On January 9th, 2018, the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Irvine (ITS-Irvine) hosted a reception to welcome students, alumni, faculty, and professionals who were attending the 96th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Washington, DC. ITS-Irvine was pleased to greet more than 70 attendees - 23 from ITS-Irvine and more than 47 from other transportation institutions at the reception held at Matchbox Chinatown, Washington DC.  The gathering was so large that we needed take two separate group photos to include everyone!

“It was a great chance to get together with my friends, colleagues, and my advisors at UCI (UC Irvine) after my graduation,” said Kate Hyun, UCI alumna, now Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. “The reception is also a great opportunity for me to meet new people outside from UCI and share our research interests and potential collaborations,” she added.

Photo by Fred Ellis

“ITS-Irvine reception at TRB provided me a very good opportunity to interact with many UCI alumni who are working in academia, industry, as well as government agencies,” shared Koti Reddy Allu, a PhD student at UCI, who volunteered for this reception as a photographer. “I had a very insightful conversation with Professor Daniel Rodriguez Roman at the University of Puerto-Rico, one of the UCI alumni, about how the three different revolutions will influence the curriculum in transportation,” he explained. “Attending Irvine-night is a great opportunity to share information and learn various transportation related topics outside the classroom with professors and students,” agreed Sunghi An, a PhD student at UCI, who also volunteered at the reception night. “This reception also gave me a chance to meet my old colleagues who graduated from UCI and their friends. It was wonderful that I could widen my horizon through meeting old and new people at the same time,” she added.

Photo by Fred Ellis

The TRB is the world’s largest transportation conference with more than 13,000 transportation professionals from around the world. The ITS-Irvine has hosted the reception every year on Tuesday night during the TRB conference. All of the graduate students and professionals in transportation fields will be welcomed again at the next ITS-Irvine receptions at the TRB!

About the Author: Youngeun (Erin) Bae

Youngeun (Erin) Bae is a third-year Ph.D. transportation systems engineering student at the UC Irvine. Her current research interests lie in sustainable freight systems, alternative fueled vehicles, advanced transit systems, and application of information technologies. It is her long-term goal to proactively alleviate the issues that undermine the sustainability of transportation systems, public health and social equity. She volunteers as an organizer of the Irvine-Night reception at the TRB. She can be reached at [email protected].