Class 1- Monday, January 25
Ricky Angueira
Jarrett Walker + Associates
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Transit Network Redesign
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Abstract
A transit network can be designed in different ways depending on the goals that it is trying to accomplish. Should a transit agency try to go everywhere in a city even if that means that buses come every 60 minutes? Or should they concentrate service on the densest corridors to provide higher frequency and therefore better access? This is a difficult decision, but it is an inevitable tradeoff when designing a transit network. Clearer thinking about transit can help communities make confident decisions.
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Biography
Ricky Angueira is a Senior Associate at Jarrett Walker + Associates where he helps agencies redesign their bus networks to better reflect their goals and their changing cities. Ricky has two Master's degrees: Transportation Engineering from the University of Connecticut and Urban Planning from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Ricky focuses on communicating complex information through illustrative graphics and clear conversations. He has experience in helping cities think about their bus networks in Puerto Rico, the United States, and Spain.
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Class 2- Monday, February 01
No Seminar - Snow Day
Class 3- Monday, February 08
Garrett Bolella
City of Stamford - Transportation, Traffic and Planning
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Sustainable Street Design in Stamford, CT
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Talk Overview
Garrett Bolella (2011) P.E., PTOE, is excited to share a decade’s worth of experience in the public and private sectors. He will highlight his expertise designing and constructing a NACTO award winning transportation project. He was a featured ITE presenter for implementing low-cost roundabouts as well as planning and funding transportation investments to spur economic development around the State’s busiest transportation hub. He looks forward to describing how he has leveraged his studies at the University of Connecticut, with a focus on Complete Streets, Sustainable Transportation and Vision Zero policies to create safer, more resilient cities. Garrett will share his experiences implementing Stamford’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan and detailing the design and installation of over 30 miles of marked bike lanes. The presentation will culminate in the methodology, proven measures, best practices, and new technologies that have resulted in the lowest overall vehicular crashes, cyclist crashes and serious/fatal pedestrian crashes in the State’s fastest growing municipality.
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Biography
Garrett has both a BS (2009) and MS (2011) from the Civil Engineering Department of UConn. Upon graduation from UConn he first worked with the consulting firm of Fredrick P. Clark in Fairfield. Since 2017 he as worked with the City of Stamford as their lead traffic engineer. Garrett's illustrious career includes award from the Business Council of Fairfield County, the National Association of Strate Transportation Officials and from Bike/Walk Connecticut.
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Class 4 - Monday, February 15
Kweku Brown
Assistant Professor
Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina
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Geographic Information System (GIS) Analysis in Transportation Engineering
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Talk Overview
My Journey: Geographic Information System (GIS) Analysis in Transportation Engineering
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are an invaluable analysis and decision support tool in transportation engineering research and practice. Join me as I recount my GIS journey through the diverse, interesting, and impactful projects I have worked on in transportation engineering over the past decade.
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Biography
Dr. Kweku Brown is an Assistant Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Citadel. He is a member of both National and South Carolina Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). He is a current member of Transportation Research Board (TRB) committee on ‘Geospatial Data Acquisition Technologies (AkD70) and a former member of two TRB committees: Geospatial Information Science and Applications (AED40) and Statewide Transportation Data and Info Systems (AED10). Dr. Brown is very active in engineering education, professional organizations, community engagement, and has represented The Citadel at national capacity-building workshops. He works on South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) projects on safety, access management and traffic operations. Additionally, his research focuses on transportation safety using geospatial analysis methods, transportation, health and the built environment and engineering education.
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Class 5- Monday, February 22
Vannesa Methoxha
Transportation Engineer
Howard Stein Hudson
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Talk Overview
Sometimes we begin a degree with one mindset of where we will end up, but over time our experiences and exposure to different people alters our interests and where we want to go. I began my undergraduate without much interest in or understanding of what makes cities and urban places intriguing. With only a narrow idea of civil engineering, the career path seemed one directional. Towards the end of my undergraduate degree, it seemed to be the complete opposite, that there were too many different elements that this career captures. Things were not always clear as to what fell within the realm of this career or what a typical job entailed. After being in the industry, I discovered that there is not one depiction of a transportation engineer, and that some of it is context dependent on where you work and how the company or public department is structured. I will talk about how my view of transportation engineering has changed since being in school, mention some of the projects my company does, and touch on the type of work I has been involved with.
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Biography
Vannesa Methoxha is currently a transportation engineer for Howard Stein Hudson (HSH), a Boston based planning and engineering firm. She finished her bachelor’s degree at UConn and went directly into a master’s program to further focus on the many facets of transportation engineering. During her time in the master’s program, she did research on road safety between the Netherlands and United States. At HSH she now works in the land development and permitting department where they assist private developers with getting their projects through the city’s approval process. Working and living in an urban environment has given her the opportunity to see the city change while being a part of the process that fosters that transformation.
Class 6- Monday, March 1
Kelly Bertolaccini
Lecturer
Griffith University, Brisbane Australia
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Age, Transport & Technology: Understanding the transport and transport-related technology choices of older Queenslanders
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Talk Overview
Dr. Kelly Bertolaccini is a Lecturer of Transport Engineering in the School of Engineering and the Built Environment and a member of the Cities Research Institute. Her research focuses on data-driven transport planning and public transport systems, with an emphasis on equity and transport planning for vulnerable communities. Recently, her research has explored the intersection of aging populations, transportation choices, and the use of transport-related technologies.
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Biography
Like many countries, Australia’s population is aging. Australia’s transport engineers, planners, and policymakers have a particularly challenging task ahead of them as they consider how to provide transport options to an aging population in the largely car-reliant Australia. At the same time as our population is aging and their transport needs are changing, our transport system increasingly expects travellers to use smartphones to access, reserve, and pay for transport services. The intersection of these demographic and technological trends raises the question of how older Australians are currently interacting with transport-related technologies and whether our transport system’s reliance on new technologies will meet their needs. To better understand the current travel behaviour and transport-related technology use of older Australians, our research team surveyed and held focus group discussion with seniors across the state of Queensland. This presentation will discuss the findings of our survey and focus group efforts.
Class 7- Monday, March 08
No Seminar - Week of CAV Job Talks
Class 8- Monday, March 15
Abigail Osei-Asamoah
Transportation Planner and Modeler
CDM Smith, Inc
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Travel Demand Forecasting –
From College to Industry Practice
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Talk Overview
The trajectory from college or graduate school to industry practice is ever changing and often not set in stone. In this talk, I present my path from a UCONN Transportation graduate student to a Transportation planner with CDM Smith Inc. with a focus on Travel Demand Forecasting as taught in college and graduate school , and as used in practice. The objective is to compare the two , share lessons learnt on the job, and provide tips and guidance that can help in professional practice after graduation.
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Biography
Ms. Osei-Asamoah has 8+ years of experience in multiple areas of transportation planning and traffic engineering, including travel demand modeling, traffic and revenue analysis, traffic operational analysis, transportation planning, and transportation network analysis. She is also experienced in statistical and econometric modeling, and in the design and analysis of stated preference surveys. She is proficient in using NLOGIT, TRANSCAD, TransModeler, CUBE Voyager, HCS, CORSIM, MATLAB, and ARCGIS.
She has extensive experience in Travel Demand Modeling including model development, validation, calibration, and the application of such models.
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Ms. Osei-Asamoah currently works as a Transportation Planner with CDM Smith Inc. in their Orlando, FL office. In this role, she serves as the Principal Transportation modeler on most projects, performing travel demand modeling and forecasting procedures. She often develops macro applications for evaluating outputs from Travel demand models and prepares technical memorandums to help with the interpretation and application of such model for Clients.
Her prior work experience includes a Transportation System Modeler role with a Traffic and Revenue Firm; C&M Associates Inc, in Dallas, TX , and as a Civil Engineer I position in her home country Ghana.
Ms. Osei-Asamoah serves as the Co-Chair of the Newsletter Committee of her local Central Florida Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS ), and is a member of the Ghana Transportation Professionals Forum (GTPF -NA) of North America; through which she furthers her passion of supporting minorities, and advocating for diversity in the transportation industry.
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Ms. Osei-Asamoah earned her doctorate in TUE from UCONN in 2014
