Rajat Rajbhandari, Ph.D., P.E.

Rajbhandari, Rajat

Associate Research Engineer

Research and Implementation - Dallas
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Texas A&M University System
9441 LBJ Freeway, Suite 103
Dallas, TX 75243
ph. (972) 994-0433 Ext. 13101 · fax (972) 994-0522
rajat@tamu.edu

Short Biography

Dr. Rajat Rajbhandari is an Associate Research Engineer with the Transportation Operations Group of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). His educational background includes a Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil and Transportation Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology (New Jersey) and an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Tribhuwan University (Nepal). His professional affiliations include the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and the Transportation Research Board (TRB). Dr. Rajbhandari's primary research and professional interests are in the areas of intelligent transportation systems, traffic operations and control, public transit operations, enterprise database design and software engineering, geographic information system and transportation systems management.

Since joining TTI in February of 2005, Dr. Rajbhandari has been involved with many research and implementation projects related to infrastructure planning and management, development of crash geo-database, micro and mesoscopic simulation and database design. Dr. Rajbhandari has been actively involved in supporting various TxDOT districts, including El Paso, San Antonio and Austin districts. His most recent work involves supporting research studies related to transportation operations and management for TxDOT at El Paso. He is also involved with development of various research projects being funded through Center for International Intelligent Transportation Research. These projects include Regional Transportation Data Warehouse, Intelligent Border Crossing Initiatives and many more related to border crossing and transportation operations. Dr. Rajbhandari developed and taught several graduate level courses at the University of Texas at El Paso and continues to collaborate with faculties at UTEP.

Prior to joining TTI, Dr. Rajbhandari worked for International Intermodal Transportation Center at New Jersey Institute of Technology, where he was actively involved in research projects in the areas of microscopic simulation, truck safety and traffic operations for New Jersey Department of Transportation. Dr. Rajbhandari has numerous years of experience as a consultant in his home country of Nepal, where he worked as a civil engineer for various international projects for clients such as World Bank, United Nations Development Program, Asian Development Bank, and Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Education

  • Ph.D., Transportation Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2005.
  • M.S.C.E., Transportation Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 2002.
  • B.S.C.E., Institute of Engineering, Tribhuwan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, 1997.

Experience

  • Associate Research Engineer, Research and Implementation - El Paso, Texas A&M Transportation Institute, April 2008 - Present.
  • Assistant Research Scientist, Research and Implementation - El Paso, Texas Transportation Institute, January 2006 - March 2008.
  • Assistant Research Scientist, Research and Implementation - San Antonio, Texas Transportation Institute, February 2005 - December 2005.
  • Graduate Research Assistant, New Jersey Institute of Technology, August 2000 - January 2005.
  • Civil Engineer, Multi Disciplinary Consultants, Nepal, September 1997 - July 2000.

Professional Registration

Engineer in Training in Maryland.

Professional Engineer in Texas, Registration No. 100467, 2008.

Affiliations

  • Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE).
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Honors & Awards

Outstanding Student, New Jersey Department of Transportation, 2003.

Academic Courses Taught

Advanced Traffic Engineering. University of Texas at El Paso, Spring 2006.

Speical Topic: Public Transit Operations and Technology. University of Texas at El Paso, Fall 2006.

Short Courses Taught

Introduction to Geographic Information System. Laredo District of Texas Department of Transportation. July 2005.

Short Courses Developed

Introduction to Geographic Information System. Laredo District of Texas Department of Transportation. July 2005.

Selected Publications

S. Anderson, C.P. Beaty, L. Ding, D.R. Ellis, J.A. Epps, C.K. Estakhri, B.A. Glover, M.L. Hoelscher, N.D. Norboge, R. Rajbhandari, T.L. Ramani, T. Scullion, J.A. Shelton, C. Shon, W.R. Stockton, S.R. Vadali, S.P. Venglar, J. Zietsman. TxDOT Administration Research: Tasks Completed FY2011. 0-6581-TI-3. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. April 2012.

R. Rajbhandari, J.C. Villa, R. Macias, W.H. Tate. Border-Wide Assessment of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Technology?Current and Future Concepts. FHWA-HOP-12-015. February 2012.

D.R. Middleton, R. Rajbhandari, R.E. Brydia, P. Songchitruksa, E. Kraus, S. Hernandez, K. Cheu, V. Iragavarapu, S.M. Turner. Synthesis of TxDOT Uses of Real-Time Commercial Traffic Data. 0-6659-1. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. January 2012.

D.R. Middleton, R. Rajbhandari, R.E. Brydia, P. Songchitruksa, E. Kraus, S. Hernandez, K. Cheu, V. Iragavarapu, S.M. Turner. TxDOT Uses of Real-Time Commercial Traffic Data: Opportunity Matrix. 0-6659-P1. Texas Transportation Institute, Houston, TX. January 2012.

D.R. Middleton, R. Rajbhandari, R.E. Brydia, P. Songchitruksa, V. Iragavarapu, E. Kraus, S.M. Turner, S. Hernandez, K. Cheu. Synthesis of TxDOT Uses of Real-Time Commercial Traffic Routing Data. 0-6659-S. Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, TX. 2011.