Four grad students win coveted Eisenhower transportation fellowships

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Four grad students win coveted Eisenhower transportation fellowships

Four master’s and Ph.D. students studying transportation in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering have won funding from the Federal Highway Administration.

Doctoral students Alice Grossman and Janille Smith-Colin will receive full Eisenhower Transportation Fellowships, supporting their studies this year as well as a stipend and travel to the Transportation Research Board annual meeting. Master’s students Jack Cebe and Carly Queen won partial awards to help pay for their studies.

“I am honored to have been selected for this award,” said Cebe, a first-time winner who is pursuing a dual masters in urban planning and civil engineering. “The confidence that the program has placed on my research and education will help drive my studies and inspire me to excel in the field.”

“I’m grateful to all of the professors in our School who encourage us to apply and have taught us how to put a good application package together as well as all of those who recommended me for the fellowship,” said Grossman, who is receiving an award for the third year in a row. “Knowing that my research interests are perceived as valuable to the FHWA is really encouraging.”

More on the School’s Eisenhower fellows:

JACK CEBE
Dual Master’s, Civil Engineering and City and Regional Planning
1st Eisenhower Fellowship

Research:
Working in the transportation planning field for the past 4+ years has given me a great deal of perspective on some of the greatest needs for transportation practitioners and communities around the United States. I proposed in my Eisenhower Fellowship application to focus on research in the following areas based on my interests and what I perceive would be valuable to the field:

  • Finding systematic approaches of integrating transportation, storm water, and green space networks to enhance the attractiveness and functionality of these systems.
  • Finding space-saving transportation and land use planning/design solutions that maintain transportation effectiveness while providing safer, more attractive human spaces.
  • Finding tools to better integrate pedestrian, bicycle, and transit modes into local and regional travel demand modeling.

ADVISOR: Randall Guensler

  

ALICE GROSSMAN
Ph.D.
3rd Eisenhower Fellowship

Research:
Recently, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) have been tasked by federal legislations to develop short and long-term transportation plans that include performance metrics. These performance metrics play an important role in transportation project prioritization and decision-making. My research will examine when and why regional agencies decided to add both required and additional performance metrics, how universal different metrics are, and what role the mandated and voluntary measures play in long- and short-term transportation planning and decision-making processes.

A survey of all MPOs in the country and select case study analyses will guide the research to compare and contrast how MPOs across different sizes, political climates, geographic locations, etc., measure performance and apply those numbers to project selection, prioritization, and evaluation.

ADVISOR: Randall Guensler

JANILLE SMITH-COLIN
Ph.D.
2nd Eisenhower Fellowship

Research:
My proposed project investigates how collaborative decision-making processes can be promoted, assessed and improved within transportation agencies. I will be looking specifically at opportunities for reducing project delays through improved interagency collaboration in the planning and programming phases of project delivery. My goal is to develop an assessment framework that emphasizes stakeholder engagement and stakeholder satisfaction as a means for achieving sustainable performance goals.

This research contributes to conceptual and operational frameworks that support performance management implementation under MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century — the 2012 national surface transportation legislation).

ADVISOR: Adjo Amedkudzi-Kennedy

  

CARLY QUEEN
Dual Master’s, Civil Engineering and City and Regional Planning
2nd Eisenhower Fellowship

Research:
My research focuses on comparing and contrasting different modes of transit, including the lesser-known modes like aerial gondolas and water buses. My aim is to create practical tools that can help planners, engineers, and others make more informed transit planning decisions. This second award will enable me to develop more advanced, context-sensitive transit mode selection decision-support tools.

ADVISOR: Kari Watkins