Hongyu Zheng

Hongyu Zheng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and holds a courtesy appointment in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), within the Tickle College of Engineering. He leads the Electrified, Autonomous, and Shared Transportation (EAST) Lab, focusing on next-generation mobility systems.

• Ph.D. in Transportation System Analysis and Planning, Northwestern University, 2024
• M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, 2024
• M.S. in Transportation Engineering, Zhejiang University, 2019
• B.Eng. in Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, 2016

Dr. Zheng's research lies at the intersection of industrial engineering and mobility, emphasizing data-driven modeling, optimization, and economic analysis. His methodologies include applied economics, game theory, machine learning, bi-level optimization, and network modeling. Key application areas include autonomous transportation, shared mobility systems, transportation electrification, smart logistics, and equity in transit. His work aims to improve the efficiency, sustainability, and fairness of urban transportation networks.

The recent publications reflect a strong trend toward integrating economic and behavioral modeling with advanced computational techniques to solve complex mobility challenges. His research spans theoretical modeling (e.g., game-theoretic competition in bikesharing) and real-world applications (e.g., impact of ridesplitting, pandemic effects on taxi markets). There is a clear focus on emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles, modular passenger-freight systems, and AI-based forecasting tools, often validated with real-world datasets from cities like Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

Scientific contributions have been recognized through publications in top journals such as Transportation Science, Transportation Research Part A/B/C, and IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. Notably, he received the Best Paper Award at the 9th International Workshop on Computational Transportation Science (CTS) in 2017.

Dr. Zheng is actively involved in mentoring and research funding. He is currently recruiting fully funded Ph.D. students for Fall 2025 or Spring 2026. He also welcomes remote undergraduate and graduate visitors. While specific grants are not listed, his active lab and publication pipeline suggest ongoing research support. He teaches IE 430/530 (Supply Chain Engineering) and IE 691 (Advanced Topics: Game Theory and Its Applications in Mobility Systems).

He leads the Electrified, Autonomous, and Shared Transportation (EAST) Lab at UTK, which focuses on innovation in sustainable and intelligent mobility. The lab integrates methodological advances in optimization, machine learning, and economics to design and analyze future transportation systems. Current research directions include modularity in co-modal transport, ethical transit pricing, and competition dynamics in shared mobility markets.