The fall semester is about to begin, and the METRANS students have been busy working on a comprehensive line-up of transportation programming for the fall semester, with events and opportunities sure to spark broad interest – research presentations, practitioner speaker series, field trips, opportunities to mentor and be mentored, and much more.  “Each year, we retool based on participant feedback so we can always bring engaging, impactful, and educational activities to the transportation community,” noted METRANS Associate Director, Victoria Deguzman.  “This year’s offerings include both exciting new programming and our time tested favorites.  Stay tuned, as each event will be listed right here in our weekly student news, with all of the information you need to join in!”

Being in charge of the events organized by METRANS, I have the opportunity to interact with people from various fields, including professional and educational, and these events give us all the much needed exposure to network with people; they are truly the perfect space to meet and learn about people from all facets of transportation. This Fall, we planned some extremely exciting events for us and I am pleased to share them with you.   

We begin our fall programming on Saturday, September 2^nd with our popular annual trip to LA Fleet Week, our third annual kickoff event for students, alums, friends, and family to tour both active and retired Navy battleships docked at the LA Harbor, in small groups guided by military officers (see event listing in this newsletter).  Recent USC graduate, Griffin Kantz, is returning to head up the trip once again.  “Our annual Fleet Week field trip is extremely popular among students - especially international students,” Kantz recalled.  “Last year we added an optional add-on trip to the retired Iowa Battleship in addition to the active ones visiting the Port, and students were amazed at how technology has changed.  METRANS and PCR are fortunate to have the connections to make this trip available for all at zero cost to registrants, and I look forward to facilitating this exciting opportunity once again."

September also includes a noon career development panel on Wednesday, September 20 and a noon transportation research seminar on Wednesday, September 27, both on the USC Main Campus.  USC MPL, Prithvi Deore, heads up the student outreach efforts, and is looking forward in particular to the interaction center events afford.  “As an outreach lead I get to interact with many people by volunteering for conferences. I meet students from other universities as well as professionals from the industry. These are not just educational but good networking opportunities,” she noted. “Another thing I look forward to every time are the research and practitioner speaker series. They keep us abreast of the research and trends in the industry. I am very excited for all the great events lined up for the students by METRANS!”

In October, students, practitioners, and researchers from across the globe are invited to join METRANS’ International Urban Freight Conference, a 3-day, biennial event, held in Long Beach, from October 18 – 20.  Students are encouraged to join as presenters and volunteers, in addition to the option to register as attendees. More information can be found here:  https://www.metrans.org/2017-i-nuf-overview. 

October also brings our popular behind-the-scenes tour of the Operations and Maintenance Facility for Foothill Transit in Arcadia, which we be held on Saturday, October 28.  Student News Editor, Rui Zhang, is an intern at Foothill Transit, and is the student lead for the trip.  “This year, students will have a unique chance to visit the Pomona facility of Foothill Transit. You will have a close view of how the 170 buses are operated, including daily probing, vaulting, washing, checking and maintenance,” Rui explained. “This will greatly help transportation students to broaden practical knowledge of transit development in LA County.”

Our final fall events are held in November, beginning with a noon research seminar on Wednesday the first, an evening panel discussion of connected and automated vehicles (CA/AV) on Tuesday the 7^th, and noon research seminars on Wednesdays the 15^th and 29^th. 

USC MSCE Yang Deng, METRANS graphics and technology specialist, is the student lead for the CA/AV event.  “Being able to hear from experts in connected and automated vehicle technology and policy is such a valuable opportunity, and I am proud to lead the student efforts to bring this event to our classmates and the public. This topic is of great interest to me.  When I was working in the Shaanxi Truck Company in 2015, the AVs products impressed me most,” he shared. “Because of that, I decided to pursue more knowledge on this field. This event should be eye opening, not only for me but for all who can join us.  METRANS events help us all to broaden our horizons.”

Detailed information will be shared here for each of these events and look forward to welcoming you to them.  We encourage you to subscribe to the news if you have not already, and watch this space!

About the Author

Madhurima Bhattacharyya is a graduate student pursuing MS in Engineering Management at the Viterbi School of Engineering and expects to graduate in December, 2018. She is the events coordinator for METRANS and intends to pursue a career in project management after graduating. She can be reached at [email protected].