Rate My Professor Sekhar Somenahalli

Dr. Sekhar Somenahalli is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Civil Engineering and Construction within the College of Engineering and Information Technology at Adelaide University. He is a civil engineer and planner with leadership credentials in transport planning and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications, backed by more than 25 years of academic and professional experience. His academic background includes a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of South Australia (2002), a Master of Planning from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, India (1994), a Graduate Certificate in Education from Queensland University of Technology, Australia (2007), and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from BMS College of Engineering, India (1988). Somenahalli's career history features roles as Senior Lecturer (2014–ongoing) and Lecturer (2003–2013) at the University of South Australia, Lecturer at University Malaya, Malaysia (1996–1999), and Assistant Manager and Traffic Engineer at Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) Limited, India (1989–1996). His Endeavour and Mawson Lakes post-doctoral fellowships facilitated collaborations with international universities and institutions in India, Japan, and the USA.

Somenahalli's research specializations encompass road public transport, road safety, transport engineering, transport geography, and transport planning. Specific academic interests include using GIS for accessibility analysis in urban areas, neighbourhood walkability and walking behaviour, transport and ageing to extend quality of life for older people, public transport smart card data for travel behaviour insights, travel time forecasting and origin-destination estimation using Bluetooth monitoring, bus transit-oriented development, GPS data for public transport variability, and geographical information systems for traffic accident analysis. He contributes to teaching through courses such as Traffic and Transport Modelling (ENGC_X408), GIS for Engineers (ENVI_5009), Road Design and Traffic Management (CIVE 2012), Traffic Engineering (CIVE 4039), and Geographical Information Systems and Analysis (GEOE 5001). Key publications include "Application of accessibility based methods for vulnerability analysis of strategic road networks" (2006), "Using GIS to identify pedestrian-vehicle crash hot spots and unsafe bus stops" (2011), "Distributions of travel time variability on urban roads" (2013), "Distributions of walking access to public transport in Melbourne, Australia" (2024), and "Effects of urban greening renewal on local ecological benefits: a case study of residential green space" (2025).