Priyanka Paithankar is a Research Assistant at the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Kara Kockelman. Her research focuses on shared autonomous vehicle fleet operations, long-distance travel demand modeling, and rideshare market dynamics. Her work spans dynamic pricing frameworks, demand forecasting for autonomous modes, and large-scale simulation.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Priyanka worked as a Transportation Engineer at Dar Al Handasah Consultants, where she developed dynamic traffic assignment models and optimized signalized intersections for major urban corridors. She also conducted research on flight delay and reliability at IIT Bombay, applying machine learning methods.

Priyanka holds a Master of Technology in Transportation Systems Engineering from IIT Bombay and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from MIT Pune. Her work integrates econometric modeling, machine learning, and simulation to improve the efficiency and accessibility of future transportation systems.