Draft:George Yannis

George Yannis (born 18 November 1964) is a Greek transportation engineer, Professor in Traffic and Safety Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens.

Early life and education
George Yannis was born in Athens on 18 November 1964 and raised in downtown Athens, where he still lives. In 1982, he graduated from the 10th Athens Public School in Ampelokipoi. From 1982 to 1987, he attended the National Technical University of Athens and received a Diploma's degree in civil engineering (transport engineering option and then he obtained a Master's degree in Transport Engineering (1988) and a PhD (Doctorat) in Transport from the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris (1993).

Transportation engineering career
George Yannis contributed to national plans and policies, having conceived the Athens Metro development plan of eight lines (including the famous line 4 currently in development) (2009), the Athens city parking scheme (2002), the first Sustainable Urban Mobility Policy for Greece (2008), the introduction of green vehicle annual fee (2009), the Piraeus Port traffic arrangements and pedestrian paths (2004).

During his term as Chairman of the Athens Metro Public Authority (2004–2010), he contributed to the planning, design, tendering, supervision, commissioning and acceptance of the metro construction projects in Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as of their accompanying projects.

He has provided scientific support to the controversial Athens Great Walk urban regeneration project, which has been partially implemented to gradually transform Athens down-town mobility patterns, despite the initial strong inertia reactions.

Academic career
Since 1991 he is contributing in road safety and transportation engineering research carried out at the Department of Transportation Planning and Engineering of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens (Faculty Member since 2000).

He published about 870 scientific papers (citations i10-index: googlescholar: 201, h-index: googlescholar: 53, scopus: 41). He is serving as Associate Editor and Editorial Board Member of the international scientific journals in the field (Accident Analysis & Prevention, Journal of Safety Research, Safety Science, Advances in Transportation Studies, Sensors, Transportation Letters, etc.).

Running career
George Yannis is passionate about running, having finished 60 Marathon races and other road, trail and triathlon races, in Greece and in Europe. His first Marathon was at the age of 18 and his best performance is 2 hours 56 minutes in Athens at the age of 21. By the age of 35 he has completed 20 Marathons and after a 15-year running break (1999–2014), during the last decade he has completed another 40 Marathons.

He is currently running 30 Marathons in 30 months in order to actively promote the adoption of 30km/h speed limit in as many cities as possible worldwide, as a key policy for safer, healthier and greener cities.

Personal life
George Yannis is son of Dimitrios Yannis and Chryssanthi Bouza, both originated from Greece's North-Western Region of Epirus mountainous villages (Vitsa at Zagori and Palaiochori Syrrako at Metsovo area respectively). He is the middle of the three brothers, Nicos and Alexandros. He is married with Vassiliki Lerouni, Athens independent lawyer, having together two children: Dimitrios and Panagiotis.

He has lived in Athens, Paris and Brussels and continues travelling worldwide for his academic and running career.