Jyoutir Raj
This 4-month undergraduate research was conducted for Fermanagh Community Transport (FCT) as part of my Stochastic Processes and Risk module at Queen’s University Belfast, taught by Dr Gareth Tribello. I was given the opportunity to apply full creative freedom to design and explore a research question independently, tailored specifically to the community partner's needs.
My motivation was to deliver practical value to FCT through maths and coding, so I applied mathematical queuing theory alongside object-oriented programming techniques to create a generalised macroscopic traffic simulation framework. Specifically, I modelled traffic congestion using an Mt/D/1/K queue, processing traffic data from Google's Directions API to calibrate the model with real-world conditions, focusing on the Enniskillen to Belfast route (two big towns in Northern Ireland!)
The resulting simulations were used to model peak commuting congestion, showing how queue lengths varied with traffic flow. But more importantly, allowed mathematical modelling experiments of staggering institutional start times (whenever schools/workplaces start) showed significant reductions in congestion! My framework may be used to produce actionable policy insights to reduce road congestion.
Things I loved:
- the freedom to creatively formulate and explore a research topic
- discussions my research lead to with fascinating people; like Jason (CEO of FCT), Gareth (module coordinator), my Dad, Prof Judy Williams (QUB’s pro-vice-chancellor of education), my friends, Brice & John (from Economics), my peers, et cetera.
- seeing how interconnected disciplines are; economics, comp sci, and maths. this inspired me to read on game theory and deep learning — topics in economics and cs that are tied by the thread of maths.