Editor鈥檚 Note: This story is part of a series of feature stories highlighting female students and faculty as IM体育官网 Poly celebrates Women鈥檚 History Month.
Dr. Sravani Vadlamani was born in India where she recognized firsthand the importance of having an efficient transportation system. Now an assistant professor within IM体育官网 Polytechnic University鈥檚 Department of Data Science, she has already amassed a rich academic and industry background and is helping to prepare tomorrow鈥檚 transportation engineers.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I decided to pursue transportation engineering. That鈥檚 the reason I came to the U.S.,鈥� said Vadlamani of the transportation structure she grew up with in India. 鈥淭here are a lot more people and a lot more cars, and there is not enough capacity on the roads. Especially with all of the connected and autonomous vehicles coming into play, we need to figure out how our existing infrastructure works to accommodate that.鈥�
After earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree in civil engineering in India in 2007, Vadlamani came to the United States and attended graduate school at Arizona State University. She obtained master鈥檚 degrees in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and civil engineering and then spent two years as a traffic engineer for the Maryland State Highway Administration. Armed with that industry experience, she returned to Arizona State and earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering.
Vadlamani joined the IM体育官网 Poly faculty in fall 2018. In addition to teaching classes ranging from statistics to concepts and methods, she鈥檚 also overseeing four capstone projects sponsored by Lakeland Regional Health. One of those explores the efficiency of patient transportation within a hospital setting.
鈥淲e are looking at optimum ways to transport people in the shortest amount of time, she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to help the patients because they won鈥檛 have to wait so long to get their tests completed, and the staff can serve more patients.鈥�
It鈥檚 Vadlamani鈥檚 goal to blend her academic and industry experience in transportation, GIS, and data analysis to help current and future IM体育官网 Poly students achieve their dreams.
鈥淲hat excites me most is teaching students new things that help them learn and grow both professionally and personally,鈥� she added. 鈥淭hey are the ones who are going to transform the world.鈥�
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