In April, UTRC welcomed seven master’s degree-level students with specialties in sustainable transportation and civil engineering from the Ecole Nationale des Travaux Publics de l’Etat (ENTPE) in Lyon, France, which is a highly competitive engineering school in France. The students are all participants in a national civil service program which requires that they complete a 20-week internship either in France or abroad.

The internship must be related to a specialty that the students have to choose in their first year (civil engineering, environment, urban planning, transport engineering, or building engineering). The internship occurs after the second year of classes out of a three year program. Their salary and expenses are covered by the French government and in exchange, the students are required to work in French civil service positions for eight years after they graduate.

These students, Luis Blanche, Melina Christina, Simon Dupin, Emmanuelle Lezais, Paul Maurin, Arnaud Parot, and Oriane Thuillier, all wanted to work in New York and contacted UTRC in the Fall of 2011 to request an internship at no cost to the Center. In addition, Alexandre Brégeon had contacted Dr. Michel Ghosn of CCNY’s Civil Engineering department to request an internship directly with him.

Nina Marousek, Associate Director and International Student Advisor of the Office of International Student & Scholar Services, was instrumental in helping the students take advantage of this opportunity. Since City College is approved as a U.S. Department of State sponsor for the J-1 Exchange Visitor Program and Ms. Marousek is the Responsible Officer (RO), she was able to generate the Certificate of Eligibility forms necessary to receive the J-1 visas at the US Embassy. J-1s can be used for short term research as well as other opportunities including enrollment in a bachelor’s or master’s degree program in a U.S. academic institution or participation in research/teaching positions. Since the UTRC consortium is hosted by City College, the French students were able to be placed at any of the member institutions, while under CCNY sponsorship, to be engaged in short-term research internships.

In addition to contributing to the professor’s research and papers, the students are also required by their school to produce a lengthy technical and sociological report summarizing their internship pursuits. Upon returning to ENTPE in fall 2012, the students will present their work to a jury as part of their oral exams. The sociological part of the report requires the student to learn about and document the organizational structure of the office in which they are interning. In addition, the student must write this report in the language of their sponsor.

UTRC also hosted 2 interns from ENTPE in past years, Nhat Bui in 2010 and Pierre-Emmanuelle Fatison in 2011.

The students are researching the following topics:

• Luis Blanche for Columbia University Ph.D. candidate Liam Wang , Department of Civil Engineering at Columbia University; Open-Mode Integrated Transportation System (OMITS)
• Alexandre Brégeon for Dr. Michel Ghosn, Professor of Civil Engineering, CCNY; Cost of Damage to Highway Networks From Heavy Trucks
• Simon Dupin for Dr. Zhan Guo, Assistant Professor at Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at NYU; Parking and Travel Behavior Analysis
• Melina Christina for Dr. José Holguín-Veras, Professor of Engineering at RPI; transportation demand modeling
• Emmanuelle Lezais for Dr. Alison Conway, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at CCNY; Feasibility of and Benefits for Shifting Last Mile Freight Deliveries in NYC from Trucks/Vans to Human-powered Tricycles
• Paul Maurin for Dr. Huiming Yin, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Columbia University; Open-Mode Integrated Transportation System (OMITS)
• Arnaud Parot for Dr. Michel Ghosn, Professor of Civil Engineering, CCNY; Cost of Damage to Highway Networks From Heavy Trucks
• Oriane Thuillier for Dr. Alison Conway, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at CCNY, Interactions between Freight Vehicles and Bicycles on the Curbside in New York City.