Irina Benedyk

Dr. Irina Benedyk is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, SUNY Buffalo. She holds a PhD and has over 10 years of combined industry and academic experience in marine intermodal logistics and freight transportation. Previously, she worked at CMA CGM S.A. and a major Russian forwarding company in roles ranging from import/export specialist to head of consulting.

Her research focuses on intermodal freight transportation, human factors in transportation engineering, driver cognition, and sustainable transportation. She develops quantitative models to analyze freight demand, investment decisions, and emerging technologies like self-driving cars. She also investigates the impact of augmented reality (e.g., Pokémon GO) on behavior and transportation safety during extreme weather events.

Her work integrates large-scale behavioral data analysis, simulation experiments, and mixed-methods approaches. Notable contributions include modeling driver physiological states using EEG and analyzing temporal instability of environmental factors during snowstorms. She collaborates on projects like vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems for winter driving.

Dr. Benedyk has received an Editor’s choice award for her 2018 paper on freight decision-making for the Northern Sea Route. Her research spans academic publications, industry partnerships, and innovative applications of AI in training and safety systems.