Konstantina (Nadia) Gkritza, Ph.D., F.ASCE, a professor at the Lyles School of Civil Engineering at Purdue University and a Purdue University Faculty Scholar, has been named a fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Gkritza is the director of the Sustainable Transportation Systems Research Group, and the campus director of the NSF ASPIRE Engineering Research Center (ERC). NSF ERC ASPIRE is focused on approaches to eliminate range and charging as barriers to electric vehicle use. Solutions include plug-in and wireless charging systems that are integrated into roadways, parking structures, and are networked with the electric grid and traffic management systems. The research at Purdue University’s Sustainable Transportation Systems Research Group primarily focuses on advancing the understanding of the triple bottom line (economic, environmental, and social) for sustainable transportation systems and developing empirical models and practical tools for use in transportation decision-making.
Gkritza’s recent work revolves around gaining a deeper understanding of the market acceptance, and modeling the adoption, of electric vehicles (light-duty, medium, and heavy-duty vehicles) at different spatial scales (local and state) and estimating the corresponding environmental and societal impacts. She is currently providing strategic and tactical guidance to Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and other ASPIRE member DOTs and industries on how they should adapt their current practices for an electrified transportation future. Her team is also tasked with preparing the workforce and communities of the future to understand, operate within, and design for sustainable electric infrastructure.
She has been a member of ASCE since 2003. She served as a member of the Economics and Finance Committee of T&DI Planning from 2010 to 2015. Since 2011, she has been serving as the associate editor of ASCE’s Journal of Transportation Engineering in the areas of planning, economics, and modeling. She also occupies the same position for the International Journal of Transportation Science and Technology in the area of energy and climate change, and is on the editorial board of Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment.
Gkritza is a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Committees on Transportation Energy and Agriculture & Transportation, a past member of the TRB Committee on Freight Transportation & Regulation, and past co-chair of the TRB Committee on Transportation and Economic Development. Her awards include ASCE’s Frank M. Masters Transportation Engineering Award, the Jane F. Garvey/UMass Institute of Transportation Engineers Transportation Leadership award, a Greek Diaspora Fellowship by the Institute of International Education, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Fulbright Foundation in Greece, and Purdue University’s College of Engineering Faculty of Excellence in Leadership Award. She teaches courses on transportation engineering, economic analysis of transportation investments, public transportation systems, and transportation data analysis.
Gkritza holds a diploma in civil engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an M.S.C.E. from the Virginia Polytechnic and State University. Her doctoral degree in civil engineering is from Purdue University.