, I developed distributed workflows for more than 14 TB of smartphone GPS data; at TU Delft, I build and analyse European multimodal transport networks using timetable and OpenStreetMap data.

I enjoy turning complex data into reproducible research, useful analytical tools and clear visual explanations for researchers, transport practitioners and public agencies.

Education

• PhD in Civil Engineering (Transportation), Purdue University, 2024.
  Supervised by Prof. Satish V. Ukkusuri. Dissertation: Advancing the quantitative assessment of transportation equity for planning.
• MSc in Civil Engineering (Transportation), Michigan State University, 2019.
  Supervised by Prof. Timothy J. Gates.
• BTech in Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, 2017.
  Advised by Prof. Indrajit Ghosh.

Research interests

• Human mobility and urban systems: travel behaviour, activity patterns and the relationships between mobility, land use and public health.
• Transport networks and accessibility: multimodal network analysis, public transport connectivity, routing and schedule-based access within and between cities.
• Transport equity and the environment: differences in access to opportunities, exposure to traffic-related emissions and evidence to support transport planning and investment.
• Geospatial data science: scalable analysis of smartphone GPS, timetable and satellite imagery data; spatial databases, machine learning and visualisation.

News

• [1 Oct 2026] Conference: Presented ongoing work on European intercity bus and rail schedule-based accessibility analysis at the hEART conference in Paris.
• [26 Mar 2026] Symposium: Co-organised and presented at the Transport & Mobility Symposium at TU Delft in partnership with Haskoning.
• [15 Jul 2025] Job update: Joined as a post-doctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology under the supervision of Prof. Oded Cats.
• [15 Jul 2025] Paper: Article published in Scientific Data titled “Spatial Access of America: Multiple indicators of accessibility to opportunities”.
• [3 Mar 2025] Workshop: Helped organise a one-day workshop with Dr. Vaneet Aggarwal titled “Multi-Agent reinforcement Learning for Transportation Autonomy” (MALTA) at the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2025 in Philadelphia, USA, organised by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).
• [5–9 Jan 2025] Conference: Presented three research posters at the Transportation Research Board 104th Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., titled (i) “Modal accessibility differences using cross-modal floating catchment area”, (ii) “What determines travel time and distance decay in spatial interaction and accessibility?” and (iii) “Breathing in the burden: Health inequity due to traffic-related air pollution”.
• [12 & 19 Nov 2024] Guest lecture: Delivered two guest lectures on (i) “The Strategic Side of Freight Supply Chains” and (ii) “Supply Contracts” in CE 597 (Smart Logistics) at Purdue University.
• [11 Nov 2024] Paper: Article published in the Journal of Transport Geography, titled “What determines travel time and distance decay in spatial interaction and accessibility?”.
• [24 & 26 Sep 2024] Guest lecture: Delivered a guest lecture on Discrete Choice Modeling in Transportation and conducted a group discussion on understanding the nuances of multi-variate linear regression in traffic safety analysis for the course CE614 (Statistical and Econometric Methods I) taught by Prof. Nadia Gkritza.
• [25 Feb 2023] News highlight: Research highlighted in an article of The Washington Post: “These researchers use satellite photos, AI to map crosswalks and fill gaps”.