Faculty

BIO

Dr. Suchismita Nayak brings over a decade of research experience, collaborating with leading experts across diverse fields including Urban Planning, Transportation Engineering, Travel Behaviour, Architecture, Geography, Sociology, and Data Science. Her academic and research journey spans premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, IIT Bombay, Arizona State University (ASU), USA, and the National University of Singapore (NUS). She also has around two years of teaching experience in urban planning and architecture at the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur.

 Her core expertise lies in activity-based travel demand modelling, travel behavior analysis, inclusive planning, policy research, and urban informatics, with additional interests in tall building design and vernacular architecture. A former visiting researcher at ASU, USA, she has published in leading academic journals and presented her work at over ten prestigious international conferences, invited talks, and webinars.

Dr. Nayak’s research investigates mobility behaviour, emerging urban phenomena, contemporary policy frameworks, and the socio-spatial dynamics of indigenous communities. She further explores how tangible and intangible heritage shape architectural and planning practices. Methodologically, she applies quantitative techniques, statistical modelling, deep learning, and big-data analytics to address challenges in smart mobility, sustainable development, and inclusive urban futures.

Her teaching pedagogy emphasizes experiential learning, interdisciplinary integration, and data-driven problem-solving. She blends theoretical grounding with hands-on tools like GIS, simulation models, and participatory planning techniques to foster critical thinking and innovation among students.

 Beyond academia, she is passionate about heritage exploration, crafting, painting, and photography.

Research Interests

• Urban Transportation

• Policy Studies

• Inclusive Planning

•  Urban Informatics

Publications

Journal Articles

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (January 2025). ‘Daily activity-travel pattern identification using natural language processing and semantic matching’, Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2024.104057, (SSCI & Scopus, Impact Factor 5.7)

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (July 2023). ‘A joint and simultaneous prediction framework of weekday and weekend daily-activity travel pattern using conditional dependency networks’, Travel Behaviour and Society, Elsevier, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2023.100595, (SSCI & Scopus, Impact Factor 5.1)

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (November 2022). ‘A critical review of Activity Participation decision: A key component of activity-based travel demand models’, International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor and Francis, https://doi.org/10.1080/12265934.2022.215424, (SSCI & Scopus, Impact Factor 2.9)

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (September 2021). ‘Potential of telecommuting for different employees in the Indian context beyond COVID-19 lockdown’, Transport Policy, Elsevier, DoI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.07.010, (SSCI & Scopus, Impact Factor 6.3)

• Nayak, S., & Gupta, S. (2020). ‘Travel Probability Fields – An approach to understand travel behaviour: Case study of slum dwellers in Kolkata, India’, Transportation Research Procedia, Elsevier, Volume 48, 2020, Pages 1546-1554, DoI: 10.1016/j.trpro.2020.08.197, (Scopus, Cite Score 3.2)

Book Chapters

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (December 2019). ‘Activity-based model: requisite of a new travel demand forecasting approach for India’, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 218. Springer, Singapore, DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-9921-4 (Scopus)

• Nayak, S., & Gupta, S. (December 2019). ‘Impact of accessibility on mobility and socio-economic levels of slum dwellers of Kolkata’. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 220. Springer, Singapore, DoI:10.1007/978-981-16-9925-2 (Scopus)

• Nayak, S., & Gupta, S. (2018). ‘Planning for Inclusive Mobility of Urban Poor in Kolkata. The Urban World’, a quarterly published journal by Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies (RECUES), Vol. 11,No.1, 21-27. ISSN 23490241

Conference Proceedings

• Nayak, S.  & Nirmale, S. (May 2025). ‘An Integrated Modelling Framework for Vehicle Ownership Decisions: Capturing Interdependencies in Purchase Timing, Vehicle Type, and Fuel Choice’, ‘Transportation Research Symposium 2025’, Elsevier, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Accepted.

• Nayak, S. , Mitra, S. & Paul, S., K. (March 2025), ‘Where Art Meets Space: Interactions between Intangible Cultural Heritage and Buildings among the Patuas in West Bengal, India'. ‘National Conference on Creative Economic Geography of Artisanal Crafts’ at National Institute of Technology Rourkela.

• Goswami, A., Nayak, S., & Mukhopadhyay, P. (December 2024).‘Challenges and Promises in Revival of Tram: A Case of Kolkata’, ‘International Conference on Environmental Challenges, Opportunities and Sustainable Solutions’, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India. Received Best Student Paper Award.

• Nayak, S. , TVSS, S. & Mitra, S. (March 2024). ‘Investigating Efficiency of Courtyard Designs in Western Indian Havelis’, Internation Conference on Rethinking Built Environment, Mizoram, India.

• Patra, S., Nayak, S. & Paul, S., K. (March 2024). ‘Exploring Green Design Features Contributing Towards Form and Iconicity of Tall Building’. Internation Conference on Rethinking Built Environment, Mizoram, India.

• Ghosh, S., Mukhopadhyay, P.,  Mitra, S. & Nayak, S. (March 2024). ‘Impact of Disasters in shaping the Vernacular Architecture of Coastal Area’. Internation Conference on Rethinking Built Environment, Mizoram, India. Received ‘Special Mention Award’.

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (September 2022). ‘An investigation of telecommuters perceived productivity from pre to post Covid 19 pandemic’. 58th ISOCARP World Planning Congress. Brussels, Belgium, DOI: 10.47472/zNavyRbh.

• Paul, A., Banerjee, S. & Nayak, S., (April 2022). ‘Sustainable development goals (SDG), covid-19 resilience and changing dynamics of urban policymaking in developing countries of the global south: a critical review’, 6th International Conference 'Urban e-Planning', Lisbon, Portugal.

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (February 2022). ‘Concerns for sustainable mobility during the post-pandemic situation in a developing country, India’. International Conference on Urban Green Transitions: Decoding Opportunities and Challenges. Bhubaneswar, India.

• Nayak, S., & Pandit, D. (November 2019). ‘Appraisal of Different Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Travel Demand Analysis’. 12th Conference of the Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo. Lucknow, India: Institute of Urban Transport (IUT), India.

• Nayak, S., & Gupta, S. (September 2019). ‘Travel behaviour of female slum dwellers in the mega city of Kolkata, India’. TRB’s 6th International Conference on Women’s Issues in Transportation. Irvine, California.

• Nayak, S., & Singh, M. (July 2017). ‘Challenge for Inclusive city: Resettlements of Slum Dwellers, Delhi’. International conference on ‘Future of Cities: Opportunities and Challenges’. Delhi, India: Institute for Town Planners, India.

• Singh, M., & Nayak, S. (July 2017). ‘Impact Assessment of AMRUT’. International conference on ‘Future of Cities: Opportunities and Challenges’ organized by Institute for Town Planners, India (ITPI). Delhi, India.

Scholarship and Fellowships

• Institute Post-doctoral Fellowship 2024, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

• IIT KGP Foundation International Internship Scholarship Award 2022

• MHRD Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) Scholarship, 2015