Small Urban and Rural Center on Mobility

Staff Bio

Evans Akoto
Graduate Research Assistant
Email: evans.akoto@ndsu.edu

His research areas include transportation economics, public transit, alternative fuels, supply chain resilience, and sustainable mobility planning. He is particularly interested in evaluating fare elasticity, modeling rural Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), and advancing electric vehicle adoption through spatial and econometric analysis. His current research explores the economic viability of public transit systems in the U.S., spatial accessibility challenges in rural transit integration, and the decarbonization of agricultural freight systems using optimization models and machine learning techniques.

He earned his BS in Economics from the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana, and an MS in Agribusiness and Applied Economics from North Dakota State University (NDSU), and he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Transportation and Logistics at North Dakota State University (NDSU).

He previously served as an impact analyst for an education-focused NGO, where he evaluated the effectiveness of teaching strategies across schools. He has also held leadership roles as treasurer of the National Union of Ghana Students—NDSU Chapter and vice president of public relations for the Agribusiness & Applied Economics Graduate Club. In addition to his research, he has worked with fellow graduate students as a research assistant and actively participated in seminars, outreach initiatives, and interdisciplinary fellowships that emphasize public policy and innovation.

Research Interests

  • Financial sustainability in public transit systems
  • Rural micro-mobility solutions
  • Sustainable transportation systems
  • Alternative fuels in transportation
  • Transportation access and equity in underserved communities

Employment

  • Doctoral Graduate Research Assistant – Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI), NDSU, Fargo, ND, 2024 - Present
  • Graduate Research Assistant – Agribusiness and Applied Economics, NDSU, Fargo, ND, 2023 – 2024
  • Impact Analyst – Institute for Teacher Education and Development, Ghana, 2022 (Nov.) – 2022 (Dec.)
  • Teaching Assistant – School of Economics, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana, 2019 - 2020

Education

  • Ph.D. in Transportation and Logistics – North Dakota State University (In Progress)
  • M.S. in Agribusiness and Applied Economics – North Dakota State University, 2023
  • B.S. in Economics – University of Cape Coast, Ghana, 2019