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Santi Phithakkitnukoon

 

I am an associate professor (pending official royal appointment for full professorship) and the director of City Context Lab at the Department of Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, at Chiang Mai University, Thailand. I was the Head of the Department from September 2021–2025.  My research focusses on Urban Informatics, where I analyze large-scale digital footprints, such as mobile network data, GPS traces, social media data, and other sensory data to better understand urban dynamics and how city functions across various contexts, such transportation and social interaction.

 

Im originally from Chiang Mai, Thailand. I received my B.S.(hons) and M.S. both in Electrical Engineering in 2003 and 2005 respectively from the Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA. I received a Ph.D. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA in 2009. I then joined the SENSEable City Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a postdoctoral researcher until January 2011 and continue my association with the Lab as a research affiliate since. In 2011, I went to the United Kingdom (UK) and joined the Digital Interaction group at the Culture Lab (now Open Lab), Newcastle University as a research associate. Before coming to Chiang Mai University in June 2014, I was a Lecturer in Computing (assistant professor) at the Computing and Communications Department at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK (October 2012 - July 2014).

 

For prospective students

 

+ If you are interested in doing a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at Chiang Mai University under my supervision, please contact me to discuss a research proposal.

+ You should have a strong background in machine learning, data mining, and statistics.

+ You should be capable of programing with a high level language such as R or Matlab.

+ Please also read this for information about our Ph.D. program.

 

 

News

 

Nov 2025

+ I co-organized the 1st International Workshop on AI Technologies, Engineering, and Society (AITES 2025) in conjunction with iSAI-LCP, hosted by PSU, Phuket, Thailand.

+ My master’s student, Mayme Moon Zin, presented her side project “Applying TF-IDF Weighting Method and BM-25 Algorithm in Myanmar News Retrieval” at AITES 2025, Phuket, Thailnad. This is a collaborative work with Dr. Myo Thida at the University of Illinois Chicago.

 

October 2025

+ I gave a keynote talk on “Urban Informatics: a data-driven approach to sustainable cities” at the International Student Conference on Earth and Environmental Research (ISCEER 2025). [Youtube link]

+ Our paper, “Origin-Destination Demand Prediction for Shared Mobility Service Using Fully Convolutional Neural Network,” has been accepted and published in Research in Transportation Business & Management. Another successful collaboration with Dr. Merkebe Demissie, a long-time colleague and friend at the University of Calgary, Canada.

 

September 2025

+ Students and I kicked off the AIoT workshop series at the University of Helsinki, Finland. [news]

+ Our paper, titled “Evaluating the accessibility impact of integrated micromobility and transit systems: a case study of Calgary, Canada,” has been published in the Public Transport. This is a collaborative work with the University of Calgary.

 

January 2025

+ Our paper “Characterizing Physical Space Utilization Using Wi-Fi Network Connectivity Data” won the Best Paper Award from NICAM 2025 conference, and is now published in the Procedia of Multidisciplinary Research. 

 

 

 

Copyright (c) 2012 by Santi Phithakkitnukoon