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Weβre not just a lab - weβre a learning community, built on curiosity, mutual respect, and a shared belief that better questions make better cities. At SCULPT, every student brings a new lens, every project sparks a new path, and every journey is better when walked together.
This is a team that builds not just mathematical models for transportation planning, but meaning - one line of code, one map, one long chai or coffee conversation at a time. And somewhere in the middle of it all is one slightly eccentric professor holding the compass :)Β
Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator
Dr. Agnivesh Pani
Dr. Agnivesh Pani
Dr. Agnivesh Pani is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering at IIT (BHU) Varanasi, specialising in urban transportation planning, freight systems, multi-scalar crowd management and E-Mobility. Before joining IIT (BHU), he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Memphis, USA. He earned his Ph.D. and M.E. from BITS Pilani and was a visiting researcher at Hiroshima University, Japan. His current research focuses on understanding and improving multimodal transport, public transport, and freightβland use interactions in Indian cities, particularly in data-constrained contexts.Β Β
Dr. Paniβs research has been supported by several national and international funding agencies, enabling applied projects on urban mobility, freight analytics, and transport equity through the SCULPT Lab. His work combines behavioural, spatial, and computational approaches, with a strong emphasis on open data and reproducible methods. He has authored 75+ peer-reviewed publications in leading journals including Transportation Research Part A, D, and E, Transport Geography, Transport Policy, and Transportation Research Record. He received the Best Paper Award from the Freight Transportation Planning and Logistics Committee (AT015) at the 2020 TRB Annual Meeting.Β
Google Scholar Profile - https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?hl=en&user=GdKQ7RoAAAAJ
PhD Students
PhD Students
Hridya G Muralidharan
Ph.D Student (2023-Onwards)
Topic: Invisible Mobilities - Overlooked Trip Purposes and Patterns in Travel Behaviour Modelling
Suprava Mishra
Ph.D Student (2023-Onwards)
(Co-Supervised with Dr. Ankit Gupta)Β
Topic: Multi-Scale Freight Demand Modelling for Urban and Regional Logistics
Mudit Verma
Ph.D Student (2025-Onwards)
Topic: Invisible Mobilities - Overlooked Trip Purposes and Patterns in Travel Behaviour Modelling
JL Sriniketh
Ph.D Student (2025-Onwards)
Topic: Electric Vehicle (EV) Battery Circularity & Transportation System AnalysisΒ
Masters'/IDD Students/Project Fellows
Masters'/IDD Students/Project Fellows
Sanjeev V.A
Network Analysis of Urban Streets
Sumana Sree
Data-driven Transport AnalyticsΒ
Naman Kumar
Freight Planning
Sachin Rishi
Inclusivity and Urban Planning
Nikhil Gadham
Urban Freight Project
(NIT Trichy)
UG Research Assistants (RAs)
Dedicated UG/IDD Students Working on Long-Horizon Research Tracks (1-3 Year Journeys)
UG Research Assistants (RAs)
Dedicated UG/IDD Students Working on Long-Horizon Research Tracks (1-3 Year Journeys)
Ayush Raj
ICSSR Project
Grid-level Mobility Project
Rajat Varshney
ICSSR Project YatraSphere
Krish Kumar
Travel Behaviour Project
Kartik Sharma
Freight Project
Apoorv
Travel Behaviour Project
Aarush Garg
Network Structure Project
Adarsh Pandey
NTL Growth Study
Mohak Sawhney
Transport Economics
Arushi Aggarwal
Shirsh Agarwal
Network-level Planning
Thejaswini
Pranjal
Avika
Hitkavyam
β³ Alumni
Former PhD Students
Dr. Mayank Sukhija
Former Ph.D. Student
π Thesis Defended in 2023
(Co-Supervised with Dr. Nikhil Saboo)
Thesis: Impacts of Production Temperatures on Performance of Warm Mix Asphalt
π’Currently: Postdoc, Oregon State University
Nirmal Prasad
Former Ph.D Student
π Thesis Defended in 2025
(Co-Supervised with Dr. Nikhil Saboo)Β
Topic: Rejuvenators and the Aging Behavior of Recycled Asphalt Mixes
Faijan Ali Ansari
Ph.D Student (2021-Onwards)
(Co-Supervised with Dr. Smruti Sourav Mohapatra - IIT (ISM) Dhanbad)Β
Topic: Traffic and Worker Assessment of Highway Work ZonesΒ
Former Master's or IDD Students
Baibhav Mohanty
π Grad. 2025
Thesis: Mobility Markets Beyond Geography (MoRTH Project)
π’ Currently: Product Analyst @ Zomato
Tanushri Chauhan
π Grad. 2025
Thesis: Mobility Analytics (Public vs Freight vs Private) (MoRTH Project)
Prashant Kumar Rai
π Grad. 2025
Thesis: Urban Planning for Solid waste management (IOCL Project)
Aadil M Moopan
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Transit Demand Algorithms and Network Design (US-India Project)Β
π’ Currently: Software Quality Engineer @ Trading Technologies
Shijith S
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Transit Planning for Varanasi Ropeway and Dashboard Design (US-India Project)
π’ Currently: Software Engineer @ Optym
Shravan G
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Regional Planning Models for Districts in India (US-India Project)Β
π’ Currently: Software Engineer @ TCS
Tejaswa Mishra
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Proximity Planning and 15 Minute Cities (US-India Project)
π’ Currently: SDE @ BNY Mellon
Tejaswa Mishra
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Transit Ridership Prediction
(US-India Project)
π’ Currently: SDE-1 @ Javis
Devang Sharma
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Modelling of Aerial Ropeway Shift
Co-supervised with Dr. Ankit Gupta
(US-India Project)
π’ Currently: Data Scientist @ Publicis Sapient
Pankaj Gupta
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Proximity Planning and 15 Minute Cities (US-India Project)
π’ Currently:Β Govt. Job
Gaurav Tripathi
π Grad. 2024
Thesis: Transit Ridership Prediction
(US-India Project)
π’ Currently: Steel Authority of India Limited SAIL (GATE AIR 277)
Sourav Maheswari
π Grad. 2023
Thesis: EV Charging Infrastructure Analysis
(ICSSR Project)Β
π’ Currently: Analyst at Cube Highways
Former Project Associates & RAs (Long-Horizon Research Tracks - 1-3 Years of Association)
Vedaant Gupta
π Grad. 2026
ICSSR Project
Grid-level MobilityΒ
Naisarg Pandey
π Grad. 2026
ICSSR Project
Mode Shares
Jatin Singh
π Grad. 2026
Travel Diary Project
Jatin Kumar
π Grad. 2026
Travel Diary Project
Ayush Kumar
π Grad. 2026
Benchmarking Cities & Transit
Shambhavi Sinha
π Grad. 2025
Former RA (From SPA Delhi)
Worked on Mahakumbh Project, MoUD
π’ Currently: Incoming Ph.D. Student at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA
Nandini Bhimsaria
π Grad. 2025
Former Chanakya Fellow (IIT BHU)
Worked on IDAPT Project, IIT BHU
π’ Currently: Associate Consultant, MasterCard, India
Aryasen Gupta
π Grad. 2025
Former RA (IIT BHU)
Worked on the MoRTH Project
π’ Currently: Consultant, Evalueserve
Shreepati Jha
π Grad. 2024
Former RA (From SPA Delhi)
Worked on the DST India-USA Project
π’ Currently: Ph.D. Student at University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA
Harsh Gupta
π Grad. 2024
Former RA (from NIT Calicut)
Worked on the USA-India Project
π’ Currently: MBA at XLRI
Sai Naveen Balla
π Grad. 2023
Former JRF in US-India Project
π’ Currently: Ph.D. Student at University of Manitoba,Canada
Former Research Interns (Short-Term Research Stints)
Sivanshu SuryaΒ
2025 June-Aug
ICSSR Project
(NIT Rourkela)
Sudeshna Ray
2025 June-AugΒ
ICSSR Project
(IISER Bhopal)
Gayathry N P
2025 June-Aug
US-India Project
(MTech KTU)
Adhithya Urmila
2025 June-Aug
US-India Project
(MTech KTU)
Aswini Naik
2025 June-Aug
US-India Project
(MPlan SPA Delhi)
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