Eight USC students conducting research on projects ranging from toll roads to airport runway incursions have been recognized with scholarships from two Southern California chapters of the Women’s Transportation Seminar.

Six -- five undergraduates and one M.S. candidate -- are with from  the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The other two are 

Astani CEE junior Lily Aung accepts a $5,000 scholarship check from the California Transportation Foundation Transportation Forum in Sacramento, CA on February 18 from USC alumna Linda Bohlinger Vice President HNTB Corporation CTF Chair

School of Policy, Planning, and Development PhD students.. The USC group competed against students from area universities for scholarships from one or both of the seminar’s Orange County and Los Angeles area chapters.

James Moore, professor with the Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Policy, Planning, and Development, said the showing for USC was remarkable.

“This is an intense competition because students from several universities are involved,” he said. “USC might, in a typical good year, have one winner in each competition. Eight students winning 10 scholarships is an unprecedented sweep.”

The scholarship competitions in Los Angeles and Orange County are separate. Moore said USC students entering the contest typically are part of the Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering; the Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; the School of Policy, Planning and Development; and the USC Marshall School’s Department of Information and Operations Management.

One of the Women’s Transportation Seminar’s goals is to provide greater opportunities for women in the transportation industries through professional development and mentoring. Scholarships provided by each chapter range between $2,000 and $5,500.

“It’s basically to help further their educational and professional goals and to give them a little extra push in a field that’s typically dominated by men,” said Lynn Gilbert, scholarship chair with the Orange County chapter.

In some cases, the winners received scholarships from both Orange County and Los Angeles. They are:

• Lily Aung, an undergraduate in the Astani Department (Orange County).
• Tianqi Gao, an undergraduate in the Epstein Department (Los Angeles).
• Viridiana Martino, an undergraduate in the Astani Department (Orange County and Los Angeles).
• Janelle Patterson, an undergraduate in the Astani Department (Orange County).
• Catherine Ricafort, an undergraduate in the Epstein Department (Orange County and Los Angeles).
• Nora McIntyre, a master’s student studying structural engineering in the Astani Department (Orange County).

Also recognized were two Orange County doctoral students from the School of Policy, Planning and Development, Mohja Roads and Yin Wan.

Aung, along with Astani Department undergraduate Alan Huynh and SPPD undergraduate Marie Valentine, was selected by USC earlier this year to attend the California Transportation Foundation’s annual education symposium and mock response-to-proposal exercise in Monterrey.

Los Angeles Womens Transportation Seminar winners, (left to right) Lawanna Broussard CSU Dominquez Hills;  Tianqi Gao, Epstein ISE Dept; Virdiana Martino, Astani CEE Dept; Inggrid Limoseputro, CSU Long Beach;  Catherine Ricafort,  Epstein ISE Dept; Sara Hajiamiri Pardee, RAND Graduate School; Angela Goyette, CSU Long Beach

-reported by Anna Cearly