News
METRANS UTC PSR
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
On December 6th, 2017, the Pacific Southwest Region 9 University Transportation Center (PSR) sponsored students from member universities California State University Long Beach (CSULB), the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to attend the Intelligent Transportation Society of California (ITS California) Southern California Workshop, "Harnessing Big Data & Analytics to Improve Transportation." I was one of these fortunate students. ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, December 17, 2017
As massive tunnel-boring machines dig the Regional Connector, a new subway link underneath downtown Los Angeles, a "job walk" hosted by the USC AEC Construction Alumni Group toured one of the future station sites. On Tuesday, December 5th, some fellow UCLA urban planning students and I journeyed to the offices of Regional Connector Constructors, a joint venture of Skanska and Traylor Brothers, and met up with a group of USC construction management students and alumni for the tour. I donned a ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Meet Yoko Igawa, MPA '09, Public Affairs Manager at Foothill Transit, who credits her experience at the Price School with teaching her how to "swing to find her swing." Q: What was your most inspirational moment as a Price student? A: It's impossible for me to identify just one moment. It's easier for me to describe how having been a Price student has made a lasting impact on the guiding values that continue to inspire my career goals. I had such amazing professors and equally ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Monday, December 11, 2017
On October 17, 2017, METRANS and USC Women in Management (WIM) brought Nicola Franklin to the USC Main Campus for an engaging and lively program on Career Advancement for women. Franklin is the Talent Acquisition Operations Director at Tronc (formerly Tribune Publishing). METRANS was proud to partner with WIM, formed in 1979 in response to the need for an organization for women in academic leadership positions. Originally composed of about 20 visionary women, WIM now boasts a membership of ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Financing has become an increasing challenge for California infrastructure, and a group of recent graduates from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Anderson School of Management and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs addressed it in their recent research, “California Infrastructure Financing Alternatives,” an insightful project on financing alternatives, soon to be published by their university. [1] Currently, the costs of California’s much-needed infrastructure ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Saturday, November 25, 2017
On November 17, the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis held a seminar sponsored through ITS-Davis’ partnership with METRANS, the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation Center. UC Davis alumnus and Uber’s Global Lead on Sustainability and Environmental Impact, Adam Gromis, talked about transforming transportation by moving people with "fewer, fuller, and more efficient vehicles and trips." The benefits of such a transformation can include increased mobility ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, November 19, 2017
On October 5th, the Los Angeles chapter of WTS hosted a luncheon panel at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Downtown LA, focused on Senate Bill 1 (SB-1). SB-1, also known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, is a legislative package of $54 billion signed into law on April 28, 2017, for maintenance and rehabilitation of California’s transportation infrastructure, focusing on safety, congestion, transit, and the improvement of freight mobility throughout the state. FAST Executive ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, November 19, 2017
ShengAo Xie (Victor) completed his Master of Planning degree from USC with a concentration in transportation, and recently joined AECOM as a transportation planner in their downtown Los Angeles office. Xie also holds a bachelor’s degree in finance. Actively exploring practical opportunities in the transportation field since he was still in school, Xie began his transportation career as an intern at several major public planning and transportation agencies in southern California region, ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, November 12, 2017
On October 4, 2017, METRANS and Women in Management (WIM) co-hosted the WIM Women Deans Panel “Women in Academia: What does it take to reach the top?” on the USC Main Campus, featuring speakers Elizabeth Daley, Dean of the USC School of Cinema Arts, and Karen Symms Gallagher, Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. The two Deans shared their personal experiences as female leaders in the academic world, and personal stories about their own recognition of the impact of gender, both ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Across the globe, societies are beginning to experience radical events caused by CO 2 -induced global warming. These black swans are causing billions in lost GDP, fracturing nations, starving communities, and generating a tidal wave of environmental refugees. For these reasons and more, it has never been more important, and frankly more energizing, to be a transportation researcher. Transportation students at UC Davis work daily in one of the most influential sectors on climate change, as well ...
METRANS UTC
Sunday, October 29, 2017
USC Master of Public Administration (MPA) graduate, Wai Shong Chan, is completing the Grads on Career Track Program with the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) where she enjoys her work in External Affairs and sees herself continuing to work for a public transportation agency long-term. Inspired by seeing how infrastructure projects dramatically improved mobility in her community, Chan wanted to be a part of this positive change. “I want my career to be about giving ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Pacific South West Region 9 University Transportation Center (PSR) alum Gabriel Jiangbo Yu is a transportation systems modeler and data scientist at Fehr & Peers Transportation Consultants in downtown Los Angeles. He is an alum of two PSR universities, holding a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Ph.D. from UC Irvine (UCI) in Transportation Systems Engineering with a dissertation on uncertainty and information in transportation ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Pima Community College's Center for Transportation Training hosted a seminar for Boy Scouts from the Catalina Council of the Boy Scouts of America on October 7, 2017.The Boy Scouts offer a merit badge series that includes a Truck Transportation badge. The seminar helps the Scouts achieve that badge. The Scouts learned the difference between a gas and diesel engine, how trucks fit into a company's supply chain, the role of truck transportation in commerce, safety, driver's logs and ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Are you wondering how best to pursue a career in transportation? Are you struggling with your work or school environment? Are you wondering how professionals find success? Would you like a mentor? If so, we are pleased to invite you to join the METRANS Mentor Program. The METRANS Mentor Program pairs students and professionals interesting in or currently pursuing a career in the transportation field. Since 2011, the METRANS Mentor Program has matched more than 100 students with mentors, ...
METRANS UTC PSR
Saturday, October 14, 2017
By Eric Tunell, USC MPL ‘18 [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 UCLA’s Rabi Abonour, MURP 2018.] Bloomington, Indiana, New York City, and Los Angeles all have distinctly different urban forms, but for Rabi Abonour, they are the lens through which he approaches transportation ...
