PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Lelitha Devi Vanajakshi

Lelitha Devi Vanajakshi is a transportation researcher whose work uses AI and machine learning to model traffic, improve signal control, and support road safety. She completed a Ph.D. in transportation engineering at Texas A&M in 2004 and advanced from Assistant Professor to Professor at IIT Madras by 2018. Her research includes machine-learning travel-time prediction, reinforcement-learning traffic-signal control, and an explainable-AI collision-warning project for Indian urban traffic. She received the Arthur M. Wellington Prize in 2019 and is a Professor at IIT Madras as of October 2026.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 1993–2004

    Degrees and a neural network thesis

    She earns a B.Tech in Civil Engineering at College of Engineering, Trivandrum in 1993 and an M.Tech in Transportation Engineering there in 1995. Her 1995 master's dissertation uses artificial neural networks to model road deflection and rut depth, and she earns a Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2004.

  2. 2006–2018

    Assistant professor to professor

    She joins the Department of Civil Engineering at IIT Madras as an Assistant Professor in 2006, becomes an Associate Professor in 2013, and coauthors a 2017 paper using machine-learning techniques to predict arterial path-level travel times. She becomes a Professor in 2018.

  3. 2019

    Arthur M. Wellington Prize

    She receives the Arthur M. Wellington Prize from the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2019 for a paper on cycle-by-cycle analysis of signalized intersections with erroneous detector data.

  4. 2025

    Reinforcement learning for traffic

    In 2025, she coauthors a preprint on reinforcement-learning traffic-signal design that aims to reduce queue lengths. For IEEE APSCON 2025, she is a track chair for Surface, Air, and Water Transportation. She is the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Chair Professor in IIT Madras's Transportation Division and an Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology.

  5. As of October 2026

    AI collision warnings at IIT Madras

    As of October 2026, she is Affiliate Faculty at RBCDSAI and a Professor in IIT Madras's Department of Civil Engineering. She is one of the investigators on an IIT Madras project to develop an explainable AI and machine-learning method that uses LIDAR and camera feeds to issue safety alerts in Indian urban traffic.

Career

  1. Since 2006IIT MadrasAssistant Professor, Associate Professor
  2. NowRobert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial IntelligenceAffiliate Faculty
  3. From 2025Queensland University of TechnologyAdjunct Professor

Education

  1. 2004Texas A&M UniversityPh.D. in Transportation Engineering
  2. 1995College of Engineering TrivandrumM.Tech in Transportation Engineering
  3. 1993College of Engineering TrivandrumB.Tech in Civil Engineering

From the biography.

  1. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes IIT Madras. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes IIT Madras. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. TR : Department of Civil Engineering-IIT Madras civil.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. TR : Department of Civil Engineering-IIT Madras civil.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Reinforcement Learning Based Traffic Signal Design to Minimize Queue Lengths arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Track Chairs - IEEE APSCON 2025.ieee-apscon.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Lelitha Devi Vanajakshi | Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Development of a collision warning system using Explainable AI for Indian Urban Traffic wsai.iitm.ac.in. Checked 21 October 2026.