On July 2016, METRANS Director Genevieve Giuliano had the chance to reunite with several of her previous planning students now living in Korea, while attending the International Seminar on City Logistics in Seoul. The seminar was held by MetroFreight and the Korea Transportation Institute (KOTI).

The USC Alumni shared their experiences after graduate school, their career plans, and advice for current students and recent graduates.

(Photo by Jongwon Lee)

Jongwon Lee, Master of Planning

Researcher

Korean National Research & Development Institute

Jongwon Lee, previous METRANS Student Assistant and Master of Planning student at the University of Southern California, Price School of Public Policy, is now working as a researcher at Korean National Research & Development Institute.

Lee focuses on managing government Research & Development (R&D) programs on urban infrastructure, transportation, and disasters. For a long-term government plan for future technology in Korea, he collaborated with government officers and groups of Korean experts.

Prior to joining this institute, Lee was an intern at Green Climate Fund, which is accountable to the United Nations. The fund works with diverse countries, especially developing countries, about climate change issue.  Lee said this was very valuable experience as a first job after his graduation.

A big issue in the industry, according to Lee, is the convergence of ICT (Information Communication Technology) and other technologies like self-driving cars and smart cities. Lee thinks planners need to enhance their insight on how to bring together the issues of planning and technology.

When speaking about his life at USC, Lee recollected “I loved my USC experiences from 2012 to 2015. I started my MPL program with lovely friends and had many great memories, such as going to USC tailgates. The MPL program gave me good management skills and new insights on diversity. Also, I worked at METRANS as a student assistant with Professor Giuliano and Vicki Deguzman until summer 2014. It’s still a pleasure to keep in touch with them and to meet Professor Giuliano in Seoul.”

Lee’s advice for graduates is, “During your school life, I recommend you find a part-time job and learn more about the real world. These will really help improve your communication skills. Fight on!”

Lee says that he currently plans on working for the United Nations again as a planner for developing countries. And he strives to build his project management career. He also says that he is looking forward to living in California again and misses the sunny weather and his USC friends.

Jeongwoo Lee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor,

College of Architecture and Design

University of Ulsan

Dr. Lee is an Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture and Design at the University of Ulsan (UOU).  She teaches Urban Design and Planning at UOU.

She received her doctoral degree from the University of Southern California (USC). Her dissertation focused on how perceptions, local land use, and environmental characteristics are related to transit use, with a particular emphasis on pedestrian access to transit.

Lee recently received three awards for her research from the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), the Urban Design Institute of Korea, and the Korea Planning Association, which are the most representative institutes in the field of Urban Planning in Korea. 

Lee says that looking back, she really appreciates the professors in the urban planning program at the Price school. She thinks her papers stood out thanks to the good training with them at USC. She is extending her transport research using transit and pedestrian travel data from the Seoul and Ulsan metropolitan areas.

Dr. Lee advised other USC graduates, “Choose a mentor in your industry who is living your desired lifestyle. Settle for a job you're very passionate about. Life is short!”

YongJin Ahn Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Daegu University, Korea

YongJin Ahn is currently teaching Land Use Policy, Neighborhood Planning, Site Planning, and Urban Design Studio in the Department of Urban & Regional Planning at Daegu University in Korea.  Ahn has also been conducting several research projects related to urban environment-human behavior interaction, CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), urban regeneration, and international urban development since he came back to Korea.

From the perspective of urban planning & policy in Korea, Ahn thinks that the most important thing is to define more clearly a planning role of helping communities make more informed decisions about sustainable infrastructure and development at the local and regional scales. Combining the concept of smart growth and shrinking cities is one of the important issues in the process of urban regeneration in Korea.

Ahn believes that USC gave him an excellent opportunity to experience a high-quality graduate program and to conduct meaningful research projects. Such unique experiences allowed him to get an academic position in Korea. Moreover, the interdisciplinary setting of USC Price School also provided him with many advantages to developing and elaborate many of research themes that he is interested in.

Ahn highly recommends that graduate students show confident in their current positions and consistently invest themselves for their futures they want.

Ahn’s current plan for his career is to continue contributing to scientific knowledge on sustainable, safe, and healthy community development. He has been searching for the evidence that protects the quality of life through systematic coordination between land-use, transportation, environment, and health. In the long term, his plan is to be a scholar who addresses the many planning issues, environmental challenges, and public safety/health concerns that contemporary urban society encounters.

(Photo by Yongjin Ahn)

Keeyeon Keith Hwang, Master of Planning
Vice President

Hongik University
 

Keeyeon Keith Hwang is now the Vice president of Hongik University in charge of Administration & Public Affairs, and is Co-chair for Inter-Governmental Future Forum on Autonomous Vehicle Policy, Committee on Seoul-Jeju Under-sea High-speed Rail, and the Korea Carsharing Forum.

Hwang thinks it is important for his industry to search for answers on how to develop Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology, and respond to ethical issues in the course of its commercialization. Another important issue is how to motivate people to choose alternative modes of transportation such as public transit and carsharing, which can not only reduce GHG but lessen car-ownership.

Hwang said his experience at USC has not only provided him with high quality education but also the strong alumni network in Korea. He appreciate that professors like Dr. Giuliano have kept in contact with their students over 25 years, motivating them to become leading scholars and decision-makers in their field. Professor Giuliano has visited Korea several times to share her academic achievements as well as to exchange views on development in the fields of urban transportation and freight, and planning.

Hwang recommends graduates to maintain contacts with USC professors and colleagues, seek out advice whenever in need of help, invite them to where you are working, add them to your network.

In his career plans, Hwang aspires to one day become President of Hongik University and send his two boys now enrolled at Yonsei University in Korea to USC for their graduate studies. Hwang would love to live in Los Angeles after his retirement.

Kaitlyn Zhang

Kaitlyn (Kenan) Zhang is a second-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) student attending the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. She is also working towards a certificate in Transportation Systems from the Viterbi School of Engineering, and is an active student member of and volunteer for WTS Los Angeles. Currently, she also interns at the Culver City Transportation Department. Her interests are in transportation policy, urban development, and economics.