Student Spotlight | National Institute for Transportation and Communities

NITC Student Spotlight: Amanda Dillon of University of Utah

Student Spotlight: Amanda Dillon, University of Utah

Apr 04, 2019

Amanda Dillon, University of Utah

Amanda Dillon is a research assistant in the University of Utah's Metropolitan Research Center. She has received both NITC and WTS scholarships, and has recently been hired as a community planner in the urban design studio of MHTN Architects, a major architecture firm in Salt Lake City.

Tell us about yourself?

I’m a second year dual master’s student in city and metropolitan planning and real estate development at the University of Utah. I came to Utah via New York City where I spent 6 years working in the nonprofit sector. Prior to that, I did community development in the U.S. Peace Corps for two and a half years in Mauritania and Mozambique. Utah is an exciting place to study planning, transportation, and development because the population is growing and the built environment is changing so fast. I became interested in transportation and our (unhealthy) relationship with cars at a young age growing up in Los Angeles. Now that I’m in Salt Lake City, I’m focused on researching and creating more sustainable relationships between transportation and land management.

What (or who) has influenced your career path in transportation?

As I mentioned, I grew up in Los Angeles, and went to undergrad in Orange County. I formed my early impressions of transportation...

NITC Dissertation Fellow - Erin Roark Murphy of University of Texas at Arlington

Student Spotlight: Erin Roark Murphy, University of Texas at Arlington

Mar 04, 2019

Erin Roark Murphy, University of Texas at Arlington

Erin Roark Murphy, LMSW, is a doctoral student in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). She is a NITC student scholar and has worked as a graduate research assistant on several NITC-funded projects, including "Evaluating Improved Transit Connections for Ladders of Opportunity" and "How Can Interdisciplinary Teams Leverage Emerging Technologies to Respond to Infrastructure Needs? A Mixed-Methods Evaluation of Civil Engineers, Urban Planning, and Social Workers’ Perspectives."

LinkedIn | Twitter | Website

Tell us about yourself?

I am in the third year of my PhD program at UTA in the School of Social Work. My personal research focuses on looking at homelessness...

Student Spotlight: Corrie Parrish, University of Oregon

Feb 04, 2019

Corrie Parrish, University of Oregon

Corrie Parrish is a masters student in the community and regional planning program at the University of Oregon (UO). She is the current president of LiveMove, UO's transportation and livability student group, as well as the Equity Initiative graduate employee for UO's School of Planning, Public Policy, and Management (PPPM). She has also worked as an outdoor recreation assistant and naturalist assistant for Five Rivers MetroParks in Ohio, and as an outreach and project coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in New Mexico.

Update (March 2019): Recipient of the Eno Future Leaders Award

Corrie Parrish has been selected as one of 20 of the nation's top graduate students in transportation and will take part in the prestigious Eno Future Leaders Development Conference, taking place in Washington, DC, June 2 – 6, 2019! The Future Leaders Development Conference provides a first-hand look at how transportation policy is developed and implemented. Corrie and others will meet with top government officials, leaders of...

Transportation Undergraduate Research Fellowship (TURF) Applications are Open for 2019

Jan 28, 2019

For the second year in a row, we're opening up an exciting opportunity for undergraduate students interested in transportation: Spend a summer at Portland State University to learn more about the world of research in transportation through our Transportation Undergraduate Research Fellowship (TURF) program. This program is open to current undergraduate students from any university who are interested in learning more about transportation engineering or planning research.

Hosted at PSU, selected students will be paired with a PSU faculty mentor (from either the College of Urban and Public Affairs or the Maseeh College of Engineering & Computer Science). The student will carry out research on a transportation project for ten weeks at 40 hours per week. TURF Fellows are provided a $7,500 stipend, but must find and fund their own lodging.

Decisions will be made by March 29, 2019. Contact us at asktrec@pdx.edu with any questions.

APPLY FOR TURF 2019 (by...

Travis Glick of Portland State University. Man with dark hair in light gray suit smiles broadly.

Student Spotlight: 2018 NITC "Student of the Year" - Travis Glick, Portland State University

Dec 10, 2018

Travis Glick, Portland State University

Travis Glick is a PhD student, graduate teaching and research assistant in civil & environmental engineering at Portland State University. He served for two years as president of Students in Transportation Engineering and Planning (STEP), Portland State University's transportation student group. Travis is a 2018 NITC student scholar and two-time Eisenhower fellow, and will be presenting research on bus dwell times, bus-bike conflicts and transit modeling at the 2019 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).

LinkedIn | Twitter

Tell us about yourself?

Student Spotlight: Garrett Stephens, Oregon Institute of Technology

Nov 14, 2018

Garrett Stephens, Oregon Institute of Technology

Garrett Stephens is Oregon Tech's 2018-19 ITE Student Chapter President and has held civil engineering internships at Kiewit and Lane County Public Works. He was interested in civil engineering from a young age, and has recently decided to pursue a graduate degree with a focus on transportation.

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Garrett Stephens and I am from the Clackamas/Damascus area outside of Portland, Oregon. Growing up, my family owned our own retail paint business where I worked when needed and developed a strong sense of ownership in anything I did. My college career started when I was 16 years old through an early college options program between the homeschool program I was enrolled in and Clackamas Community College. This program allowed me to really step out and develop leadership skills through the classes I took. Outside of academia, I am an avid outdoorsman and love all that Oregon has to offer.

What and/or who has most significantly influenced your path in transportation?

Student Spotlight: Monica Landgrave-Serrano, University of Arizona

Oct 12, 2018

Monica Landgrave-Serrano, University of Arizona

Monica Landgrave-Serrano is a planning masters student at the University of Arizona. She is a NITC student scholar, a TRB Minority Student Fellow, and is currently working as a planning intern with the City of Tucson and also as a graduate research assistant on the NITC-funded project "Access to Opportunities: Redefining Planning Methods and Measures for Disadvantaged Populations." She is the president of UA's Graduate Planning Society, and is helping to build connections with UA transportation students in civil engineering.

Tell us about yourself:

My name is Monica Landgrave-Serrano and I was born in...

Student Spotlight: Keunhyun Park, Utah State University

Sep 19, 2018

Keunhyun Park, Assistant Professor at Utah State University, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning

Keunhyun Park graduated from the University of Utah in the spring of 2018, and is now a tenure-track assistant professor at Utah State University. In January 2018 he received a TRB Best Paper Award for "Travel Behavior in TODs vs. non-TODs: Using Cluster Analysis and Propensity Score Matching (PDF)," a paper he coauthored based on a NITC-funded research project with Brenda Scheer and Reid Ewing of the University of Utah. Selection was made by the Transportation and Land Development Committee of the Transportation Research Board (TRB).

Utah State Profile | LinkedIn

Tell us about yourself:

I am from South Korea, where I studied landscape architecture for both my undergraduate and...

Student Spotlight: ITE Student Chapter President Sheida Khademi, University of Texas at Arlington

Jul 24, 2018

Sheida Khademi, University of Texas at Arlington

ITE Student Chapter | LinkedIn

Tell us about yourself:

I was born and raised in Iran, and I have experienced many restrictions that exist for women. My role model has been my mother; she played a pivotal role in helping me overcome challenges in achieving my goals. My family has always valued a good education and we have a deep belief in the power of women to find their way in society. I achieved a top 1% score in one of the most competitive and demanding schools in my country, in a male-dominated major. During my undergraduate years, I found that I have a deep interest in research, with a strong motivation and aptitude for it. I started my master’s degree in transportation engineering at University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in Fall 2015, and started my PhD in the Fall 2017 semester.

What...

Student Spotlight: LiveMove Leader Stephanie Nappa, University of Oregon

May 17, 2018

Stephanie Nappa, University of Oregon

LiveMove Student Group | LinkedIn

We're shining our student spotlight this month on Stephanie Nappa, president of the University of Oregon student group LiveMove. On May 24, LiveMove will host a speaker series event with Oboi Reed, the Executive Director of Equiticity, to discuss equity in biking.

Tell us about yourself:

I’m a former engineer and chemist who began studying planning once I learned there was a career that would allow me to talk endlessly about transportation systems without simply receiving polite nods. Currently, I’m about to finish my Master of Community and Regional Planning degree from the University of Oregon, where I’ve focused my studies on active transportation. This past summer I had the opportunity to take a study abroad course on bicycle transportation in...

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