Rezwana Rafiq
Biography
Rezwana Rafiq, Ph.D., is an Assistant Project Scientist at the Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Irvine, and Adjunct Faculty at the School of Science and Engineering, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her research interests broadly encompass travel behavior analysis, travel demand modeling, transportation data science, econometric modeling, and shared mobility services. She applies quantitative planning methods, econometric modeling, and data science techniques to analyze complex mobility patterns and support data-driven transportation and land-use planning and policymaking.
Rafiq received third place in the C3.ai COVID-19 Grand Challenge in 2020 for research on human mobility and pandemic spread. She also received first place for a poster presentation on transit demand forecasting at the 2025 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting and was among the top five papers in the 2017 National Household Travel Survey Data Challenge. Her work has been published in Transportation Research Part A, Transportation, Transportation Research Record, and Travel Behavior and Society.
Rafiq received a Ph.D. in Transportation Science from the University of California, Irvine in 2019, where her dissertation examined complex travel behavior using a tour-based approach. Before joining UCI, she served as Lecturer and Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and worked as Assistant Town Planner for RAJUK, the Capital Development Authority in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Transportation Science, University of California, Irvine, 2019
- M.S. in Data Science, University of Texas at Austin, Continuing
- M.S. in Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 2012
- B.S. in Urban and Regional Planning, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 2007
Distinctions
- C3.ai COVID-19 Grand Challenge Award, third position, 2020
- First Place for Awards for poster presentation at Transit Demand Forecasting and Post-Pandemic Ridership Trends event, Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, 2025
- 2017 NHTS Data Challenge Award, top 5 best papers, 2018
- Transportation Science Fellowship, 2014-2015
- University Grand Commission Scholarship for highest CGPA in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, 2006
- Dean List Award for achieving honors CGPA (above 3.75) in each academic year, 2002-2007
Areas of Expertise
- Travel Behavior Analysis
- Tour-based Activity Patterns
- Travel Demand Modeling
- Econometric Modeling
- Transportation Data Science
- Telecommuting and Travel
Recent Publications
- Rafiq R., McNally M.G., “Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Time-Use and Travel: A Comparison between Telecommuters, potential Telecommuters, and unlikely telecommuters” (opens in new tab), Travel Behaviour and Society, vol. 44, 2026.
- Ahmed, T., Rafiq, R., Jahan, S., “Classifying urban commuters by trip chaining behavior in a developing country city” (opens in new tab), Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, vol. 34, pp. 101651, 2025.
- Bhuiya, M. M. R., Rafiq, R., Morshed, K. N. M., Rahman, M. I., “Suitable Bus Stop Locations for a Proposed Bus Rapid Transit Corridor in a Developing Country City: An Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach”, Transportation in Developing Economies, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 10, 2023.
- Rafiq, R., McNally, M. G., “A Structural Analysis of the Work Tour Behavior of Transit Commuters” (opens in new tab), Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, vol. 160, pp. 61-79, 2022.
- Uddin, M. Y. S., Rafiq, R., “Characterizing Pandemic Waves: A Latent Class Analysis of COVID-19 Spread across US Counties” (opens in new tab), Pattern Recognition Letters, vol. 162, pp. 31-39, 2022.
- Rafiq, R., McNally, M. G., Uddin, M. Y. S., “Telecommuting and Travel during COVID-19: An Exploratory Analysis across Different Population Geographies in the USA” (opens in new tab), Transportation Research Record, vol. 2677, pp. 562-582, 2022.
- Rafiq, R., McNally, M. G., “A Study of Tour Formation: Pre-, during, and Post-Recession Analysis” (opens in new tab), Transportation, vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 2187-2233, 2021.
Most Cited Publications
- Rafiq, R., McNally, M. G., Uddin, Y. S., Ahmed, T., “Impact of Working from Home on Activity-travel Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An aggregate Structural Analysis” (opens in new tab), Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, vol. 159, pp. 35-54, 2022.
- Rafiq, R., McNally, M. G., “Heterogeneity in Activity-travel Patterns of Public Transit Users: An Application of Latent Class Analysis” (opens in new tab), Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, vol. 152, pp. 1-18, 2021.
- Rafiq, R., McNally, M. G., “An Exploratory Analysis of Alternative Travel Behaviors of Ride-Hailing Users” (opens in new tab), Transportation, vol. 50, pp. 1-35, 2022.
- Rahman, M. M., Barua, U., Khatun, F., Islam, I., Rafiq, R., “Participatory Vulnerability Reduction (PVR): An Urban Community-based Approach for Earthquake Management” (opens in new tab), Natural Hazards, vol. 93, no. 3, pp. 1479-1505, 2018.
- Rafiq, R., Ahmed, T., Uddin, M. Y. S., “Structural Modeling of COVID-19 Spread in Relation to Human Mobility” (opens in new tab), Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, vol. 13, pp. 100528, 2022.
Contact Information
Email: rrafiq@uci.edu
Address: 4000 Anteater Instructional & Research - AIRB
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Last updated on 10/28/2026.