We are pleased to welcome Kaitlyn Kenan Zhang, METRANS Transportation Center’s newest student team member. Kaitlyn joins us as our Assistant Editor, and will work closely with Arpita Sharma to create the weekly METRANS student newsletters and other Center news.

Kaitlyn Zhang is a first year Master of Public Policy (MPP) student with a specialization in transportation policy and planning. She is also working toward  a certificate in Transportation Systems from the Viterbi School of Engineering.  She has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Fudan University, in Shanghai, China. Kaitlyn developed an interest in urban policy and development when she spent a semester at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University as an exchange student. Her experience of living in a well-developed and organized city with a strong public transportation system ignited her passion for planning. She notes “It was exciting to witness a city like Singapore implementing strategic and well-thought out transportation policies which make people’s quality of life and travel much easier. In Beijing, where my parents live, the traffic congestion has become a huge social and environmental problem for everyone. A similar situation happens in almost every major city in every country. I want to work to address this problem."

After graduating from the Price School, Kaitlyn wants to become a transportation policy analyst, helping to provide people with the best strategies to solve their problems. In the long-term, she hopes to found a consulting company which brings together economics, policy, planning, and engineering.

Apart from her coursework, Kaitlyn also enjoy playing tennis, traveling to new places, and trying new foods.

Arpita Sharma

Arpita Sharma is a dual Master of Public Policy and Master of Planning Candidate at the USC Price School. She is interested in issues of health inequities, sustainable land use development, and active transportation.  She expects to complete her degrees in May 2017. She can be reached at arpitasharma.net or at [email protected].