Kenan Zhang

Assistant Professor at EPFL

Kenan Zhang is a Tenure-track Assistant Professor at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where she leads the Laboratory for Human-Oriented Mobility Eco-system (HOMES). Her research primarily focuses on the mathematical modeling, optimization, and operations management of urban transportation systems, with a particular interest in emerging mobility services and technologies, including autonomous vehicles and machine learning applications in transportation.1 3 4

Educational Background

BSc in Civil Engineering from Tsinghua University (2010-2014).
MSc in Architecture-Engineering-Construction Management from Carnegie Mellon University (2014-2015).
PhD in Civil Engineering (Transportation System Analysis and Planning) from Northwestern University (2016-2021), where she also obtained a second MSc in Statistics.1 2

Professional Experience

Before joining EPFL in September 2023, Kenan Zhang was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich from January 2022 to September 2023. She has also held research positions at Northwestern University and Carnegie Mellon University, focusing on various aspects of transportation systems, including ride-hail services and urban mobility analytics.2 5

Honors and Contributions

Kenan has received several accolades throughout her academic career, including:

The CEE Rising Star Award.
The Best Dissertation Award from the Chinese Overseas Transportation Association (COTA).
Various fellowships during her studies in both China and the United States.1 2

She actively contributes to the academic community as a member of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics and serves on the Early Career Editorial Advisory Board for Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.1 3

Teaching

At EPFL, Kenan teaches courses related to urban public transport systems and transportation network modeling and analysis, combining theoretical knowledge with practical applications to address real-world challenges in urban mobility.1 4

Her work is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach that integrates engineering principles with statistical methods to enhance urban transportation efficiency and sustainability.3 4