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Awards and accolades


December 12, 2022

Rachel Bottles

Rachel Bottles, undergraduate student, is one of two recipients of a $5,000 Beavers Charitable Trust Scholarship, which supports her studies and progress toward a professional engineer license and career in the heavy civil industry. A sophomore, Rachel interned with Skanska USA on the Sound Transit L300 Link Light Rail project this past summer.

Cynthia Chen

Cynthia Chen, professor, was appointed interim chair of the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering for a two-year term. An internationally renowned scholar in transportation science, Chen directs the Transportation-Human Interaction and Network Knowledge (THINK) lab, which researches the intersection of human behavior and the systems within which individuals and businesses operate.

Gabriela Del Carmen Giron Valderrama

Gabriela Del Carmen Giron Valderrama, Ph.D. student, is a recipient of the 2022-2023 Coral Sales Company/Douglas P. Daniels Scholarship. The scholarship was established in 1987 to help support transportation engineering students at universities in the Pacific Northwest who excel in both leadership and interpersonal communications.

Julia Fudge

Julia Fudge, undergraduate student, is the recipient of a National Institutes of Health Diversity Grant, which supports recipients from diverse backgrounds and life experiences in addressing complex scientific problems. The grant supports further research into utilizing environmental engineering principles to enhance treatment solutions for the removal of toxins in the kidneys to support human health.

Miguel González Montijo

Miguel González Montijo, Ph.D. student, is the 2022 recipient of the Clean Energy Institute Outreach & Service Award, the International Association of Foundation Drilling Industry Advancement Scholarship, and the Renewable Energy Scholarship Foundation Award. His research explores the application of composite materials and additive manufacturing in the marine (hydrokinetic) energy space.

Leigh Hamlet

Leigh Hamlet, Ph.D. student, received a Scholar Award given by the International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood to support her research focused on infrastructure development and global health, particularly as it relates to water, sanitation and hygiene services.

Elena Johnson

Elena Johnson, undergraduate student, is one of two recipients of a Clark Construction scholarship for $2,500. The scholarship will help further her education in her civil engineering major and Spanish minor. Elena has interned for Hoffman and spent time working on the new Founders Hall building, part of the UW Foster School of Business, as well as the new ferry terminal downtown.

Cole Kopca

Cole Kopca, Ph.D. student, is the recipient of a 2022-2023 Coral Sales Company/Douglas P. Daniels Scholarship. The scholarship was established in 1987 to help support transportation engineering students at universities in the Pacific Northwest who excel in both leadership and interpersonal communications.

Steve Kramer

Steve Kramer, professor emeritus, was officially inducted into the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions in engineering, after being elected to the honor in 2020. Kramer was elected for “contributions to geotechnical earthquake engineering, including liquefaction, seismic stability and seismic site response.” Read more

Joseph Lakey

Joseph Lakey, undergraduate student, is one of two recipients of a $5,000 Beavers Charitable Trust Scholarship. Upon graduation in the spring, he plans to work for Graham Contracting in their heavy civil department. This past summer, Joseph interned with Graham Contracting on the SR-520 Montlake project. He previously interned with the Port of Seattle on their International Arrivals Facility Program.

Nancy Le

Nancy Le, undergraduate student, is one of two recipients of a Clark Construction scholarship for $2,500. Nancy dreams of shaping the beautiful city of Seattle and the scholarship will support her career pursuit in the construction industry. This past summer, Nancy interned with Lease Crutcher Lewis. Read more about her internship experience.

Chenxi Liu

Chenxi Liu, Ph.D. student, is part of a research team that received an outstanding paper award from IEEE DTPI 2022. The paper focuses on the smart and connected edge-based infrastructure for transportation equity and safety improvements. The contributions of the paper include innovative AI-based sensing techniques and machine learning on edge adaptation. The first author of the paper is alumnus Ruimin Ke (Ph.D. ’21), and graduate student Hao Frank Yang was also a contributor.

Wei Sun

Wei Sun, former research associate, who is now the Chief Executive Officer of AIWaysion, a spin-off company of the UW CEE Department, is the recipient and principal investigator of the 2022 U.S. Department of Transportation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award, which supports research to develop the “Edge Server-Based AI Application for Dilemma Zone and Traffic Conflict Events Detection.”

Lauren Wittkopf

Lauren Wittkopf, undergraduate student, who is studying environmental engineering, was part of a team that won second place at the Hydropower Foundation's Hydro Think Tank Competition. The annual event was hosted at the Grand Coulee Dam to promote awareness and flourishing careers in hydropower.

Hao Frank Yang

Hao Frank Yang, Ph.D. student, is the recipient of a High Value Research Project award from American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials for the development of a parking detection system that collects and processes robust, real-time parking data. A predication algorithm estimates future parking availability information, and an online platform provides real-time updates. The parking detection system will provide information to truck drivers for trip routing and scheduling arrangements.