Sandra Rothbard participated in the Academic Initiative by working at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey promoting community involvement in freight decision-making. Sandra’s supervisor at PANYNJ was Vince Mantero.

Judd Schechtman participated in the Academic Initiative by undertaking independent research on the topic of “Is Sprawl Still the Law? Linking Smart Growth to Transportation Capacity.” His faculty advisor was Robert Burchell and his professional advisor was Ed Buroughs, Commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Planning.

Through the Academic Initiative, Alexander Wolk participated as an intern in the NYCDOT Division of Planning and Sustainability and worked on a Bus Management Plan for Lower Manhattan.

Haiyun Lin participated in the Academic Initiative with independent research on the topic of “Keeping Up with the Trend – Improving the Residential Location Model for the New York Metropolitan Region.”

Through his internship under the Academic Initiative with the NYMTC Technical Group, Evan Bialostozky developed an algorithm that detects transportation modes based on data from Global Postioning System (GPS)-based personal travel surveys. The algorithm determines mode of travel based on the input of a series data for date, time, latitude and longitude records. This data was generated by GPS loggers which were carried by survey respondents during their travels.

Peter Feroe participated in an internship under the Academic Initiative with the Westchester County Department of Planning, focusing on Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) opportunities in the I-287 Corridor. He was supervised by then Deputy Commissioner (now Commissioner) Ed Buroughs of Westchester County’s Department of Planning. His academic advisor was Professor Ingrid Gould Ellen of New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Through the Academic Initiative, Jennifer Lozano participated in an internship with MTA Capital Construction (MTA CC) to evaluate the outcome of workforce development initiatives and measure their success. Her supervisor was Regina Gramola of MTA CC. Jennifer was actively involved with the issue of workforce development and contributed to the development of several initiatives including technical lessons learned, mentoring, and professional development and training. She participated in designing evaluation and measurement techniques of the workforce development initiatives.

Darrell Sonntag conducted independent research on the topic “Modeling the Temporal and Size Distributions of Diesel Particulate Matter Emissions.” His academic advisor was Dr. Oliver Gao of Cornell University and his professional advisor was Larry McAuliffe, NYMTC’s Sustainability Manager. Diesel particulate matter emissions are a serious health threat in the NYMTC region. However, little is known about important characteristics of particle emissions, including the size-distribution of fine and ultrafine particles.

Nicholas Tulach conducted independent research on the topic “The Tyranny of the Shovel: Exploring Changes in the Planning Process During Periods of Economic Crisis.” His academic advisor was Dr. Daniel Chatman of Rutgers and his professional advisor was Michael Flynn of NYCDOT. This research explored the lessons learned by local agencies from past financial crises in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The research addressed the following questions: What happens to decision making in periods of economic crises? Do these crises mark significant shifts in the local practice of planning?

Through the Academic Initiative, Nancy Mahadeo interned with NYMTC’s staff. Her work focused on Mobile Source Emissions Reduction Strategies under the guidance of Larry McAuliffe, NYMTC’s Sustainability Manager. Nancy analyzed four mobile source emission reduction strategies to encourage use of hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and hydrogen and clean diesel technologies.