Each year the Pacific Southwest Region (PSR) University Transportation Center (UTC) selects students of the year in the categories of doctoral, master’s, undergraduate, and non-degree/community college students.  These are in addition to the PSR US DOT Outstanding Student of the Year Award.

Katherine Riffle, Master of Science in Civil Engineering,
Northern Arizona University

We are pleased to congratulate Katherine Riffle for being awarded PSR UTC Master’s Student of the Year.  Katherine is a student in the Master of Science in Civil Engineering program at Northern Arizona University (NAU). She graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Civil Engineering and Mathematics in 2020. 

Katherine shares that she became interested in transportation while an undergraduate student campus bus driver at NAU. That job spurred her interest in mobility and led her consider a career in transportation, starting by working as a transit engineer intern at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. There, she was further inspired by her work on “impactful projects” and decided to continue on a transportation path, including the opportunity to research transportation safety as part of a summer fellowship at Portland State University.

Katherine is now a Graduate Research Assistant with AZTrans, where she shares that she was fortunate to be able to help author an article in the Journal of Transportation Safety and is actively involved in researching vehicle detector malfunctions and detector health monitoring, a topic which aligns well with her ambition towards transportation safety.

Katherine credits NAU's undergraduate and graduate transportation courses with both keeping her engaged and on track and preparing her well for being a transportation engineer. She says Dr. Ed Smaglik's Traffic Study and Signal course and lab helped her feel confident as she applied for jobs. Katherine would like to thank Professor Smaglik for his support throughout her college experience, both in her undergraduate and graduate careers. She appreciates his help in finding the opportunities she has received and appreciates his encouragement toward all his students. 

Katherine also notes the significance of receiving a WTS Leadership scholarship and is grateful for the much-needed support it provided in her final semester as an undergraduate student. Katherine has also received other excellent and notable achievements, including NAU Graduate Student of the Month and the Craig Roberts Graduate Student Fellowship at NAU.

Smaglik and Dr. Brendan Russo co-advised Katherine's honors project and share their thoughts on Katherine's Student of the Year award.

"Katherine has been an invaluable member of our lab and has assisted with work on numerous transportation research projects. She's also been a solid leader with respect to the NAU ITE Student Chapter, serving as Chapter President over the past two years. I believe she's extremely deserving of this award." - Dr. Russo 

"I was very happy to see Katherine win this award. She truly gives all of herself to the ITE chapter here at NAU, along with excelling in her research and coursework. This award was well-deserved." - Dr. Smaglik 

When asked for advice for students, Katherine encourages her peers to take advantage of all that campus has to offer, both career-related and not, recalling fondly her time as part of the NAU lightsaber club in particular!  She is now the current president of the NAU Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and has enjoyed her membership throughout her undergrad and graduate years.

After graduating this December, Katherine will work as an engineer for Southeastern Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia. She most looks forward to working with various departments in their transportation system and is excited to work in a city like Philadelphia and explore an unfamiliar place. 

About the Author:
Amy Guzman is an undergraduate student attending the University of Southern California studying Political Science and International Relations. She is a student staff writer for the METRANS newsletter and is also part of the METRANS K12 student outreach team.