Debra Nelson is a Strategic Policy Advisor with the NYS Department of Transportation. Deb has more than 20 years’ experience in environmental leadership in the transportation realm. As a state leader, she co-chairs NYSDOT’s Statewide Sustainability Team that brings the sustainability triple bottom line to all aspects of NYSDOT’s business. Deb serves as Project Director/Team Leader on the I-81 viaduct project in Syracuse, in which sustainability, economic competitiveness, social equity and environmental stewardship are central to looking at how best to meet our transportation needs.

Elliot Ward is pursuing a Master's of Urban Planning at NYU Wagner, specializing in International Development Policy. Interested broadly in the role of transportation to support economic growth and environmental sustainability, Elliot has worked in China for the Beijing University Lincoln Institute for Land Policy and interned with the Energy Foundation's China Sustainable Transportation Center. For the AITE Scholarship Elliot will research public bus system service differences in mid-sized American cities

Homer Hill, a Masters in Urban Planning candidate at CUNY Hunter College, will perform his internship at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. Homer’s topic will be Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emission Reduction Implementation Planning, which will involve development of selected regional transportation strategies for reducing GHG emissions, including evaluation of potential strategies for implementation by NYMTC member agencies.

Emily Heard, a MS Urban Planning candidate at Columbia University’s GSAPP, will perform her internship at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council. Emily’s project will be the Long Island Community Planning Initiative for the East Side Access Project. Her work will include supporting the development of a Community Planning Initiative in anticipation of the significant impact that the MTA East Side Access project will likely have on specific Long Island communities in the interrelated areas of station access, parking and transit-oriented development.

Joe Nieciak is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Transportation Planning and Engineering at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. His undergraduate degree is in Geography with a concentration in Urban Planning from DePaul University in Chicago. His professional background includes employment in local government finances, as well as transportation-related internships with the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Chicago Department of Transportation.

Nolan Levenson is a Master of Urban Planning Candidate (2014) at NYU Wagner, with an Environment, Infrastructure, and Transportation specialization. After working as a Community Liaison on the Purple Line Light Rail project in Maryland, Nolan has returned home to New York City. Before moving to Baltimore, he attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota where he majored in Geography and Urban Studies. While at Macalester, he had the opportunity to study abroad in Ecuador, and learn about Bus Rapid Transit and pedestrian safety in Quito.

Hakim Hawramee is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Bridge Engineering at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Proposed Project Title: Development of Standardized Design-Build Project Delivery for Highway Bridges Brief Abstract: Design-build approach is increasingly used in bridge projects because of its reduced project schedule and minimized delivery risk to owner. Multiple State Department of Transportation’s created guidelines for implementing this approach.

Donatas Zvirblisis a second year Master’s student at Rutgers University. He is a recipient of the Advanced Institute for Transportation Education Graduate Scholarship from the Urban Transportation Research Center, and his research focuses on extraction and recovery of bitumen from road cores.

David M. Soliman is currently pursuing his Master’s of Science degree in Transportation at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. At the age of 20 he earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the City University of New York, College of Staten Island in Finance and Economics. He then continued on to earn his Masters of Science in Business Management. David plans to conduct research on the various management styles within the governmental transportation sector.

Cordell V. Rogers is pursuing his Master of Science in Civil Engineering concentrating in Transportation Management at the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York. The Grove School of Engineering promises to prepare graduates to work in the public and private sectors on all levels from municipal through national governments and international companies. Cordell is particularly interested in transportation engineering research regarding transit workforce training and the integration of new technologies.