pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many of PacTrans’ normal activities have shifted to fit the current nature of the global pandemic. The annual student conference was no different. In previous years, it would usually have been held on the same weekend as the Region 10 Transportation Conference, however, for the first time this year, these two events occurred separately as well as virtually. The student conference was held virtually over two days on November 18 and 19, 2020. Despite the challenges faced by the unique circumstances this year, the event was a great success.

The student conference had three sponsors: ITS Washington, DKS Associates, and Fehr & Peers, to whom PacTrans is immensely grateful for their support. The student conference is always excellent opportunity for students to engage in the greater transportation engineering world. This year offered opportunities for students to interact with representatives from the sponsoring companies during a meet and greet at the conclusion of the first day of the conference. During this activity student learned about the companies and network with professionals.

Other conference activities included three speaker presentations, a career development panel, and two competitions: the annual student poster competition and the first ever hackathon competition.

The first speaker to present at the Student conference was Jonathan Kurz of Verizon. Jonathan presented on emerging technological advancements, such as the implementation of 5G, and how they will impact transportation engineering. The second presentation was given by Chris Grgich and Michael Adamson of Fehr & Peers. They presented a new tool that attempted to quantify the changes to long term driving behavior brought on by COVID-19. The final speaker was Hollyanna Littlebull of the Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources. She presented on the unique safety challenges facing tribal communities, and specifically, Yakama Nation.

The career development panel featured two industry professionals: Brian Chandler of DKS Associates and Chris Grgich of Fehr & Peers. Students had the opportunity to ask questions about their future careers ranging from resumes and interview tips, to work-life balance and the potential changes caused by COVID-19.

Finally, PacTrans hosted two competitions this year: a hackathon competition and a poster competition. The Poster Competition offered a platform where students could showcase their work, while the hackathon created space for students to create novel work based on Seattle traffic data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting government stay at home orders. The virtual format of the conference presented unique challenges for the student presenters, requiring them to use new techniques to maximize their ability to effectively convey the key points of their work in the presenting sessions of both competitions.

Thanks to the support from the conference sponsors, both competitions had prizes associated with them and were judged separately by both the attending students and the industry presenters at the conference. Each competition had prizes for the top three presentations. Third place received $100, second place received $200, and first place received $400. The winners of the Hackathon Competition are as follows: Zhijun Liu and Lu Liu of the UW won third place, Iman Haji and Ohay Angah of UW won second place, and Hubert Chen and Meng-Ju Tsai won first place. For the poster competition, Hubert Chen of UW won third place, Meixin Zhu of UW won second place, and Ananna Ahmed of OSU won first place.

A special thanks to this year’s student conference planning committee, which included: Sam Ricord (chair, University of Washington), Ananna Ahmed (Oregon State University), Chaney Wood (University of Idaho), Elizabeth Richards (University of Alaska Fairbanks), Timur Dincer (Washington State University), Shuyi Yin (University of Washington), and Peter Yu (University of Washington).

And finally, a big thank you to all of the student presenters and attendees for making this event special!