Bhavani Shankar Balla

Experience

• Jan 2026 to Present: Postdoctoral Fellow, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India

• Oct 2025 to Dec 2025: Project Research Scientist, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India

• Oct 2024 to Sep 2025: Postdoctoral Fellow, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy

• Sep 2023 to Sep 2024: Project Engineer, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Hyderabad, India

• Jun 2018 to Feb 2019: Assistant Professor, Methodist College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India

Education

• Doctorate of Philosophy (Freight Transportation Planning), Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani, Hyderabad, India, 2024

• Master of Engineering (Infrastructure Engg.), Osmania University, Hyderabad, India, 2018

• Bachelor of Technology (Civil Engineering), CMR College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, India, 2015

Key Publications

• Balla, B. S., Chandra, A., Balla, S. N., Pani, A., & Sahu, P. (2025). Industry Class Stability Index (ICSI): A Novel Diagnostic Metric to Enhance the Transferability of Freight Demand Models. Research in Transportation Business & Management, 63(12), 101513.

• Balla, B. S., Mishra, S., Pani, A., & Sahu, P. (2025). Incorporating Establishment Typologies into Freight Production Models: A Latent Class Approach Beyond Industry Codes. Research in Transportation Economics, 112, 101606.

• Balla, B. S., & Sahu, P. K. (2023). Assessing Regional Transferability and Updating of Freight Generation Models to Reduce Sample Size Requirements in National Freight Data Collection Program. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 175, 103780.

• Balla, B. S., Sahu, P. K., Pani, A., Sharma, S., & Majumdar, B. B. (2023). Comparison of Parametric and Non-Parametric Methods for Modeling Establishment-Level Freight Generation. Transportation Research Record, 2677(2), 154–172.

Awards & Honours

• Best Thesis Award, 8th Conference of Transportation Research Group of India - 2025

• Best Reviewer - 2023, International Journal of Construction Management - 2024

• International Travel Support, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India - 2024

• Young Achiever Alumni Award, CMR College of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, India - 2024

• Best Poster Presentation with cash award, Vidwanostav 2023 (Technical fest for PhD Scholars), Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, Hyderabad, India - 2023

• Academic Excellence - Bronze Medal with cash award, CMR College of Engineering and Technology - 2016

• Academic Excellence - Gold Medal with cash award, CMR College of Engineering and Technology - 2014