METRANS is proud to congratulate USC Price PhD in Urban Planning and Development, 2015, Sandip Chakrabarti, on joining the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad this fall as Assistant Professor in the Public Systems Group. Currently he is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Planning and Urban Studies at the University of New Orleans. He teaches courses in transportation planning, social policy and environmental justice.

Chakrabarti received a Bachelor's in Architecture from Jadavpur University in 2006 and a Master's in City Planning from the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2008. This career journey from architecture to transportation planning can be attributed to his keen observation of cities and passenger movement. He shared that this motivated him to pursue a PhD at the USC Price School of Public Policy. His dissertation titled “The demand for reliable travel: Evidence from Los Angeles, and implications for transit policy” explored how demand for travel time reliability influences mode choice, and how transit service reliability increases can help promote ridership. His work about reliability and its relationship with demand is a major contribution to studying travel behavior. After completing his PhD in 2015, he joined the METRANS Transportation Center as a Postdoctoral Research Associate.

The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad is one of the leading business schools in the Asia-Pacific region. In his new role, Chakrabarti will teach courses in public policy and finance, transportation planning, and urban development. He will also continue to conduct research in the areas of urban transportation policy analysis, travel behavior analysis, public transit systems, sustainable mobility, and information technology applications in transportation.

He recalls his time at USC Price and METRANS fondly. "The USC METRANS Transportation Center is undoubtedly one of the best places to conduct interdisciplinary research in transportation planning and policy in the US,” he shared.  There “I had the opportunity to work with outstanding faculty and students across the urban planning, public policy, computer science and civil engineering programs. I strongly encourage Price students to get involved with METRANS research and other activities."

METRANS wishes him great success for his new role and future endeavors.

About the Author

Prithvi Deore is a first year Master of Planning student at USC’s Price School of Public Policy. She is interested in active transportation and public transit. She can be reached at [email protected].