(Photo by Victor Xie)

METRANS is proud to announce that Sheng’ao (Victor) Xie was recently hired by WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) at the firm’s Salt Lake City office as a Planner I, with a specialization in transportation. Xie first joined METRANS in Spring 2015 as Student Communication Assistant and has since earned his Master of Planning degree from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

Xie ‘s first project at the PB office is the Mountain Accord Program, a comprehensive planning process investigating future transportation, environmental, hydrological, and economic needs in the Central Wasatch Mountains region near Salt Lake City. He is currently working on feasibility analyses involving GIS and he may also contribute to transportation corridor and Managed Motorways studies in the future. All these projects involve coordination with public agencies such as the Utah Transit Authority.

“I didn’t know anyone in this PB office before,” Xie says, “but when I got the interview I talked to my [internship] supervisor at the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), and she introduced me to some PB staff at their LA office and they shared some interview advice with me.”

Xie ultimately got the offer and accepted it in late July.

Xie’s advice to other students on the job hunt is to “keep searching and applying; tailor your resume to fit the positions you applied to and highlight your unique experience. I believe that, in the end, the job you land will be the one that best matches your own background and prior experience. Above all, internship experience and networking are crucial.” He emphasized that his involvement with METRANS played a significant role in his success, adding, “METRANS helped me a lot on networking opportunities” especially.

METRANS wishes him the best of luck at his new job and in his new location.

Griffin Kantz

Kantz is a third-year undergraduate studying sustainable planning in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. He can be reached at [email protected].