Axel Hellman, University of Southern California (USC) Master of Planning student, traveled to Washington, D.C. earlier this month to be awarded 2016 METRANS Student of the Year  and to attend the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), taking place January 8-12, 2017 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The Student of the Year distinction honors outstanding students from each University Transportation Center around the country and awards are conferred at the TRB Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. each year.  One of the benefits of receiving this award is the opportunity to attend the week-long meeting.

The  TRB Annual Meeting is a staple event for researchers and professionals from around the country interested in sharing the most current technology, findings, practices, and precedents in transportation. This year's conference featured 470 lecture seminars, 225 poster exhibits, and 118 workshops, touching upon themes such as autonomous and connected vehicles, smart cities, multimodal planning, cybersecurity, climate change adaptation, and cultural change in the transportation field. The overall theme was Transportation Innovation: Leading the Way in an Era of Rapid Change.

Hellman shares that he was thrilled to be afforded the opportunity to attend, and found one particular seminar on ferry service operation uniquely interesting, since he had had “virtually no exposure to that mode," receiving most of his transportation education in Los Angeles. "It was good to get a perspective of other parts of the country,” he noted. He also found one technological exhibit he visited showcasing a weight-sensor bus ridership counter as an alternative to more standard visual-sensor ridership counters to be incredibly informative.

In addition to what he learned at the many technical sessions and research exhibits, Hellman says he appreciated the opportunity to make exciting professional connections, and shared that he even encountered numerous alumni from the USC transportation planning program - now working full time in transit-related jobs.

Hellman says he will definitely attend again in the years ahead. "It was a great experience,” he remarked, “and I hope to be back soon."

Axel Hellman

Hellman worked for METRANS as a Student Assistant during the Spring 2016 and Fall 2016 semesters.  Prior to that, he was involved with the center as a volunteer for special events and lectures.  His role as a Student Assistant involved working with researchers to copy-edit and make final revisions to their research papers before publication.  Hellman coordinated with research center staff to proofread all outgoing research products before submission to journals and funding agencies.

Aside from grammar and word usage, Axel has interests in studying innovation in the transit sector.  Axel learned about the details of transit planning with an internship at New Jersey Transit, and then by serving as a student worker for USC Transportation’s transit division.  His interest in studying innovation in mass transit led him to his current role as a transportation planner at OurBus, a mass transit technology startup based in New York. His other professional interests include transit operations, public policy, and bicycle and pedestrian planning.  He expects to complete his Master of Planning Degree, Transportation Concentration at USC in spring, 2017.  He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Planning from USC.

Griffin Kantz

Kantz is a fourth-year undergraduate studying Sustainable Planning in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. He can be reached at [email protected].