annual report 2012‐2013 - texite

University of Texas at Austin ITE Student Chapter |“WHAT STARTS HERE CHANGES THE WORLD”

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Annual Report 2012‐2013

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AnnualReport2012‐2013

DedicationtoProfessionalDevelopment,SocialEnrichmentandServicethroughTransportationEngineering

AnnualReportofStudentChapterActivities




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ForthePeriodApril1,2012toMarch31,2013

StudentChapterof:

UniversityofTexasatAustin

1.CurrentChapterOfficers

President MeredithCebelak

VicePresident‐Membership DiniecePeters

VicePresident‐Activities KanLong

Treasurer BriceNichols

Secretary ZheHan

2.StudentChapterMembership

NumberofStudentChapterMembers:44

NumberofStudentMembersoftheInstitute:44

NumberofStudentseligibletobeStudentMemberofInstitute:58

NumberofFacultymemberswhoarecurrentITEMembers:7

3.InformationonTransportationEngineeringEnrollment

Numberofundergraduatestudents(sophomore‐senior)yearsinacademicdepartment:588

IfnotCivilEngineering,specifyDepartment:Civil,Architectural&EnvironmentalEngineering

FullTime:554 PartTime:34

DoesyourcurriculumallowUndergraduatestudentstomajororminorinTransportation:No

NumberofGraduateStudentsinTransportation: FullTime:55 PartTime:3

4.StudentChapterActivitiesSummary–seeattached(RefertoPages4‐14)

5.RosterofStudentChapterMembers–seeattached(RefertoPage15)

Submitted:March29,2013




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ContentsStudentChapterMessage

ChapterActivitiesSummary ProfessionalDevelopment ServiceActivities Conferences&More SocialEvents

Communication Website Newsletters SocialMedia‐Facebook ResumeCD BulletinBoard

StudentRecognition

MembershipRoster

StudentChapterMessageWearepleasedtosubmitthe2012‐2013AnnualReportfortheUniversityof

TexasatAustinStudentChapteroftheInstituteofTransportationEngineers

(ITE).Onceagainwehavehadaverysuccessfulyear.Ourchaptercontinues

to strive for excellence with our dedication to professional development,

socialenrichment,andservicewithinthetransportationfield.

OurITEStudentChapterhasbeenveryactivewelcomingournewgraduate

studentsandexpandingourundergraduatemembership.Thenewmembers

joining our organizations have brought with them more energy and new

ideas to our chapters increasing our total tomembers 44 (a 37% increase

fromthepreviousyear).Diversityisalsoimportanttoourchapterandourmembershipiscomprisedof

morethan40%internationalstudentsandhasundergraduaterepresentationatapproximately10%of

ourmembers. Members of our organization are recognized for their outstanding achievements both

locallyandnationally.Wecontinuedour favoriterecurringprofessionalactivities, includingattending

and presenting at the Texas ITE meetings and Annual TRB Conference, hosting distinguished and

technicalspeakerpresentationsprovidingvaluableindustryinsighttoourmembers,andorganizingthe

newgraduatestudentorientationeventstopromotecohesionwithinourchapter.

As always, we continued our search for new ways to improve our chapter and be involved in the

community.Thisyear,wewereinvitedtoassisttheCityofAustin’sTrafficManagementCenter(TMC)

duringtheFormula1GrandPrixoftheUnitedStatesweekend,thusfurtheringourassociationwitharea

trafficprofessionals. Additionally,westrovetofosterabetterrelationshipwithourlocalprofessional

ITE chapter, theCapitalArea Section, and encouragedourmembers to attend local chaptermeetings

andhostedastudentandprofessionalchaptersocialtoencouragerelationshipsbetweenthechapters.

Recognizing the impact of social media, in March, the chapter launched a Facebook page to better

connectwithourcurrentandpotentialstudentsaswellasouralumni.




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ChapterActivitiesSummaryProfessionalDevelopment OurITEchapterworksexceptionallyhardtoofferavarietyofprofessionaldevelopmentactivities.

Our members participate in discussions with and learn about transportation challenges from

prominent leaders in transportation through our distinguished and technical speakers, gain

practicalexperiencethroughtechnicalprojects,andareencouragedtoattainprofessionallicensure.

Distinguished&TechnicalSpeakers

Overthepastyearwehavefocusedonprovidingourchapteraccesstoadiversegroupofindustry

professionals. These professionals spoke on topics ranging from on‐going research in the

transportationfieldtothefinancialfactorsinfluencingtransportationprojects.Thisyearwebegan

a Student Lecture Series, which highlights the research being done by our PhD candidates The

individualswehostedthisyearincluded:

Dr.SiaArdekani;UniversityofTexasatArlington;Topic:BobHerman&TrafficScience;April

13,2012

Dr. Cesar Queiroz; World Bank; Topic: Technical and Financial Factors for Successful

InfrastructurePublic‐PrivatePartnershipProjects;October12,2012

Steve Johnson, PE,AlexReyna, PE, and ValerieKaiser, EIT from Bury + Partners; Topic:

Downtown3rdStreetReconstructionandTrafficControlPlanning;November2nd,2012

Dr.StevenW.Dellenback;SouthwestResearchInstitute;Topic:TransportationoftheFuture:

TheRoleoftheIntelligentVehicle”;November16,2012

Robert Skinner, Jr.; Executive Director, TRB; Topic: Emerging Issues in Transportation;

December3rd,2012

ScottMoore;MarketingDirector,Car2Go;March1,2013

MasonGemar; PhD Candidate; Topic: Subnetwork Analysis for Dynamic Traffic Assignment

Models";March29nd,2013




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FormulaOneCityofAustinTMCVolunteering

TheCityofAustinhostedthereturnofFormula1totheUnitedStatesNovember16‐18,2012and

anticipatedalargeincreaseintrafficfortheevent.ToensureoperationsattheTMCwentsmoothly,

the City recruited several of our students to assist in the

daily operations. Students members participated by

manningtheTMC18hoursadaythroughouttheweekend,

executing tasks such as monitoring queues, optimizing

signaltimings,anddetectingincidents.Throughtheefforts

bytheCityandourstudents,theweekendwentbywithout

anymajor trafficbreakdowns!Weare thankful to the city

forprovidingthisopportunitytoexperienceaTMCinaction.

LicensureWeare fully supportiveofourmembersas theiradvance in theircareersandencourage

our members to pursue professional licensure. Some of our student members have

obtainedtheirProfessionalEngineering(PE)Licenseandweencouragethemtokeeptheir

licensureuptodatebyencouragingthemtoattend localandstatemeetingtomeet their

continuing education and professional ethics training requirements. Members Kan Long

and ZheHan have been preparing for the Engineer in Training examination andwill be

ITE Students Join in a Great Conversation with Mr. Robert Skinner, Jr. on Emerging Issue in Transportation

From Left: ITE Members Rohan Shah, Kan Long, and Mason Gemar at

City of Austin TMC




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takingtheexamthisspring.StudentMasonGemarhasbeenpreparingfortheProfessional

TrafficOperationsEngineer(PTOE)Examandwillbesittingfortheexamlaterthisyear.

ServiceActivities

Service is an integralpartofour ITE chapter. Eachyearweparticipate inavarietyofvolunteer

activities through the University of Texas at Austin and other organizations. We see service

activitiesasnotonlyawaytogivebacktothecommunitybutalsotoexpandpeople’sawarenessof

transportation.

DistinguishedAchievementPlanProjects

In May 2012, three of our students (Michael DeGaspari, Mason Gemar, and Meredith Cebelak),

assisted the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders as judges for the Distinguished

Achievement Plan Project competition, where middle school students were asked to convert a

community of UT apartments to solely use renewable energy using a scale model that

demonstratedsolar,wind,andhydrogenfuelcelltechnology.

IntroduceaGirltoEngineeringDay

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (Girl Day) is

celebrated during Engineers Week each year at the

UniversityofTexasatAustin.OnSaturday,February23,

2013, thousands of girls in grades one through eight

arrivedat theUTCollegeofEngineering to learnabout

engineering through hands on activities. Recognizing

the importance of educating young women about the sciences, our chapter volunteered at this

eventbyhostinganactivityroomtoeducatethegirlsabouttransportationengineering.Weshared

several traffic operations simulations, one of which was created by chapter member Ravi

Venkatraman,thatwereverywellreceivedbythestudents.Thegirlslearnedaboutdrivingsafety

Some of our ITE Student Volunteers for Girl Day




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Our Members at the Traffic Engineer Module of Explore UT

andbasictrafficoperations,aswellashowtransportationengineersmaketransportationsaferand

moreefficient.

ExploreUT

ExploreUT,thebiggestopenhouseinTexas,providestheopportunityforTexas

familiestocomeandexplorethecampusandparticipateinfunandeducational

activities hostedbymany organizations throughout campus. We volunteered

on Saturday, March 3, 2012, to run a demonstration teaching hundreds of

children and adults the role of transportation in everyday life. Ourmembers

used a simple traffic signal simulation that allows the player to control the operations of traffic

signals. Through this fun and easy simulation, people of all ageswere able to gain some insight

about the field of transportation engineering. Our members actively answered the many

transportationquestionsparticipantshad.

Conferences&More UT ITE student members are encouraged to attend transportation related conferences to keep

abreastofemergingtechnologies, fosterprofessionaldevelopment,and improvenetworkingwith

transportationprofessionalsandotherstudentslikethemselves.Ourmembersattendandpresent

theirresearchatconferencesthroughouttheUS.

TexITEMeetings

TheUTAustinITEChapterwaspresentatthespringandfallTexasITE(TexITE)meetingsthispast




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year.WeparticipatedintechnicalsessionsandchpatermembersDanFagnant,MasonGemar,and

MichaelDeGaspari presented researchduring studentposter sessions.Additionally, our students

participated in the Texas Hold ‘Em poker game and enjoyed meeting professionals in this

competitive setting.Ourmembers also got the chance tomeetwith the students fromother ITE

Chapters, interact with the professionals in our area and to get real perspectives on topics we

discussintheclassroomduringthesemeetings.

Our trafficbowl team for the2012springcompetitionsolicitedareaprofessionals toprepare for

theevent. Thispreparationhelpedour2012teamtoadvancepastthefirstroundandeventually

finishingthecompetitioninsecondplace.Buildingoffofthiseffort,webeganourrecruitingforour

2013 team after the fall meeting and have been vigorously preparing for the upcoming 2013

competition. Twoofour chaptermembers,MasonGemar andMeredithCebelak,whobothhave

ProfessionalEngineeringlicenses,havebeenservingascoachesforour2013trafficteam.

InstituteforOperationsResearchandtheManagementSciences(INFORMS)

Some of our student members traveled to Phoenix, Arizona

attendandpresentpapersattheINFORMSAnnualConference,

October 14‐17, 2012. Students were recognized at these

eventsforreceivingscholarships,fellowships, leadership,and

paper‐writingawardssponsoredbytheseorganizations.

CenterforTransportationResearchSocial

The Center for Transportation Research (CTR)

hosted its1stAnnualFall SocialonNovember30,

2012. Under the new director, Dr. Chandra Bhat,

the Center hosts events each semester that

ITE Students attend INFORMS

Dr. Bhat (Far left) along with ITE Students at CTR Social




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Some ITE Members at the 2013 TRB Conference

encouragestudents,faculty,andstafftointeractinasocialsetting.Manyofourmembersattended

theeventandtookadvantageoftheopportunitytonetworkwiththeCenter’sresearchcommunity.

2013TransportationResearchBoard(TRB)AnnualConference

The 2013 TRB Annual Conference, held during the week of January 14‐17was attended by the

majorityofourmembers. Intotal,ourstudentspresentedresearchfromatotalof34papersand

posters!Inadditiontotheconference,theITEChaptersponsoredourfifthannualUTAlumniHappy

HouratBigHuntonJanuary14,2013givingusanopportunitytobothrelaxandreconnectwithour

alumni.

SocialEvents Students really enjoy getting together at our social activities.We are very proud of the sense of

communityamongthegraduatestudentsandfacultyinourdepartment,andthesocialactivitiesare

akeycomponentoffosteringthisspirit.Wehavehadeventstowelcomesummerinterns,visiting

students, newstudents and current students. Our chapterhas thegoal ofprovidingat leastone

opportunityeachmonthofourmemberstogettogetherinasocialsetting.

Thisyearweendeavoredtohaveavarietyofactivitiesforourmemberstoparticipatein,ensuring

everyone would find at least one activity that interested them. We were actively involved in

intramuralsportsduringthepastyearandparticipated in theUTIntramuralsoccercompetition.




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ITE Students Hosting a Prospective Student

ITE Students’ Thanksgiving Potluck

Mason Gemar Received Award at Capital Area ITE

Thisyearwecoordinatedwith theTexITECapitalAreaSection tohavea jointhappyhourevent.

Theeventtookplaceatalocalrestaurantandprovidedawayforcurrentstudentstonetworkwith

professionals.Throughoutthepastyear,studentshaveparticipatedinmanylunches,potlucksand

other gatherings. We held an International potluck as well as a Thanksgiving potluck, which

providedasettingforeveryonetoenjoythedifferentculturesthatmakeupourdiverseprogram.

Additionally,wehostendof thesemestercelebrations toalloweveryone toget togetherone last

timewithgraduatingstudents.

Illustrationslistedbelowdocumentsomeoftheaforementionedactivities:

Soccer Intramurals ITE Happy Hour: End of Year Celebrations

International Potluck Showing Our Diverse Membership




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Graduate Students Participate in Rock Climbing as Part of Their Orientation

Activities

UTAustinITEWebsite

Our website provides an avenue of communication that

displays information related to our current events, our

activities and any organization related information that

wewant to sharewith students, alumni and the general

public.

BiannualNewsletterIn collaboration with the ITS America student chapter, our chapter

produceabiannualnewsletterfortheTransportationProgramhereat

UTAustin.Thenewsletterhighlightseventsforspring,summerandfall

as well as students’ accomplishments and is distributed to students,

faculty,staff,alumni,andcorporatepartners.

Communications

ITE Student Chapter hosted New Student Orientation Social Events During the First

Week of the Internship Program




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SocialMedia:Facebook

Ineffortsofexpandingouroutreach,theexecutiveboard

launchedaFacebookpagefortheUTAustinITEChapter

inMarch2013.Thissocialmediatoolfeatureslistsofour

meetings,lectures,socialevents,andeventpicturesalong

with occasional articles and information about

transportation.Whileweareinthebeginningstages,this

move forward will allow us to communicate with other current students, alumni, regional ITE

studentchapters,andothertransportationorganizations.

ResumeCD

Throughout theyearwecollectedresumes fromourmembersandcompiledthemintoaResume

CD database. The Resume CD is an excellent means of highlighting our accomplishments while

serving as a networking tool. In fact, a few of our recent

graduates connected with their current employers through

these CDs. We distributed the CDs to many of the

transportation professionals during conferences, including

theTexITEmeetingsandTRB.

BulletinBoardOneofourmaingoalsthissemesteristoencourageundergraduatestogetinvolvedinouractivities

byadvertisingmanyofourprofessional anddepartmental activities throughourbulletinboards.

Ourundergraduaterecruitingeffortspaidoffandwehaveundergraduateparticipationinseveralof

ouractivitiesincludingtrafficbowlcompetitionpreparations,speakerpresentationsaswellasthe

TransportationDepartment’sinternshipprogram.




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StudentRecognition,Awards&Honors PhDstudent,YiyiWang,supervisedbyDr.KaraKockelman,receivedthe2012HeleneM.

Overly Memorial Scholarship, awarded by the Heart of Texas Chapter of Women’s

TransportationSeminar(WTS).

Recent graduate and former PhD student,KatherineKortum, supervised by Dr. Randy

Machemehl,receivedthe2012LeadershipLegacyScholarship,awardedbytheHeartof

TexasChapterofWomen’sTransportationSeminar(WTS).

PhDstudent,DanielFagnant,supervisedbyDr.KaraKockelman,waschosenforthe2012

Eno Transportation Foundation’s Leadership Development Conference, held in

WashingtonDConJune3‐7,2012andhadhisresearchworkselectedforthesecondannual

WilliamP.EnoResearchPaper.

RecentgraduateandFormerPh.D.student,NazneenFerdous, supervisedbyDr.Chandra

Bhat, received an Honorable Mention in the international 2011 Eric Pas Dissertation

Prize foroneofthetoptwodissertationsinthetravelbehaviorfield(awardpresentedat

the 13th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research, Toronto, Canada, July

2012).

PhDstudent,TarunRambha,supervisedbyDr.StephenBoyles,receivedthe2012Milton

Pikarsky Memorial Award for the best MS thesis in the transportation science and

technologyarea,awardedbytheCouncilofUniversityTransportationCenters.Histhesisis

entitled "Adaptive Routing in Schedule Based Stochastic Time‐Dependent Transit

Networks."

PhD student, Daniel Fagnant, supervised by Dr. Kara Kockelman, received the 2012

SWUTCWilliam J. HarrisOutstanding PhD StudentAward, awarded by the Southwest

RegionUniversityTransportationCenter.HewasalsoselectedtorepresentSWUTCatthe

annual UTC/CUTC Awards and Banquet Ceremony during the TRB Annual Meeting in




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January2013.

PhDstudent,ZelalemArega, supervisedbyDr.AmitBhasinandPhDstudent,Mubassira

Khan, supervisedbyDr. ChandraBhatwere chosen to participate in the 2013 IRFRoad

ScholarProgramasanExecutiveFellow, held inWashingtonD.C.during January9‐18,

2013.

PhD student, Mason Gemar, supervised by Dr. Randy Machemehl, received a $2000

scholarshipthroughITSTexasinNovemberattheITSTexas2012AnnualMeeting.Healso

received the 2012 Outstanding Student Award, awarded by the Texas Institute of

Transportation Engineers to recognize the outstanding student member in each of the

TexITEStudentChapters.

ChristinaBernardo,MeredithCebelak,DonnaChen,ChrisMelson,andDiniecePeters

received2012‐2013EisenhowerGraduateTransportationFellowships,awardedbythe

Universities and Grants Programs of the National Highway Institute, Federal Highway

Administration.

Meredith Cebelak, supervised by Dr. C. Michael Walton, was selected for the 2013 Eno

Transportation Foundation’s Leadership Development Conference, to be held in

WashingtonDConJune2‐6,2013.




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MembershipRosterNo. LastName FirstName Status1 Al‐Amin MD. Graduate2 Porras‐Alvarado Juan‐Diego Graduate3 Arteaga Janette Undergraduate4 Berliner Aria Graduate5 Bernardo Christina Graduate6 Born Kathryn Graduate7 Bringardner Jack Graduate8 Cebelak Meredith Graduate9 Chen Donna Graduate10 DeGaspari Michael Graduate11 Deng Jun Graduate12 Fagnant Daniel Graduate13 Gemar Mason Graduate14 Hakimi Shadi Graduate15 Han Zhe Graduate16 Higgins Sam Graduate17 Hoklas Megan Undergraduate18 Khan Mubassira Graduate19 Kurker Michael Graduate20 Larsen Katherine Graduate21 Li Chen Graduate22 Liu Ruoyu Graduate23 Long Kan Graduate24 Martinez Sergio Graduate25 Melson Christopher Graduate26 Motamed Arash Graduate27 Motamed Moggan Graduate28 Necessary Mallory Graduate29 Nichols Brice Graduate30 Owens Travis Graduate31 Peters Diniece Graduate32 Pool Matt Graduate33 Rambha Tarun Graduate34 Reiter Matthew Undergraduate35 Rodriguez Joshua Undergraduate36 Seraj Saamiya Graduate37 Serigos Pedro Graduate38 Shah Rohan Graduate39 Stone Cody Graduate40 Soriano Marc Undergraduate41 Venkatraman Ravi Graduate42 Wall W.Jared Graduate43 Wang Yiyi Graduate44 Zhang Ti Graduate

ENDOFREPORT

annual report 2012‐2013 - texite

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