USC students in the Viterbi School of Engineering and the School of Policy, Planning, and Development distinguished themselves and their schools in multiple regional transportation competitions. 

Three USC students received scholarships at the 25^th Annual Scholarship and Awards Dinner sponsored by the Los Angeles Chapter of WTS (formerly the Women’s Transportation Seminar) at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on November 9^th.  Christine Mercado, a Master’s student in the Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Transportation Engineering program received the $5,500 Myra L. Frank Memorial Graduate Scholarship.  Myra Frank was instrumental in founding the WTS-LA chapter.  Scholarship recipients are selected based on transportation career goals, academic strength, and commitment to the field.  Mercado holds an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from UC Irvine, and is a Transportation Planning Division Intern at the Port of Long Beach.  She is founding president of USC’s student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.  She plans to earn her license as a profession engineering license and work as a public sector project manager.  Mercado was nominated by USC Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Jim Moore.

USC Master of Science in Civil Engineering (Transportation Engineering) student, Christine Mercado received the Myra L. Frank Memorial Graduate Scholarship from WTS Los Angeles.

Astani Department sophomore Rosa Lau was recognized with the $2,500 Marilyn J. Reese Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship.  Marilyn J. Reece was pioneering role model for women in the transportation industry, a California Department of Transportation engineer responsible for designing the I-10/I-405 interchange, and the first woman in California to receive her license as a Professional Engineer.  The scholarship is open to women in their first or second year of undergraduate study in a transportation-related field.  Lau is a civil engineering major with a focus in environmental engineering, and is the Environmental Design Team Co-Captain for the USC student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.  She plans to attend graduate school in civil engineering.  Lau, whose sister Roberta Lau is also a Viterbi undergraduate majoring in Environmental Engineering, was nominated by Astani ENE Prof. Massoud Pirbazari.

USC Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering (Environmental Engineering) student Rosa Lau received the Marilyn J. Reese Undergraduate Fellowship from WTS Los Angeles.

 School of Policy, Planning, and Development (SPPD) doctoral candidate Jeongwoo Lee was awarded the $3,500 Women’s Transportation Coalition Scholarship.  After 20 years as a strong voice advocating on behalf of women in the transportation industry, the Los Angeles Women’s Transportation Coalition disbanded in 2011, and pledged a one-time scholarship to be added to the pool of awards made by WTS-LA.  Lee is a research assistant on projects sponsored by the National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research (METRANS); which is jointly managed by USC and California State University, Long Beach; and has published numerous articles in the field.  She holds a Master’s degree in engineering from Seoul National University, and a bachelor’s degree from Pusan National University in South Korea.  Her dissertation will examine how the local environment influences transit use in Los Angeles.  Lee was nominated by SPPD Senior Associate Dean for Research Genevieve Giuliano

WTS Los Angeles Scholarship Winners:  Christine Mercado (USC, MSCE candidate); Monica Villalobos (UC Berkeley, PhD candidate, Urban Planning); Josie Edles (CalPoly Pomona, BSCE student); Jeongwoo Lee (USC, PhD candidate, SPPD); Rosa Lau (USC, BSCE student) Sheri Soldatke (Senior Manager at Parsons, at podium), Sokchanda Im (CSU Long Beach, BS Business Management, BS Operations Management, and BS International Business student).

Attendees enjoy the WTS Los Angeles 25^th Annual Scholarship and Awards Dinner at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel on November 9^th.

Three USC undergraduates; Samuel Levy, a junior in the Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Richard Holzer, a junior in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development; and Andrew Gordon, a senior in SPPD; attended the California Transportation Foundation’s (CTF) 17^th Annual Transportation Symposium at the Queen Mary Hotel, in Long Beach, November 3^rd – 4^th.  The CTF symposium brings together 36 college juniors and seniors identified by their institutions on the basis of special academic merit from across California to participate in a unique two-day exercise.  USC Viterbi School Vice Dean for Academic Affairs Jim Moore works with his colleagues in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development to identify USC’s student participants.

Students are organized into team to generate competing responses to a mock Request For Proposals (RFP) to execute a transportation engineering project.  The Symposium is sponsored by a State-wide partnership of transportation agencies and firms:  Students participants are not charged.  Each student is assigned a senior executive in the field as mentor.  The mentors assist the student teams in formulating and presenting their responses to the RFP to a panel of industry experts.  The experience is intended to provide students with an intensive, structured dose of commercial engineering practice near the conclusion of their undergraduate programs, and to encourage their professional interests in transportation systems.

Many students who participate in the CTF Symposium do pursue careers in some aspect of transportation.  Returning USC students consistently rave about the experience, and this year was no exception. 

Viterbi junior Sam Levy reported that “The Symposium was the best undergraduate exposure to the transportation industry that a student could ask for.  It was amazing to see the dedication and enthusiasm of the thirty-six transportation professionals who took two full days to share their wisdom and experience with the students.”

The SPPD participants were equally impressed.  Reported Richard Holzer, “Not only did we get the opportunity to meet with the executives of the major transportation companies where we may work, we had the chance to work with them and demonstrate our skills.” 

“The California Transportation Foundation's Transportation Education Symposium was an invaluable experience,” remarked Andrew Gorden, “I know that, with the education I gained at the symposium, I am better equipped to work in the field of transportation, and all the more passionate about the field knowing that we have all these incredibly talented, smart, and supportive mentors to look up to.”

Levy’s team (the Blue Team) won the mock RFP competition.  Symposium participants automatically compete for a $5,000 scholarship awarded by CTF at their annual Transportation Forum in January in Sacramento.

The Blue Team and Their Mentors:  Ryan Chamberlain, Deputy District Director, Caltrans D12; Mark Beadleston, General Superintendent, C.C. Myers, Inc.; Jeff Shaw, Senior VP, Vali Cooper & Associates; Brandon Beals, Chico State; Paul Van Dyk, CSU Long Beach; Raymond Han, UC San Diego; Sam Levy (in red), USC; Yi Tyan Tsai, UCLA; and Matthew Mooney, CSU Northridge.