Efthymia Kostopoulou Wins Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship
Content
Ph.D. candidate Efthymia “Fay” Kostopoulou of the Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Department has been awarded a $2,000 Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship from the Rhode Island Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS). This marks the third year in a row that she has received this very notable scholarship. In 2022, Kostopoulou also received the Mary Jane O’Meara Member Graduate Scholarship, from the Boston Chapter of the WTS.
The Rhode Island scholarship is competitive and based on the applicant's specific transportation involvement and goals, job skills, and academic record.
Kostopoulou, whose advisor is CEE Associate Professor Eleni Christofa, is pursuing her Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from UMass Amherst. Her research focuses on developing signal-control strategies that account for multiple user types and performance measures in order to design an equitable and efficient traffic-management system.
Kostopoulou has also worked on a variety of research projects including the development of accessibility and fare equity metrics in communities with race and economic disparities in cooperation with Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, funded by the Federal Transit Administration. In addition, she has worked on measuring accessibility to food services to improve public health and on investigating the effectiveness of bike boxes in Massachusetts, both projects funded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Kostopoulou has been a member of WTS since January of 2021, Vice President of the UMass Amherst Student Chapter for the academic year 2021 - 2022 and President of the UMass Amherst Student Chapter since September of 2022.
In addition, Kostopoulou was involved in the so-called “Glow Safely” project, a low-cost safety alternative that lights the path for vulnerable road users, which has been recognized at UMass entrepreneurship events. By using motion-sensor technology and LED lights, Glow Safely enables drivers to be more aware of bicyclists and pedestrians in crosswalks and bike lanes.
In addition to the influential WTS scholarships, Kostopoulou also earned the NorthEast Passenger Transportation Association Scholarship in 2022.
Before attending UMass Amherst, Kostopoulou earned her B.Sc. and M.Eng. in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens.
