Ria Kontou
Primary Research Area
- Transportation Engineering
Research Areas
For More Information
Biography
Dr. Kontou is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on planning sustainable transportation systems. She earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, focusing on transportation systems, from University of Florida, and holds a M.Sc. from Virginia Tech, and a Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens in the same field. She was a postdoctoral research associate at the National Lab of the Rockies (former NREL) and the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Kontou has received the NSF CAREER award and the Council of University Transportation Centers-Cambridge Systematics New Faculty award. She was recognized as an Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Faculty Scholar, an invited participant of the US-Africa and a US Frontiers of Engineering, and a Levenick Sustainability Teaching Fellow at the University of Illinois. She is a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committee on Transportation Energy Data and Technology and an Associate Editor of the Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment journal.
Education
- Diploma, Civil Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 2011
- MSc, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2013
- PhD, Civil Engineering, University of Florida, 2016
Academic Positions
- Postdoctoral Research Associate, Transportation and Hydrogen Systems Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (now National Laboratory of the Rockies), Jan 2017-Aug 2018
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Aug 2018-Oct 2019
- Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (100%), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Oct 2019-Present
- Affiliate, Center for Social and Behavioral Science (0%), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Aug 2021-Present
- Affiliate, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment iSEE (0%), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Apr 2023-Present
Journal Editorships
- Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Associate Editor, 2024-Present
- Scientific Reports, Civil Engineering Editorial Board Member, 2022-2025
- Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, Guest Editor: Emerging Solutions and Policies for Transportation Electrification, 2022
- Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Early Career Editorial Advisory Board, 2021-Present
Professional Societies
- NASEM Transportation Research Board, Committee of Transportation Energy Data and Technology, Member, 2025-Present
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Sustainable Transportation Committee, Corresponding Member, 2023-Present
Research Interests
- Transportation and Energy Systems Interdependencies
- Sustainable Emerging Transportation Systems
- Transportation Electrification Planning and Policy
Primary Research Area
- Transportation Engineering
Research Areas
Chapters in Books
- Vogiatzis, C., & Kontou, E. (2023). Critical Infrastructure Detection During an Evacuation with Alternative Fuel Vehicles. In Handbook for Management of Threats: Security and Defense, Resilience and Optimal Strategies (pp. 81-101). Springer International Publishing.
- McDonald, N., Kontou, E. & Handy, S. (2021). Children and Cycling. In Cycling for Sustainable Cities (pp. 219-236). MIT Press.
- Stephens, T. S., Auld, J., Chen, Y., Gonder, J., Kontou, E., Lin, Z., Xie, F., Mohammadian, A., Shabanpour, R., & Gohlke, D. (2019). Assessing energy impacts of connected and automated vehicles at the US national level: preliminary bounds and proposed methods. In Road Vehicle Automation 5 (pp. 105-115). Springer International Publishing.
Selected Articles in Journals
- Bao, W., & Kontou, E. (2026). Electric vehicle charging stations at risk from hazardous events and power outages: Analytics and resilience implications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 226(Part C), 116144.
- Bhargava, R., Zhang, R., & Kontou, E. (2024). Heterogeneity of Land Uses near Electric Vehicle Charging Stations and their Affordability in Chicago, Illinois. Findings. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.125835
- Chen, X., & Kontou E. (2023). Estimating the Electric Vehicle Charging Demand of Multi-Unit Dwelling Residents in the United States. Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability.
- Guo, S., & Kontou, E. (2021). Disparities and equity issues in electric vehicles rebate allocation. Energy Policy, 154, 112291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112291
- Kim, H., Purba, D. S. D., & Kontou, E. (2026). Bidirectional Energy Supply Logistics Using Unscrewed Electric Aerial and Ground Vehicle: A Two-Echelon Location-Routing Problem with Resource-Constrained Allocation and Time Windows. Accepted at Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review.
- Liu, S., Vlachokostas, A., & Kontou, E. (2025). Leveraging electric vehicles as a resiliency solution for residential backup power during outages. Energy, 318, 134613.
- Liu, S., Vlachokostas, A., & Kontou, E. (2025). Resilience and environmental benefits of electric school buses as backup power for educational functions continuation during outages. Building and Environment, 269, 112329.
- Liu, S., Vlachokostas, A., Si, C., & Kontou, E. (2024). Coupled management of electric vehicle workplace charging and office building loads. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 134, 104317.
- Liu, S., & Kontou, E. (2022). Transportation Energy Vulnerability and its Spatial Patterns in the United States. Sustainable Cities and Society, 103805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.103805
- Purba, D. S. D., Balisi, S., & Kontou, E. (2024). Refueling Station Location Model to Support Evacuation of Alternative Fuel Vehicles. Transportation Research Record, 2678(1), 521-538.
- Purba, D. S. D., & Kontou, E. (2026). Vulnerability assessment of electric vehicles and their charging station network during evacuations. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 153, 105197.
- Purba, D. S. D., Kontou, E., & Vogiatzis, C. (2022). Evacuation route planning for alternative fuel vehicles. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 143, 103837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2022.103837
- Suma, S. A., Li, M., Ong, F., Wang, K., Kontou, E., & Habib, K. N. (2025). A quantitative assessment of daily transportation energy demand and electrification potential across the dwelling types in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Energy, 338, 138852.
- Wu, Y. C., & Kontou, E. (2022). Designing electric vehicle incentives to meet emission reduction targets. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 107, 103320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2022.103320
- Ye, T., Liu, S., & Kontou, E. (2024). Managed residential electric vehicle charging minimizes electricity bills while meeting driver and community preferences. Transport Policy, 149, 122-138.
- Zhang, R., & Kontou, E. (2025). Revenue-Maximizing Shared Parking and Electric Vehicle Charging Management in Multi-Unit Dwellings. Transportation Research Record, 2679(4), 278-297.
- Zhang, R., & Kontou, E. (2025). Urban electric vehicle infrastructure: Strategic planning for curbside charging. Journal of Transport Geography, 128, 104328.
- Zhang, R., Horesh, N., Kontou, E., & Zhou, Y. (2023). Electric Vehicle Community Charging Hubs in Multi-Unit Dwellings: Scheduling and Techno-Economic Assessment. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 120, 103776.
- Greene, D., Kontou, E., Borlaug, B., Brooker, A., & Muratori M. (2020). Public charging infrastructure for plug-in electric vehicles: What is it worth? Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 78, 102182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.11.011
- Kontou, E., & McDonald, N. (2021). Associating Ridesourcing with Road Safety Outcomes: Insights from Austin Texas. PloS one 16 (3), e0248311. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248311
- Kontou, E., Garikapati, V., & Hou, Y. (2020). Reducing ridesourcing empty vehicle travel with future travel demand prediction. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 121, 102826. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2020.102826
- Kontou, E., Kepaptsoglou, K., Charalampakis, A. E., & Karlaftis, M. G. (2014). The bus to depot allocation problem revisited: a genetic algorithm. Public Transport, 6(3), 237-255.
- Kontou, E., Liu, C., Xie, F., Wu, X., & Lin, Z. (2019). Understanding the linkage between electric vehicle charging network coverage and charging opportunity using GPS travel data. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, 98, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trc.2018.11.008
- Kontou, E., McDonald, N. C., Brookshire, K., Pullen-Seufert, N. C., & LaJeunesse, S. (2020). US active school travel in 2017: prevalence and correlates. Preventive medicine reports, 17, 101024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.101024
- Kontou, E., Murray-Tuite, P., & Wernstedt, K. (2016). Commuter Adaptation in Response to Hurricane Sandy's Damage. Natural Hazards Review, 18(2), 04016010.
- Kontou, E., Murray-Tuite, P., & Wernstedt, K. (2017). Duration of commute travel changes in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy using accelerated failure time modeling. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 100, 170-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.04.015
- Kontou, E., Yin, Y., & Ge, Y. E. (2017). Cost-effective and ecofriendly plug-in hybrid electric vehicle charging management. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (2628), 87-98. https://doi.org/10.3141/2628-10
- Kontou, E., Yin, Y., & Lin, Z. (2015). Socially optimal electric driving range of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 39, 114-125.
- Kontou, E., Yin, Y., Lin, Z., & He, F. (2017). Socially optimal replacement of conventional with electric vehicles for the US household fleet. International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, 11(10), 749-763. https://doi.org/10.1080/15568318.2017.1313341
- Muratori, M., Kontou, E., & Eichman, J. (2019). Electricity rates for electric vehicle direct current fast charging in the United States. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 113, 109235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.06.042
- Porter, A., Kontou, E., McDonald, N. C., & Evenson, K. (2020). Perceived barriers to commuter and exercise bicycling in U.S. adults: The 2017 National Household Travel Survey. Journal of Transport and Health, 16, 108820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2020.100820
- Vogiatzis, C., & Kontou, E. (2025). Case—Racial bias in automated traffic law enforcement and the price of unjustness. INFORMS Transactions on Education, 25(2), 128-135.
- Wenzel, T., Rames, C., Kontou, E., & Henao, A. (2019). Travel and energy implications of ridesourcing service in Austin, Texas. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 70, 18-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.03.005
Magazine Articles
- Kontou, E. (2025). Bridging the Charging Gap: Why rural electric vehicle charging infrastructure matters. IEEE Electrification Magazine, 13(3), 44-49.
- Hanna, R., Dugoua, E., Nunez-Jimenez, A., Nock, D., Arcusa, S., Castellanos, S., Davidson, M., Edwards, M., Galeazzi, C., Gao, X., Graff, M., Kennedy, K., Kontou, E., Lathwal. P., Musa, M., O'Rear, E., Sivaranjani, S., Zhang, J., & Zhu, Q. (2022). Support for climate policy researchers. Science, 378(6625), 1181. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf8956
Honors
- National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2023)
- Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC)-Cambridge Systematics New Faculty Award (2023)
Teaching Honors
- iSEE Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellow (2020)
Research Honors
- 2022 Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Faculty Scholar (2022)
- 2023 INFORMS Case Competition Runner-up (2023)
- 2023 INFORMS Chicago IMPACTful OR/Analytics Researcher of the Year (2023)
Public Service Honors
- Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation (IACT) Researcher of the Year Leadership Award (2022)