, a transportation analytics company providing roadway traffic, safety, and parking data to clients. Their project, focusing on deriving contextually relevant advertising based on geospatial mobility data, ended up being a finalist in the competition.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThroughout their time at UW, Ekin and Rubina fostered workforce development in the transportation community. Both served as co-chair of UW CEE Graduate Student Advisory Board (GSAB) organizing events that strengthened connections among CEE students. Through this role, Ekin branched into CEE\u2019s External Engagement Committee, building relationships with industry partners and supporting fundraising for infrastructure, education, and research; Rubina branched into the CEE Education Committee and now mentors students through the Washington Transportation Camp, a high school summer program sponsored by WSDOT and hosted by PacTrans. Together, their leadership and service have made a lasting impact on the CEE community and the next generation of transportation professionals.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nResearch and Recognition<\/b><\/h4>\n
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Both students have distinguished themselves through impactful research and professional achievements.<\/span><\/p>\nRubina\u2019s research centers on how people make transportation decisions, using experimental and quasi-experimental methods to evaluate the impact of transportation technology, policies, and infrastructure on mode choice and travel behavior. Her accolades include:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- 2026 CUTC Outstanding Student of the Year Award<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2025 Best Paper Award at the 38th Electric Vehicle Symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden for her paper titled \u201cPoor Reliability of Public Charging Stations Can Impede the Growth of the Electric Vehicle Market\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2024 Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship from the Puget Sound WTS Chapter<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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<\/span><\/p>\nEkin completed his PhD at UW CEE in December 2025 and now is a Postdoctoral Associate at New York University, affiliated with NYU Tandon and the Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP). His doctoral research focused on augmenting transportation data quality (specifically in the context of passively collected mobile data) to facilitate its use in long-range transportation planning. His future research interests focus on assessing the impact of human-AI interactions on travel behavior choices, particularly in leisure travel, and downstream implications on urban areas. His accolades include:<\/span><\/p>\n\n- 2024 Region 10 Michael Kyte Student of the Year Award<\/span><\/li>\n
- 2023 UW College of Engineering Dean\u2019s Fellowship<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
\u201cBoth students absolutely exemplify excellence. They are super smart, awesome, and the next power couple in transportation!\u201d said Ryan Avery, former PacTrans Assistant Director, now WSP\u2019s Senior Technical Director in Data Science.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAn Engagement in the Heart of Seattle<\/b><\/h4>\n
On January 1, the couple reached a personal milestone: they got engaged on the Burke-Gilman Trail beneath Seattle\u2019s Aurora Bridge, pretty fitting for a pair of civil engineers! The moment was captured by PacTrans Marketing Specialist, Kristine Pham.<\/span><\/p>\nThe moment marked a new chapter for two students whose story now spans institutions and cities, brought together by a shared passion for transportation. As Rubina continues her graduate studies at UW, and Ekin starts his postdoc in NYU, both remain focused on advancing transportation research while building a life together.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re grateful for the community we\u2019ve found here,\u201d said Ekin. \u201cPacTrans and UW have become an important part of our story.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nCongrats on the engagement, we look forward to all your future endeavors! Happy Valentines Day Region 10!<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/R-E-Proposal-03-683x1024.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Kristine Pham Two graduate students from the University of Washington\u2019s transportation program are making an impact through their research, leadership, and a shared academic journey that began years before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9036"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9067,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036\/revisions\/9067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/pactrans\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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