University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute of ... · University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute of Transportation Engineers 1 Table of Contents 2013 - 2014 Annual Report Chapter

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Institute of Transportation Engineers


Institute of Transportation Engineers 1

Table of Contents

2013 - 2014 Annual Report

Chapter Details………………………………………………………………... 2

A Letter from the President…………………...……………………………… 3

Student Presentations and Publications……………………………………... 4

Awards…………………………………………………………………………. 5

Seminar Speaker Series……………………………………………………..... 6

Major Events………….………………………………………………………. 7

Meetings and Conferences……………………………………...………….…. 8

Social Events……….……………………………………………………….…. 9

Chapter Activities Around Umass…..………..………………………………. 10

TRB ………….……………………………………………………..…………. 11

Volunteer Work/Technical Training…….………………………………….... 12

Pedestrian Safety Projects…………..…………………………………….….. 13

#ITEYearInReview………………………………………………………….… 14

Appendix: Chapter Roster………………………………………………….... I.



Chapter Details


1. STUDENT CHAPTER EXECUTIVE BOARD

President: Curt Harrington

Vice President: Christina Dube

Secretary: Ethan Minnot

Treasurer: David Posner

Professional Liaison: David Champoux

Student Outreach: Balazs Martai

Undergraduate Liaison: Craig Schneider

Webmaster: Matt Moretti

2. STUDENT CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP

Number of Student Chapter Members: 45

Number of Student Members of Institute: 21

Number of Students Eligible to be Student Members of the Institute: 45

Number of Faculty Members who are Current ITE Members: 2

3. INFORMATION ON TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING ENROLLMENT

Number of Undergraduate Students in Civil and Environmental Engineering: 291

Does Curriculum Allow Undergraduate Students to Major or Minor in Transportation: No

Number of Graduate Students in Transportation Engineering: 30

4. SUMMARY OF STUDENT CHAPTER ACTIVITIES See pages 3-14

5. ROSTER OF STUDENT CHAPTER MEMBERS See Appendix I.

Report Submitted By: Content Approved By:

Curt Harrington, UMass ITE President Professor Michael A. Knodler, Jr. Ph.D.

(508) 735-4367 Student Chapter Advisor

[email protected]



From the desk of the President...




Student Presentations and Publications


We are pleased to announced these selected presentations and publications authored by our student

chapter members:

Berthaume, A. (2013) “Physical Barrier, Mental Barrier?”

Berthaume, A. (2013) “Roundabout Impacts on Transit Operations: How the Introduction of a Round-

about Can Help Improve Transit Reliability”

Berthaume, A. (2013) “A New Methodology for Determining Bicyclist Safety at Single-Lane Round-

abouts”

Berthaume, A. (2013) “Hazardous Bicycle Maneuvers at Single-Lane Roundabouts in Massachusetts:

A Conflict and Events Study”

Berthaume, A. (2014) “Towards a Social Psychology-Based Microscopic Model of Driver Behavior

and Decision Making: Modifying Lewin’s Field Theory”

Berthaume, A. (2014) “Modeling Driver Behaviors in Freeway Work Zones Based on Field Theory”

Ding, J. (2014) “Routing Policy Choice Set Generation in Stochastic Time-Dependent Networks: Case

Studies for Stockholm and Singapore”

Farid, Y. (2014) “Analytical Evaluation of Queue Jumpers and Transit Signal Priority on Signalized

Arterials”

Fitzpatrick, C. and C. Harrington (2013) “The Influence of Clear Zone Size and Roadside Vegeta-

tion on Driver Behavior”

Fitzpatrick, C. and I. McKinnon (2013) “There’s an App for That!”

Skelly, M. (2013) “Public Transit Electronic Payment Systems: An Analysis of the Tradeoffs between

Privacy and Utility”

Wenners, K., Knodler, M., Kennedy, J. and C. Fitzpatrick (2013) “Large-Scale Observation Study

of Drivers’ Cell Phone Usage”



Awards


The UMass ITE Student Chapter is pleased to announce the following awards won by our members:

Andrew Berthaume: 2nd Place ITE Northeastern District Annual Meeting Daniel B. Fambro Student

Paper Competition (2013), APBP Ken Cross Scholarship Student Poster Competition Finalist (2013)

David Champoux: Thomas E. Desjardins NEITE Scholarship (2013)

Jing Ding: Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowship (2013), WTS Connecticut

Helene M. Overly Scholarship (2014)

Christina Dube: UMass ITE Student Service Award (2014)

Cole Fitzpatrick: UMass Transportation Center Student of the Year (2013), New England ITE Emerg-

ing ITE Professional Award (2013), UMass ITE Student Service Award (2013), ITE Northeastern Dis-

trict Student Paper Award (2013)

Curt Harrington: UMass ITE Student Service Award (2014)

Dr. Michael Knodler: College of Engineering Outstanding Faculty Award (2013)

Matthew Skelly: NEARC Conference Poster Competition Finalist (2013)



Transportation Seminar Series


Tuesday 4pm Climate Change and the Sustainability of Cities and natural Resources:

February 4 Characterizing Uncertainties for Citizens and Decision Makers, Dr. Richard Palmer,

Professor and Department Head, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UMass

Thursday 1pm The Fundamentals of Roundabout Planning and Design Webinar, Mr. Jason D. Pack,

February 6 P.E., Traffic Engineer and Fred Choa, P.E., Traffic Engineer

Tuesday 1pm UMass Electric Vehicle Initiative, Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy, EOEEA Secretary

February 18 Richard Sullivan, and Energy Commissioner Mr. Mark Sylvia, Energy Commission-

er Ms. Jeri Baker, UMass Director of Transportation

Thursday 1pm Statewide ITS Strategic Plan for Massachusetts, Mr. Peter Sutton, Transportation

February 20 Planner, MassDOT

Thursday 1pm The Intersection of Transportation and Human Factors: Research Challenges and

February 27 Lessons Learned. Mr. Siby Samual, Ph.D. Candidate and Dr Michael Knodler,

Associate Professor of Civil Engineering

Friday 2pm Big Data/Big Discoveries/ Big Decisions: challenges and Opportunities in Transporta

March 7 tion Webinar, Dr. Yinhai Wang, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Washing-

ton Seattle

Thursday 1pm Rail Freight Transportation In Massachusetts, Mr. Dana Roscoe, Transportation Plan

March 13 ner, PVPC and Mr. Tim Doherty, Transportation Planner, MassDOT

Thursday 2pm UMass Transportation Technical Day, UMass ITE Student Chapter and the UMass

March 27 WTS Students Chapter

Thursday 1pm Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAV) Systems: Issues and Challenges

April 3 Dan Griffith, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Thursday 1pm Transportation Issues and Challenges in Massachusetts: Careers in Public Service,

April 10 Jeff Mullan, UMass Board of Trustees and Former MassDOT Secretary

Thursday 1pm An International Perspective: Multimodal Needs Assessment for Tanzania, Dr. Cel-

April 17 este Chavis, Assistant Professor of Transportation and Urban Studies, Morgan State

University

Thursday 1pm The Impact of Adaptive Driving and Adaptive Signal Control on Network Stability, Dr.

April 24 Vikash Gayah, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Pennsylvania State University



Northeastern District ITE Meeting/UMass Tech Day/Student Research Symposium

May 22-24, 2013 in Northampton, MA

This ITE meeting joined forces with UMass Amherst ITE Technical Day 2013 and the 2013 Student Re-

search Symposium. In addition to attending various technical sessions, UMass ITE members put their

transportation knowledge to the test and won the Northeastern District Traffic Bowl. Cole Fitzpatrick

and Ian McKinnon presented “Leveraging Social Media in Today’s Workplace” during a technical ses-

sion. The meeting required extensive planning throughout the months leading up to it, and none of this

would have been possible without the contributions of UMass ITE advisor Dr. Michael Knodler.


Major Events

UMass Amherst ITE 15th Annual Technical Day

March 27, 2014 in Amherst, MA

A roundtable discussion “The Future of Transportation” sparked an open conversation about technologi-

cal advances, infrastructure changes, and aspects that the group was nervous about. Panel members in-

cluded Neil Boudreau, Jason DeGray, Dr. Eleni Christofa, and Vice President Christina Dube; the dis-

cussion moderator was President Curt Harrington. Our keynote speaker, UMass alum Ken Shain, Presi-

dent and CEO of Smart Signal Technologies, Inc., presented on the application of Smart Signal to coor-

dinated signalized intersections. The Jane F. Garvey/UMass ITE Transportation Leadership award was

given to MBTA GM Beverly Scott. UMass ITE provided company representatives in attendance with

flash drives containing student member resumes.



Meetings and Conferences


International ITE Annual Meeting—August 4-7, 2013 in Boston, MA

Members Ian McKinnon, Andy Berthaume, and David Posner competed in the Traffic

Bowl at the international level. The chapter members attended technical sessions and

networking events with other ITE professionals. Students took advantage of the complete

streets and bike tour of Boston and Cambridge that were offered during the meeting.

Massachusetts ITE Meeting—September 18, 2013 in Waltham, MA

UMass ITE was the only student chapter represented at this meeting. We attended the tech-

nical sessions that were offered and stayed for the dinner presentation. Student member

David Champoux was awarded the Desjardins scholarship for his outstanding achieve-

ments in transportation academia and extracurricular involvement.

New England ITE Meeting—December 3, 2013 in Warwick, RI

President Curt Harrington attended the executive board meeting,, and the chapter attended

the technical sessions and a networking event before dinner. The chapter received a mone-

tary award that was designated for ITE meeting registration reimbursements for students

and TRB reception sponsorship.

ITE Technical Conference & Exhibit—March 9-12, 2014 in Miami, FL

Chapter member Yashar Farid presented “Analytical Evaluation of Queue Jumpers and

Transit Signal Priority on Signalized Arterials.” The student chapter also won a contest

and received a free VISTRO license from PTV. Andrew Chatham, lead engineer for

Google self-driving cars, presented a keynote lecture on the future of driverless cars and

how ITE and Google can best combine forces to attack future needs.

UMass Amherst ITE Student Chapter Meetings—Monthly in Amherst, MA

The group holds monthly meetings to go over important items such as upcoming events,

fundraising, and other pressing matters. UMass ITE always encourages students within the

College of Engineering to join and attend the meetings. The executive board holds sepa-

rate meetings to discuss details and event logistics.



Social Events


UMass ITE student and faculty members

networking at the Young ITE Members

Reception in Miami, FL, at the ITE

Technical Conference & Exhibit this past

March..

For a team-building exercise, the student

chapter and faculty advisor played some

hotly contested laser tag at a local mall after

sharing appetizers at a nearby restaurant.

Competition was fierce at this year’s UMass

ITE Transportation Jeopardy Night. Teams

battled it out for prizes, and the chance to

represent us in the regional traffic bowl.

An end of the semester ITE picnic celebrated

a completed Spring 2013 semester and

brought us together to introduce our new

executive board and say goodbye to the stu-

dents who were graduating.



Chapter Activities Around UMass


GWIS and WTS Situation Room Event

Dr. Michael Knodler was a guest speaker at this Graduate Women in

STEM event that focused on teaching styles and effective methods for all

class sizes and education levels. ITE member Farnoush Khalighi presented

a short lecture to a group of graduate students and received feedback on her

teaching methods.

Ribbon-Cutting for MA’s First Level 3 Electric Vehicle Fast Charger

The UMass Transportation Services Building is now home to the first of

many electric vehicle chargers. UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy,

State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard Sullivan, and

John Collura were some of the noted speakers during this ceremony that

ITE attended.

Successful Business Writing Seminar

Rockie Blunt, President of Blunt Consulting Group, gave several tips and

techniques that will enhance the quality of our members writing. The semi-

nar did not simply cover how to write effective reports, but rather, Mr.

Blunt also discussed proper formats for e-mails, letters, and memos. The

seminar was held for the UMass Transportation Center.

Joint ASCE/ITE/WTS Meeting

Guest speaker and UMass Amherst alum Steven Tupper spoke about

working for a state agency and discussed some of the challenging projects

that the Cape Cod Commission had recently completed. ASCE members

with interest in transportation were urged to join ITE.

Joint ASCE/ITE/WTS Meeting

Guest speaker and UMass Amherst alum Steven Tupper spoke about

working for a state agency and discussed some of the challenging projects

that the Cape Cod Commission had recently completed. ASCE members

with interest in transportation were urged to join ITE.



Student Chapter Goes to TRB


UMass ITE sent fifteen active members to Washington, DC, to the 93rd Transportation Re-

search Board Annual Meeting. In addition to attending the technical and poster sessions, several stu-

dents gave presentations about their completed research. Posters were presented by Jing Ding, Yashar

Farid, Cole Fitzpatrick, and Curt Harrington. Technical session presentations were given by Andrew

Berthaume and Keith Wenners. Vice President Christina Dube was interviewed about the future of

transportation by representatives from AASHTO’s YouTube channel called Transportation TV.

The group also traveled to the ITE Headquarters building for the student chapter reception. Here, we

watched an astounding presentation about the first ITE high school student chapter by International

Relations Officer Jeremiah Liu from the Smart Driving Cars club at Jinan Foreign Languages School

International Center. UMass ITE also met with ITE International Vice President candidate Paula Ben-

way. We held our 2nd Annual UMass ITE TRB Reception at Buffalo Billiards. Improving upon last

year’s pilot reception, this year’s gathering was overflowing with domestic and international profes-

sionals and students. Our reception proved to be an excellent opportunity for our students to socialize

with professionals in a casual environment.



Technical Training


The chapter has prioritized technical training as part of this years programming. It is our belief that

these skills trainings best prepare our students for the work force.

AutoCAD Tutorial Series with WTS—November-December 2013

Traffic Counts—October, November 2013

Pedestrian Count on Campus—March 2014

Highway Surveying and Layout—March 2014

Volunteer Work

UMass ITE members rally

together during rain to pick up

trash on Route 116 in Hadley,

MA, for our sponsored

Adopt-A-Highway section. President Curt Harrington shares

thoughts on his TRB poster with pro-

spective UMass transportation gradu-

ate students. ITE grad students spent

their Friday touring students and intro-

ducing them to faculty and facilities.

Chapter members assisted the Cold

Spring Swift River PTO with race

route monitoring for the third con-

secutive year in Belchertown, MA.

Students volunteered to help

guide runners along the race

route for the Cider Donut Run

5K in Amherst, MA. All pro-

ceeds benefited the Amherst

Survival Center.



Pedestrian Safety Projects


The UMass Amherst campus has a dangerous crosswalk located in between the sports arena

(Mullins Center) and the Recreation Center that students use daily. UMass ITE recognized that there

was a need for a pedestrian treatment at this location in order to improve pedestrian safety, and in

March 2014 the perfect opportunity arose.

Carmanah Traffic held a national competition that encouraged universities to upload a picture or

video to their Facebook page with a caption that explained why the pictured crosswalk was dangerous.

The winner of this contest would receive a free solar rectangular rapid flashing beacon crosswalk sys-

tem. By the end of the contest on March

31st, UMass ITE held a firm grasp of first

place out of the twelve entries, with over

1,300 social engagement points.

Additionally, UMass ITE has been

involved with the planning of two projects

titled “Walk This Way” and “Distracted

Campus.” These projects were the direct

result of our input in a campus-wide pedes-

trian safety audit from which UMass offi-

cials identified and implemented various

safety countermeasures. The UMass Po-

lice Chief has established a Pedestrian

Safety Committee, and once again, UMass

ITE is excited to be involved.



#ITEYearInReview


The student chapter has fully embraced social media and has used it to connect students with alumni,

professionals, and organizations. By staying active on Twitter and on other social media fronts,

UMass ITE has been able to stay current on real-time transportation news, jobs, contests, and more; it

also allows us to chronologically store and recall important information and events for our group.

Below are some of the highlights from our #ITEYearInReview.


Institute of Transportation Engineers I.

Chapter Roster


STUDENT NAME DEGREE GRAD/EXP GRAD DATE

Berthaume, Andrew* Ph.D. CE Fall 2014

Brooks, Ariel BSCE Spring 2013

Buchalter, Cody BSCE Spring 2015

Champoux, David* MSCE Fall 2013

Cummings, James* BSCE Spring 2013

Ding, Jing* Ph.D. CE Fall 2014

Dube, Christina* MSCE Fall 2014

Ebacher, Beth Ph.D. CE Spring 2016

Farid, Yashar Ph.D. CE Spring 2015

Favalora, Christian BSCE Spring 2015

Fitzpatrick, Cole* MSCE Spring 2013

Freeman, Jonathan* MSCE Fall 2014

Gauvin, Jayson BSCE Spring 2015

Gómez, Radhameris* Ph.D. CE Spring 2014

Guzze, John MSCE Fall 2013

Hajiseyedjavodi, Foroogh Ph.D. CE Spring 2017

Harrington, Curt* MSCE Fall 2014

Jarvis, Miles BSCE Spring 2015

Jia, Chaoqun* Ph.D. CE Spring 2015

Khalighi, Farnoush Ph.D. CE Spring 2017

Kippen, Bradford BSCE Spring 2015

Li, Qiao MSCE Spring 2013

Lovejoy, Alex* BSCE Spring 2013

Magazu, Eric MSCE Spring 2013

Martai, Balazs* MSCE Spring 2014

McGinnis, Russell BSCE Spring 2015

McKinnon, Ian* MSCE Spring 2013

Minott, Ethan* MSCE Spring 2014

Moser, Jonathan BSCE Spring 2015

Muench, Eric BSCE Spring 2015

Oldread, Krystal MSCE Spring 2013

Panjaitan, Donald* MSCE Fall 2014

Paquette, Jenna BSCE Spring 2014

Posner, David* MSCE Spring 2014

Rachtan, Piotr* MSCE Spring 2013

Reeder, Andrew BSCE Spring 2014

Roach, Derek MSCE Fall 2014

Schneider, Craig* MSCE Fall 2014

Skelly, Matthew* MSCE Fall 2013

Tang, Yue* Ph.D. CE Spring 2015

Tian, Hengliang Ph.D. CE Spring 2013

Tierney, Patrick BSCE Spring 2014

Wang, Yicheng MSCE Spring 2013

Wenners, Keith* MSCE Spring 2013

Zhang, Cheng* MSCE Spring 2013

* Denotes ITE Member

Documents

University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute of ... · University of Massachusetts Amherst Institute of Transportation Engineers 1 Table of Contents 2013 - 2014 Annual Report Chapter