Researcher Spotlight
Aruna Sivakumar
Analyst
Aruna Sivakumar is an Analyst in the "Modelling" team at RAND Europe.
Her research interests lie in the analysis and econometric modeling of travel choice behavior, and the development of behaviorally realistic model systems of integrated land use and travel demand. Her dissertation, awarded in 2005 at the University of Texas at Austin, focuses on the development of advanced micro-econometric models within the realm of activity-based travel demand modeling. At RAND Europe, Aruna applies her quantitative skills to several transport-related projects and to those in other areas such as health.
RAND Europe is involved in several projects related to the planning for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Aruna leads a project funded by London's Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to estimate demand for Park and Ride sites and identify the relative importance of service factors so that the ODA can encourage use of public transportation during the Olympic Games.
Furthermore, RAND Europe has developed a proposal to examine many key policy issues relating to London's 2012 Olympic Games. As leader of the transport work stream for the project, Aruna researched and developed ideas for RAND Europe's involvement in the transport planning of the Games.
In other recent work, Aruna has been responsible for the development of the demand component of the UK National Transport Model, a central element of the UK Department for Transport's current analysis of national road pricing schemes. Specifically, she estimated discrete choice models that predict travelers' choices of mode of travel and destination as a function of the journey purpose, and mode level-of-service and traveler socio-demographic characteristics. As a measure of her success, the UK Department for Transport is now using the National Transport Model for their forecasting and planning needs. Among non-transport projects, Aruna is currently investigating the demographic and economic impacts of policies regulating fertility treatment through Artificial Reproductive Technologies (ART).
In addition to her RAND Europe work, Aruna finds time to pursue academic research at the Centre for Transport Studies in Imperial College on the optimization of energy consumption in an urban system. She has presented her work at a number of transport conferences including the European Transport Conference in Strasbourg. Aruna received a Best Dissertation Presentation award from the Transportation Research Board during its January 2007 conference in Washington D.C.
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