ypt austin spring 2011 newletter

8/3/2019 YPT Austin Spring 2011 Newletter

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In this issue:

Letter from the Chair 1

About Us 1

Meet the Board 2

Recap of Past Events 4

Member Spotlight 5

Hot Topic: Austin Urban

Rail

5

Upcoming Events 6

Dear Members:

Welcome to the first edition of YPT Austins newsletter, and thank you fsupporting our growing chapter. YPT is based in Washington, DC, but has alread

dug roots in New York and Boston. Austin is a dynamic place for younprofessionals, so it was obvious to create a branch chapter here.

What makes YPT different from other organizations dedicated to transportatioissues? Resorting to a clich, you make YPT different whether your focus engineering, planning, economics, policy, or any other aspect within thtransportation field. Our organization does not have an arbitrary age-limit.

Our goal is to provide you the opportunities to network not only with your peersbut also network with established professionals who have the successful careeyou might aspire to attain one day. Additionally, we want to give you the tools get ahead in the industry through professional development seminars anroundtable discussions. If you are looking to land in a job, we wish to help yostand out in the crowd of applicants. If you are interested in seeing the negeneration of professionals try to make their mark in the field, we also welcomyou to the organization. We would love to have your support, as a sponsor ospeaker at one of our meetings.

We have a successful parent organization to look up to as we move forward, but we do not want to be a carbocopy branch. Austin is a lively place with a unique culture and flavor that should be reflected in our chapter. Whave events planned for throughout the year, including happy hours, volunteer events, and presentations witspeakers from various levels of public, private, and academic backgrounds. However, we want to hear your ideaas to how the Austin chapter can be more unique and cater to your professional needs. How can we help you reacyour career goals? Who would you like to be able to meet? Where would you like to take field trips? Without inpfrom our members, we would not be able to be your ideal organization.

You can e-mail your questions or comments to us at [email protected]. Please visit our website or follow us oFacebook. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at our future events.

Sincerely,Katherine Kortum, YPT-Austin Chair

A b o u t U s

L et t er f r o m t h e C h ai r

YPTs mission is to provide career guidance, fellowship, and networking opportunities for young professionals in thtransportation field.

Founder Joung Lee established the organization in April 2008. Since then, the YPT has grown from a handful omembers in the nations capital to over a 1,000 members from all around the United States and the rest of thglobe.

In the summer of 2010, YPT started the process of establishing regional chapters in major metropolitan arearound the United States. YPT-Austin Chapter was formally chartered on September 22, 2010. A regional chaptfor Boston, MA was also started at about the same time. Other potential chapters include Atlanta, Chicago, NewYork, and San Francisco.

YPT has a very diverse membership with members from 18 to 70 years of age. Our members represent all facets o

the transportation industry. This includes individuals who work for the US Department of Transportation, state an

local governments, consulting firms, transportation organizations, colleges and universities. We strive to reach o

and attract members from a wide range of disciplines within the transportation industry.

Spring 2011 Volume 1, Issue

NewsletterYoung Professionals in Transpor tat ionAust in

Austin Executive Board

Katherine KortumChair

Millie HayesDeputy Chair

April SandovalVice Chair - Administration

Luis LopezVice Chair - Finance

Migdalia Carrion AlersVice Chair - Programs

Wenxing LiuVice Chair - Programs

Sowmya ChandrasekharVice Chair - Communication

Stephanie ShupeVice Chair - Membership


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M eet t h e B oar d M em b er s

Katherine Kortum, Chair

Katherine graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bache-

lor of Science in Civil Engineering in 2006. After graduation, she sought a better climate

and left the Steelers to work for Halff Associates in Austin. She spent two years working

as an engineer-in-training before returning to school to pursue her MS in Civil Engineer-ing in the Transportation Engineering program. She completed her Masters degree in

2009, with a thesis focused on Austin-area carsharing, and is currently working towards

earning her PhD degree.

Millie Hayes, Deputy Chair

Millie earned her Bachelor degree from Iowa State University in 2007. After graduation,

she joined the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in their Professional Develop-

ment Program (PDP), based out of the Connecticut Division office. While on the PDP,

she completed temporary assignments in New York and North Carolina. Upon comple-

tion of the program, she transferred to the Texas Division office, where she worked as

Area Engineer and provided oversight for the Atlanta, Paris, and Tyler Districts of

TxDOT. She now provides oversight for the Dallas District.

April Sandoval, Vice Chair - Admin istration

April is an engineer-in-training for the AECOM Austin office. She has four years of road-

way design experience on several city, county, and TxDOT transportation engineering

projects; she also has design-build experience on a number of projects. Prior to AECOM,

she began her career as a research technician at the US Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) in Cincinnati, Ohio. April graduated from the University of Texas at Austin

with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering in May 2007. In addition to serving on

the YPT Executive Board, she is also the UT Student Liaison for the Womens Transpor-

tation Seminar (WTS) Heart of Texas Chapter.

Luis Lopez, Vice Chair - Finance

Luis D. Lpez is an Area Engineer for the Federal Highway Administration, Texas Divi-

sion. He provides oversight to the North Houston District. He has six years of experi-

ence in the federal oversight and construction management fields. Luis began his career

working in the construction management of several projects, including two major infra-

structure projects in Puerto Rico. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

and Master of Engineering Management degrees from the University of Puerto Rico and

Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, respectively. He also is a Licensed Professional

Engineer, registered in Puerto Rico.


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M eet t h e B oar d M em b er s

Sowmya Chandrasekhar, Vice Chair - Commun ication

Sowmya works as a transportation analyst for Alliance Transportation Group (ATG) in

Austin, TX. She earned her BSCE from National Institute of Technology Nagpur, In-

dia. She completed her Masters in Transportation Engineering at Missouri University of

Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla) in 2007. Her three yearsof experience working with ATG involved projects varying from traffic impact analysis,

signal designs, corridor studies to parking studies for various towns in Texas and Louisi-

ana. Her prior exposure to the field of transportation includes summer internship with

the School Safety Division at New York City Department of Transportation in 2007.

Migdalia Carrion-Alers , Vice Chair - Programs

Migdalia is a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a 2-

year recipient of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program. She

graduated in 2008 from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez with a Civil Engineer-ing Bachelor Degree. Upon graduation, she was awarded with Summa Cum Laude - the

Engineering Faculty Award for the student with best GPA (Class 08) and the Etienne

Totti Award - for best student of the Civil Engineering Department (Class 08). At UT,

she is currently doing research on 'Freight planning in Texas' supervised by her advisor

Professor C. Michael Walton, PE, PhD.

Wenx ing Liu, Vice Chair - Programs

Wenxing is a graduate student at University of Texas at Austin. She came to Austin to

pursue her graduate studies after completing her bachelors from Tsinghua University(China) in 2009. Although she keenly aspires to get her PhD, Wenxing thought it would

be better to get some real work experience first. Hence, after her graduation from UT,

Wenxing plans to return to China to seek a career in transportation and yearns to con-

tribute in improving the transportation system in China.

Stephanie Shupe, Vice Chair - Membership

Stephanie recently moved to Austin with her husband and is currently working part-timeas a Design Engineer for Jones & Carter. Her focus in the past has been primarily in

transportation and traffic engineering, although she is currently more involved with land

development at Jones & Carter. Since graduating from Virginia Tech in 2010 with a BS

in Civil Engineering, she worked as a Transportation Engineer, gaining a year of valu-

able experience in roadway design and traffic analysis. In the more recent months, she

started working in land development and is aiming to expand upon her knowledge of

civil engineering design as a whole.


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Recap o f Past Event s

April Roundtable EventMr. Gary W. Schatz, Assistant Director for the Austin TransportationDepartment, briefed the attendees on context sensitive solutions

(CSS) in practice. The primary emphasis of his presentation wasthe incorporation of roundabouts as an increasingly accepted meansto alleviate traffic. The event was hosted at the local RonaldMcDonald House. Donations were collected for the charity.

January Roundtable EventMr. Al Alonzi, Assistant Division Administrator for the FHWA-TexasDivision, spoke at our first roundtable event. He provided insight onhow to market yourself as a young professional and tips on buildinga successful career.

10th Annual Engineers DayIn February, we invited our members to attend Engineer's Day atthe Austin Children's Museum organized by ASCE and ACEA. Thisannual event aims to encourage an interest in science andengineering amongst children. Volunteers helped children to buildhoop gliders, paper towers and all kind of structures with spaghettiand marshmallows!

February/March Happy HoursNetworking events were held at Third Base and Flying Saucer in themonths of February and March, respectively. Both events attractedmany newcomers to the organization.

WTS/YPT December Happy HourLast winter, the YPT-Austin and WTS-Heart of Texas chapters jointlyhosted a happy hour at Flying Saucer. This was our first networkingevent. Donations were collected to benefit the Austin ChildrensShelter.


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M e m b e r Sp o t l i g htNick Wood was recently hired as an Assistant Researcher at the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Austin offHis work involves the study of managed lanes, congestion pricing, and vehicle mileage fees. He has bassessing programs that implement pricing as part of a national Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) stand for various projects in the State of Texas.

Agencies and municipalities look to pricing as a tool to help manage components of a transportation systeNick explained. These strategies can be as diverse as having an express lane with variable tolling or adjusthe price of a downtown parking space to respond to demand.

In Austin, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) is considering to construct an additional lanboth directions on the MoPac Expressway that will incorporate tolling on a 12-mile segment, called the MoImprovement Project. Drivers who use it will be guaranteed to travel without experiencing any congestion. express lanes will have limited access points along the corridor, and be restricted only to vehicles that carrTxTag sticker. The price to enter the lane will vary during the day as traffic conditions change to help cudemand at peak times, and to keep the lanes free-flowing and uncongested.

More commonly we have seen express lanes not only improve the speed for toll lane users, but for those who travel in the general purpanes as well. The key is to actively manage demand by discouraging drivers from using the facility all at once. Tightly-knit groups of vehtend to travel at slower speeds that can reduce highway capacity.

Additionally, Nick is evaluating implementation of the I-85 Express Lanes in Atlanta, Georgia and the I-10 and I-110 Express Lanes ExpressPark system in Los Angeles, California for an FHWA national study. He is also working on an exploratory FHWA research projecnvestigate road user charging (VMT fee) schemes and suggest different concepts of operation plans for further testing.

A native of Gloversville, New York, Nick earned his BS in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2007. He also receivedMS in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2010. He is certified as an Intern Engineer (EIT) from the State of NYork.

YPT-Austin would like to recognize Nick for his commitment and eagerness to see the organization grow. He has been an active member sthe beginning of the chapter. Furthermore, he has been a pleasure to have at every networking and roundtable event.

H o t To p i c : A u st i n U r b an Rai lUr ban Rail project seeks to enhance mobilit y and address Cent ral Aust ins tr anspor tation challenges

By now, youve probably heard rumblings about the proposed Urban Rail project in Austin. We all could probably agree that Austin faces m

challenges when it comes to transportation. With ever escalating gas prices, the proposed Urban Rail project seeks to provide us with m

mobility choices.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell discussed the prospect of Urban Rail in his State of the City address in February: I wont suggestthat Urban Rail

solve all of our traffic problems, butI strongly believe that it must be a part of the solution. Because if we fail to deliver easy alternative

single-occupant car trips, Austin will never be the kind of livable, sustainable city that we aspire to be.

To that end, the City of Austin initiated an environmental impact statement (EIS) to study the potential impacts to human and natural envi

ments. During the EIS process, the City will examine and document the benefits of the construction and operation of Urban Rail, as well as

potential social, economical, and environmental impacts.

Scoping materials from the Federal Transit Administration and the City of Austin cite the need for the proposed Urban Rail as a need for dconnectivity between Mueller Redevelopment, the University of Texas, the state Capitol Complex, the Central Business District, and Au

Bergstrom International Airport; a need for a direct link between existing and planned passenger rail systems at opposite sides of downtow

need for increased transportation network capacity in constrained rights-of-way through established neighborhoods; a need for additiona

ternatives to single-occupancy/privately owned vehicles; a need to attract and concentrate development within the regions core; a nee

mprove air quality by reducing the growth of automobile emissions; and a need to support the Citys environmental, public health, and

nomic development goals. The purpose of the project is to improve the mobility, connectivity, and sustainability of Central Austin the

gions core by providing greater mobility options; improving person-moving capacity; improving access and linkages to major activity cen

and commuter and regional rail; supporting the Citys environmental, public health, and economic development goals; and encouraging inv

ment.(Continued on


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Upcoming Events

Young Professionals in TransportationAustin Chapter

Mail: PO Box 300753

Austin, Texas 78703-0753

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: http://ypt.transportation.org

Like us on Facebook!

If you would like to submit an article or advertise your business in

our quarterly newsletter, please contact April Sandoval

([email protected]).

BECOME IN VOLVED!

The Central Austin Transit Study, prepared by URS for the City of Austin, was published in July 2010. The study encapsulates the range

alternatives considered and evaluated by the City. Based on the analysis, the City selected Urban Rail as the recommended modal alternat

The three alternatives listed to be studied in the EIS include the No-Build Alternative, the Better Bus Alternative, and the Urban Rail Alte

tive. The No-Build Alternative includes the existing transportation system, plus the highway and transit projects listed in the fisca

constrained long range transportation plan CAMPO 2035 Plan. The Better Bus Alternative would be similar to the concept of Bus Rapid T

sit, consisting of enhanced buses with more amenities, special stations, and inclusion of Intelligent Transportation Systems or other prio

measures to minimize travel delays. The Urban Rail Alternative would include modern streetcar technology, with overhead-electric power aa fixed guideway service, blending the operational characteristics of Light Rail Transit and the modern streetcar. With single- or multiple-

trains, the Urban Rail is envisioned to use a shared street and/or have exclusive right-of-way. Conceptual maps show over 40 potential

tions. Stations are projected to vary in distance depending on the neighborhood. In Downtown and spurs extending to the Long Center, W

Campus, Hancock Center, and Mueller, the stations would be three to five blocks apart. In the Riverside area, stations would be further apa

The Central Austin Transit Study anticipates that Better Bus would attract 9,000 users per weekday by 2030; Urban Rail would attract 27,

users per weekday, in comparison.

Critics of the proposed Urban Rail cite Austins Red Line as a failure due to its ridership,

and believe that the Urban Rail would have similar results. However, the Urban Rail differs

from the Red Line in many aspects. Unlike the Red Line, Urban Rail is intended to serve

riders in central Austin, which is more densely populated than the areas surrounding RedLine stations. Urban Rail would serve the major employment centers of the Capitol Com-

plex and the UT campus, while also connecting the Riverside area, Hancock Center, the

Mueller Redevelopment, and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

What do you think? FTA and the City of Austin encourage public involvement and input on

the scope of the EIS, including the projects purpose and need, alternatives to be consid-

ered, the impacts to be evaluated, and the methodologies used in evaluation. Comments

can be submitted through April 29 on the project website at www.AustinUrbanRail.com.

Continued from page 5)

May Roundtable Event

Date: Monday, May 2, 2011

Where: George Washington Carver Museum

Time: 7:00 PM 8:00 PM

May Netw orking Happy Hour with ASCE YMF

Date: TBD

Where: Hula Hut

Time: 6:30 PM 7:30 PM

June Networking Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, June 9, 2011Where: Cuatros on 24th & San Gabriel

Time: 6:30 PM 7:30 PM

July Roundtable Event

Date: Thursday, July 14, 2011

Where: George Washington Carver Museum

Time: 7:00 PM 8:00 PM

August Networking Happy Hour

Date: Thursday, August 11, 2011

Where: Cuatros on 24th & San Gabriel

Time: 6:30 PM 7:30 PM

ypt austin spring 2011 newletter

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