News & Announcements
METRANS UTC, PSR
Sunday, July 23, 2017
On May 1, Women in Management (WIM) held a professional workshop titled “Art of Negotiation” presented by Dr. Sabrina Pasztor, Assistant Professor of Clinical Business Communication at the USC Marshall School of Business. METRANS Associate Director Victoria Deguzman selected three female METRANS Student Assistants to attend the workshop to learn more about these important skills for women in the workforce. WIM is an organization for women in leadership positions at the University of ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Sunday, July 16, 2017
For most people, autonomous vehicles are movie fantasies or something they hear about occasionally in the media - interesting but still far-off from today. However, transportation academics and practitioners are hard at work, right now, to bring this technology to market. Autonomous driving as well as other advanced technologies are much closer to reality than what most people think. On July 7 th , 2017, the UC Irvine (UCI) Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), with co-sponsor Pacific Southwest ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri, formerly ESRI), an international supplier of Geographical Information System (GIS) applications, held its 37 th annual User Conference (UC) From July 10 to 14, 2017 at the San Diego Convention Center, where GIS scholars and practitioners across the globe gathered to present and exchange information on cutting-edge developments of geographical information science. This conference is the world's largest event dedicated to GIS technology and attracts ...
METRANS UTC
Friday, July 14, 2017
Comedian Steven Wright said, “A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say, ‘How to Build a Boat.’” Wright’s advice is hilarious because it’s surprisingly obvious yet most people never think of it. But it’s also funny because it is ultimately practical. WTS-LA’s Transportation Resume Book (TRB) shares Wright’s ultimate practicality. An invaluable resource for Southern California job-seeking ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Friday, July 14, 2017
Workforce development is a hot topic. A catch-all concept, it means many things to many people. Generally, though, workforce development is an approach that focuses more on the development of worker skills rather than specifically on business proficiencies or best practices. Naturally, the issue then becomes how best to develop worker skills. One Southern California transportation center puts forth an excellent answer...and has for the last 20 years. “It’s critical to have ...
METRANS UTC
Sunday, July 9, 2017
On June 21st, WTS-LA presented The State of Good Repair and Asset Management lunch meeting in the iconic Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. The program included a panel of speakers from the three largest public transportation agencies in the Southern California region to discuss their plans regarding maintenance and repair. Speakers Roderick Diaz, Director of Planning and Development for the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink); Gregory Kildare, Risk, Safety, ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Graduation Day is an occasion where the two phases of student life can be seen together–one’s joy of achievements and fulfilling dreams as well as the memories one makes as one bids farewell to everybody who helped in achieving those dreams. Balraj More was as overjoyed as everybody else on this day in May 2017 as he graduated from University of Southern California, completing his M.S. in Civil Engineering (Transportation Engineering). I got an opportunity to talk to him about his journey ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Sunday, July 2, 2017
METRANS Student Assistant Eric Tunell recently joined LA Metro’s Vanpool Program as a planning intern. We asked him to share his experience so far with readers of METRANS On the Move . We asked if he would start by telling us more about the Vanpool Program. “The program administers over 1,000 active vanpools in LA County and it is the largest in the country.” Tunnell shared. “Participants in the program lease vehicles from a private company and in exchange for tracking ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Sunday, June 25, 2017
I am the outgoing METRANS Lead Student Assistant and a recent graduate of the USC Master of Science, Civil Engineering – Transportation program. As I reflect on my time in graduate school, there are two organizations which changed my life and to which I am eternally grateful. The first is METRANS, and the second is WTS. I would like to dedicate this article, my last as an MSCE student (but definitely not the last I will write for METRANS), to the WTS Orange County (WTS-OC) chapter. The mission ...
METRANS UTC, PSR
Sunday, June 18, 2017
[Editor’s note: As part of the expansion of METRANS into the Pacific Southwest Region 9 University Transportation Center, we seek to highlight students at universities that are new members of the UTC. This week we are pleased to feature UC Davis’s Zane McDonald.] Cyclists have a hard time getting around safely in most areas of the United States, but those who live in rural parts of coal country and wish to get around on two wheels instead of in a 4x4 face extra challenges. Such was ...
