Dr. Kontou is named a 2022 Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Faculty Scholar. Vulnerable communities in Southern Lake Michigan need to be protected from extreme flooding with robust evacuation plans that account for using alternative fuel vehicles by evacuees (e.g., battery-electric and fuel cell electric vehicles) under a changing climate. My proposed project aims to design evacuation routes for alternative fuel vehicle drivers in Southern Lake Michigan transport networks responsive to flooding hazards. Such models can bring the necessary information and tools to decision-makers, foster resilient economies, and protect communities from the threats of climate change. Find more here: https://iiseagrant.org/new-iisg-research-projects-will-study-coastal-concerns-and-recruit-young-scientists/.
News
PhD student Liu and Dr. Kontou publish transportation energy vulnerability paper!
Transportation energy vulnerability is amplified as gas prices rise. PhD student Shanshan (Shirley) Liu and Dr. Kontou measure exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to transportation energy burden and provide composite scores of transportation energy vulnerability in the US in our new Sustainable Cities and Society open-access paper https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.103805.
A greater share of electric vehicle adoption and use can lower census tracts’ transportation energy vulnerability scores and reduce spatial disparities. Due to unavailable or underfunded transit systems, adaptive capacity cannot discount exposure and sensitivity to transportation energy burden.
Dr. Kontou is now a member of the Transportation Research Part D Editorial Advisory Board!
Dr. Kontou was invited to join the Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment journal’s Editorial Advisory Board. TR-Part D is one of the premier journals in transportation and is in the forefront of sustainable transportation systems research. It has a high-impact factor of 5.49 and a citescore of 9.1. Dr. Kontou looks forward to contributing to this new role!
Undergraduate researcher, Joe Ye, awarded 2nd place in INFORMS mini poster competition!
Tinghan (Joe) Ye, an undergraduate researcher from Cornell University, was awarded 2nd place of the undergraduate level of the INFORMS mini poster competition in 2021! His research focuses on electric vehicle charging management strategies. More information on the award can be found here: https://www.informs.org/Publications/OR-MS-Tomorrow/Mini-Poster-Competition-2021-Winners. Congrats,
Joe!
Kontou to give invited lectures at UIC, Northwestern, and University at Buffalo in Fall 2021
Dr. Kontou is invited to present her research (joint work with Denissa Purba, Simon Balisi, and Dr. Vogiatzis) on evacuation networks of alternative fuel vehicles at UIC, Northwestern, and University at Buffalo this Fall 2021. She was hosted at UIC in person on October 8th 2021 and will be in person at Northwestern on November 4th 2021, and virtually at Buffalo on November 18th 2021.
Dr. Kontou at WBUR’s Here and Now!
Dr. Kontou discussed with Ari Daniel at WBUR’s Here and Now about electric vehicles and the challenges of dependence on solar power: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/09/22/electric-cars-sun-power.
Liu awarded Midwest Big Data Hub Learning Innovation Fellowship
Shanshan (Shirley) Liu, PhD student of the Kontou Research Group, is awarded a Midwest Big Data Hub Learning Innovation Fellowship in Fall 2021. She will develop a data analytics module for a learning case study on alternative transportation fuels and energy use. Congrats, Shirley! More information can be found here: https://midwestbigdatahub.org/mbdh-lif-program-second-cohort/.
DPI Grant on Net-Zero Infrastructure
Our research group, with PI Dr. Farhad Ansari of UIC, was selected for seed funding by the Discovery Partners Institute. Dr. Kontou is a co-PI.
Our project focuses on transportation infrastructure planning for net-zero carbon emissions. With increased frequency of extreme weather events, as well as the specter of cyber-attack disruptions to the transportation network, this science team brings together multi-disciplinary, international expertise in infrastructure and transportation engineering, data science and cybersecurity, atmospheric sciences, and economy, addressing two key challenges: (i) how can we ensure the resiliency of our transportation infrastructure as it responds to increasing electrification of transport, particularly in pursuit of achieving “net zero” emissions; (ii) how does increasing embedding of digital technologies can be supported through cyber-resilient monitoring and control? The announcement of the award can be found here: https://dpi.uillinois.edu/news/dpi-awards-more-than-1-5-million-in-second-round-of-rd-seed-grants/.
Undergrad Simon Balisi finalist of INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize
We got great news! Simon Balisi, our undergrad research assistant (ISE major), is selected as a finalist for the INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research Prize, based on our research paper (co-authors: PhD student Denissa Purba and Prof. Kontou) on electric vehicles charging station siting for evacuation planning! We wish him good luck on his presentation! Find more info here: https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/10390/session/1261.
Kontou mentioned in WIRED magazine article on electric vehicles charging infrastructure
Dr. Kontou commented on the need for smart charging management and equitable access to recharging infrastructure in a WIRED article on the Biden’s administration’s plan to increase the number of electric cars on the road. Please find the article here: https://www.wired.com/story/biden-wants-more-evs-charging-stations/.