Technology Change Lab

The Technology Change Lab conducts interdisciplinary research that explores relationships between technological change and factors that shape it, such as consumer behavior, market dynamics, and policy. We apply a systems engineering perspective to better understand these relationships and to inform policy, with an emphasis on accelerating transitions to cleaner technologies.

Topics

  • Clean Technology Development & Adoption: Quantify how consumers, firms, markets, and policy affect the nature & pace of transitioning to sustainable energy and transportation technologies.
  • Consumer Preferences for Emerging Technology: Measure and model consumer preferences to assess policy and product design and simulate consumer choice behavior under uncertainty.
  • Electric Vehicles & Sustainable Transportation Technologies: Assess barriers and opportunities to accelerating the development & adoption of sustainable transportation technologies.
  • U.S.-China Climate Relationship: Study the critical relationship between the US and China in developing, scaling, and mass deploying low carbon energy technologies.

Affiliations

Funding

People

Faculty

John Paul Helveston, Ph.D.

John Paul Helveston is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at the George Washington University. He studies technological change, with a particular interest in accelerating the transition to environmentally sustainable and energy-saving technologies. His research centers around how consumer preferences, market dynamics, and policy affect the emergence of critical technologies, such as electric vehicles and solar energy. He is an expert on China’s rapidly emerging electric vehicle industry as well as the critical relationship between the US and China in developing and mass producing low carbon energy technologies. He applies an interdisciplinary approach to research, with expertise in discrete choice modeling and conjoint analysis as well as interview-based case studies. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in China, collaborating with colleagues at Beijing Normal University and China’s State Information Center on past projects. He is a fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese and also an award-winning swing dancer. John holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech.

Post-Docs

Xiatian Iogansen, Ph.D.

Xiatian’s research centers on modeling travel behavior and consumer preferences in emerging transportation technologies. She joined The George Washington University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in January 2025 as a postdoctoral researcher, focusing on vehicle electrification. She completed her Ph.D. in Transportation Technology and Policy at the Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis. Xiatian holds dual master’s degrees in Urban Planning and Transportation Engineering from the University of Washington and previously interned with the Washington State Department of Transportation. She received a Ph.D. Dissertation Grant from the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center (PSR UTC) and the ITS-Davis Corporate Affiliate Fellowship from Toyota Motor Corporation. Additionally, she was honored as the USDOT Outstanding Student of the Year by PSR UTC.

Ph.D. Students

Pingfan Hu (胡平凡)

Pingfan received a M.P.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sydney University, and a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Penn State University. Prior to joining GW, Pingfan had 4 years of work experience in supply chain and engineering management. His primary research interest is the adoption of PEV smart charging, with an expansion to V2G charging. He is currently working on a study using conjoint analysis to assess people’s willingness to participate in such programs.


Michael Rossetti

Michael Rossetti is a data scientist and software engineer. He has worked as a data analyst for a winning US Presidential campaign, an analytics director for a Silicon Valley startup, and a technology consultant for the US Government. He teaches courses in data science, computer science, and software development, and conducts research in applied machine learning.


Zain Hoda

Zain received his MS in Data Analytics from George Washington University. Prior to joining GW, Zain had roughly five years of experience in Data Mining and ETL. Zain’s research area is the adoption of electric vehicles in Disadvantaged communities. He is currently working on a study using conjoint analysis to examine the feasibility of EV adoption in DACs within the context of financial constraints and EV availability in these communities.

Undergraduate Students

Bogdan Bunea

Bogdan is an undergraduate student majoring in Systems Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. In his time at GWU, Bogdan has worked in multiple labs (EMSE & MAE) as well as participated in multiple clubs such as GWU-Rocket and GWU-Sat. In Dr. Helveston’s lab, Bogdan helped create a databasing system for the surveydown, an open source survey project. Bogdan also helped with data wrangling and scraping data about all available cars on the market.


Lola Nurullaeva

Lola is an undergraduate student in Systems Engineering at The George Washington University (class of 2025). In Dr. Helveston’s lab, she supported a project led by Ph.D. student Leah Kaplan modeling the cost to operate an autonomous vehicle taxi service.


Alumni

Laura Roberson

PhD Systems Engineering, 2024

Laura dissertation focused on consumer acceptance and interaction with innovative technologies, especially in the transportation industry. Her research interests include electric vehicle adoption, innovation developments and policies that promote innovations. She also has 10+ years working for a global automotive manufacturer, giving her a balance of academic and industry knowledge and experience. Laura received her BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech and her MS in Systems Engineering from the great GWU EMSE department. She defended her dissertation in February 2024.


Leah Kaplan

PhD Systems Engineering, 2024

Leah pursued her PhD in Systems Engineering as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Leah graduated summa cum laude with her Bachelor’s in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona before moving to DC to pursue an interest in science policy. Leah interned with the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and worked for the Arizona State University Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes. Leah’s primary research interest is decision-making under uncertainty related to emerging technologies, with a focus on transportation. Her dissertation focused on understanding how we can leverage technologies for the benefit of, rather than detriment to, society. She defended her dissertation in August 2024.


Lujin Zhao (赵鲁晋)

PhD Engineering Management, 2024

Lujin received a B.S. in Agricultural and Resources Economics from University of Maryland, a M.S. degree in Economics from Tufts University, and a M.S. degree in Data Analytics from the George Washington University. His interests are China’s EV subsidy policies, environmental impacts from the EV industry, and energy policy. He completed his Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from George Washington University in December, 2024. His dissertation focused on sustainable transportation, the dynamics of the electric vehicle market, and exploring policy implications to drive innovation in transportation systems.


Eliese Ottinger

MS Systems Engineering, 2024
BS Systems Engineering, 2023

Eliese worked with Professor Helveston as both an undergraduate and masters student in Systems Engineering at George Washington University. She graduated with her Bachelors degree in Systems Engineering in 2023 with minors in Sustainability and Mathematics, and will graduate with her MS degree in 2024. In Dr. Helveston’s lab, she analyzed differences in how people drive gas vehicles and electric vehicles and is an author on a resulting publication.


Saurav Pantha

MS Systems Engineering, 2021

Saurav worked with Professor Helveston as a masters student in Systems Engineering at George Washington University. Originally from Kathmandu, Nepal, he graduated with he MS degree in Systems Engineering in 2021. Before GW, he worked at a business consulting firm based out of Bangalore, India, helping multiple automotive & banking clients to solve business problems through data analytics solutions. Within Dr. Helveston’s lab, he supported multiple research projects by setting up a pipeline for a MySQL database, writing R scripts to clean & wrangle data, and conducting literature surveys. In his free time, he loves to go on treks and watch Manchester United’s soccer games live.


Kazi Asifa Ashrafi

BS Systems Engineering, 2022

Kazi worked with Professor Helveston as a sophomore undergraduate student in Systems Engineering at George Washington University. Originally from Bangladesh, she graduated with her Bachelors degree in Systems Engineering in 2022 with a minor in Statistics. She has always been enthusiastic about advocating for social causes and was previously involved in research projects at Penn State that aimed to enhance skills of preschoolers in the area of social-emotional development. She recently interned at a non-profit focusing on issues surrounding diaspora communities in regards to climate change. In Dr. Helveston’s lab, she explored the geo-spatial distribution of electric vehicles (EVs) across the U.S.


Helena Rowe

BS Systems Engineering, 2022

Helena worked with Professor Helveston as a sophomore undergraduate student in Systems Engineering at George Washington University. Originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts, she graduated with her Bachelors degree in Systems Engineering in 2022 with a minor in Sustainability. In previous roles, she has worked for a small consulting firm, analyzed market research for a building materials start-up, and researched with a professor about climate change risks in the investment industry. Within Dr. Helveston’s lab, she worked on electric vehicle (EV) sales forecasting over time from different organizations.


Amelia Jacquat

BS Systems Engineering, 2023

Amelia worked with Professor Helveston as a sophomore undergraduate student in Systems Engineering at George Washington University. Originally from New Orleans, LA, she graduated with her Bachelors degree in Systems Engineering in 2023 with minors in Computer Science and Theatre. Within Dr. Helveston’s lab, she worked on electric vehicle (EV) sales forecasting over time from different organizations.

Opportunities

Current Opportunities

While I am not currently seeking new Ph.D. students, I am always happy to hear from motivated potential students who are considering a Ph.D. through the Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Department at GWU. If you are interested in working with me as your advisor, please send me an email with the following attachments:

  • Your CV.
  • A written statement describing specific research topics you are interested in and why (at least one page).
  • A summary of your prior research experience and skills.

Graduate Research Assistants

Although currently I am not seeking a GRA for ongoing research projects, there is a good chance that I may have opportunities in the near future. If you are a masters student and would like to gain some research experience in my lab, please send me an email with the following information:

  • Your CV.
  • A brief statement of your research interests.
  • A brief summary of your prior research experience and skills.

Candidates with the following skills / experience are particularly encouraged: webscraping, data cleaning, exploratory data analysis, life cycle assessment, simulation.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

If you are an undergraduate student and would like to gain some research experience in my lab, don’t hesitate to send me an email. I frequently have specific research tasks that make for great undergraduate research projects. If you are interested, please send me an email with the following information:

  • Your CV.
  • A brief statement describing specific research topics you are interested in and why.

Visitors

I am happy to welcome visiting scholars and students to my lab. Although I do not have funding at the moment to sponsor visitors, I would be happy to host you if you can be funded by your own institutions or other sources. Please email me your CV and research plan for further discussions.