Awards & Recognitions

June 2011: METRANS Named Transportation Organization of the Year by California Transportation Foundation

The METRANS Transportation Center has been named Organization of the Year by the California Transportation Foundation, a leading nonprofit providing support for the transportation community statewide.

METRANS Director Genevieve Giuliano, METRANS Director

USC's Margaret & John Ferraro Chair in Effective Local Government, 2009
Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lectureship, Transportation Research Board, 2006
W. N. Carey Jr. Distinguished Service Award, Transportation Research Board, 2005
Outstanding Faculty Award, School of Policy, Planning and Development, 2003
National Academies of Sciences, National Associate, 2002
Outstanding Contribution to Students, School of Urban Planning and Development, 1998
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Research Fellowship, 1994-1995

Marianne Venieris, METRANS Deputy Director

WTS-LA Diversity Leadership Award, 2008 Stanley T. Olafson Bronze Plaque, Foreign Trade Association/Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, 2005 Soroptimist’s Woman of Distinction Award in International Goodwill and Understanding, 2002

Thomas O'Brien, METRANS Associate Director, METRANS CSULB Programs

Wisener Award for Distinguished Service, California State University, Long Beach, Center for International Trade & Transportation, Spring 2009
George Marshall Instructor Award, California State University, Long Beach, Global Logistics Specialist Program, Fall 2006
Student of the Year, National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research, 2001
Dwight David Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship Award, National Highway Institute, 2000
Eno Fellow, Eno Transportation Foundation, Inc., 2000

LIST OF METRANS STUDENTS OF THE YEAR 1999-Present

2010-2011 METRANS FACULTY AWARDS

National and International Awards 

Petros Ioannou, Professor, Ming Hsieh Dept of Electrical Engineering Systems, USC, was honored by the Institution of Engineering and Technology as Fellow and Recipient of the Heaviside Medal for Achievement in Control.

Martin Krieger, Professor, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC, won the American Planning Association’s Technology Award for his “Multimedia Boot Camp,” a short course in multimedia.

Viktor Prasanna, Professor, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering Systems, USC, was named a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Other Awards

Maged Dessouky, Professor, Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, USC, won the 2011 Outstanding Engineering Educator Award from the Orange County Engineering Council and was also appointed to the editorial board of Transportation Research Journal, Part B.

Genevieve Giuliano, Professor and Senior Associate Dean, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC, was awarded the Faculty Appreciation Award from the Office of International Services. She was also honored by WTS as one of the top 25 women who have made significant contributions to the transportation industry in Southern California.

Forouzan Golshani, Professor, College of Engineering, CSULB, was honored with the Distinguished Dean of Engineering award from the Los Angeles Council of Engineers and Scientists.

Leadership in Professional Associations

Jeet Joshee, Dean, College of Continuing and Professional Education, CSULB, was selected to serve on the Board of Directors of the University Professional and Continuing Education Association for 2010-11. He will also serve a three-year term as commissioner in the association’s International Affairs Commission while chairing the Opportunity and Equity Committee.

Kristen Monaco, Professor, Dept. of Economics, CSULB, was named Transportation Research Forum Program Vice President and was appointed to the Transportation Research Board Committee on Trucking Industry Research.

James Moore, II, Professor, Daniel  J. Epstein Department of Industrial Systems Engineering, School of Policy, Planning and Development and Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, USC, was elected to serve on the California Transportation Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Gary Painter, Professor, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC, was elected to the Association of Public Policy and Management’s Policy Council, was elected 2^nd Vice President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association and was promoted to the rank of Professor.

David Sloane, Professor, School of Policy, Planning, and Development, USC, was appointed Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Planning Association.

Promotions & Appointments

Mahyar Amouzegar, Professor, College of Engineering, CSULB, was appointed Director of the Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies.

Anastasios Chassiakos, Professor, CSULB was promoted to Director of California Pre-Doctoral Program.

Randolph Hall, former Vice Provost for Research Advancement at USC, has been elevated to Vice President of Research, reporting to the Provost.

Former Executive Committee member Mahyar Amouzegar joined Cal Poly Pomona as its new Dean of Engineering.

Lisa Schweitzer, School of Policy, Planning and Development, USC was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.

2010-2010 TRANSPORTATION STUDENT AWARDS

Fynnwin Prager, USC SPPD PhD student, was the 2009-2010 METRANS Student of the Year.

Christine Nguyen, USC VSOE ISE PhD student, is the 2010-2011 METRANS Student of the Year.

National and International Awards

Sylvia He, USC SPPD PhD student, received the 2010 Dwight David Eisenhower Graduate Fellowship from the Technology Partnership Programs at the U. S. Department of Transportation.

Brendan Keeler, USC SPPC MPL student was awarded a Development Fellowship from the Chinese Academy of Urban Planning and Development.

Clara Suh, USC SPPD undergraduate student, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and will participate in the English Teaching Assistantship program in South Korea. 

Laurie Kaye Nijaki & Mohja Rhoads USC SPPD PhD students were selected by the Eno Transportation Foundation as 2010 Eno Fellows to attend the 18^th Annual Eno Leadership Development Conference in Washington, DC.

Yiming Wang, USC SPPD PhD student, won the Western Regional Science Association’s Springer Award for outstanding paper in the field of regional science for Decomposing the Entropy Index of Racial Diversity: In Search of Two Types of Variance.  His paper will be published in The Annals of Regional Science.

Yin Wang, USC SPPD PhD graduate (2010), won the ninth annual paper award competition of the American Society for Public Administration's Section on Transportation Policy and Administration for her paper "Determinants of Utilization of Private Finance in Toll Road Development: Evidence from the United States."

USC engineering students Ryan Berti, Ryan Brown, Tommy Holford, Michael Hsu, Pradyumna Kejriwal, Clarence Li, Farid Nobakht and Denis Tulskiy took third place at FAA’s 2010 Runway Safety/Runway Incursions Challenge.

Local Awards

Qian An, USC VSOE PhD student and Janelle Patterson, USC VSOE undergraduate student were awarded WTS Transportation Scholarships.

MAGL students Ebony Loeb, Lauren Roslanowick, Felipe Sinohui, & Mathew Stramer and GLS students Fahad Din & Ricardo Ortiz received scholarships from the Port of Long Beach. 

GLS students Samuel Palacios, Alejandro Escobar, David Rodas, Septiadi Tjahjono & Nathan Woodside received Harbor Transportation Club scholarships.

GLS students Hector Calderon, Heejung (Heidi) Kim, Jannine Mongeon & Noemi Zepeda were awarded Los Angeles Transportation Club scholarships.

Brett Everett, CSULB GLS student, was awarded the Mary Bleming Memorial Scholarship.

Daniel Treichler, CSULB GLS student, received a scholarship from Pacific Maritime Association.

University Awards

USC MPL students Brendan Keeler, Brett MacNaughton, Jeff Sparks & Joe Walcek, received SPPD 2010 Academic Capstone Student Exhibit Awards.  USC MPL students Clara Suh & Eric Bruins received honorable mentions.

Joe Walcek received 2010 MPL Comprehensive Exam Honors for his Transportation & Infrastructure Planning Exam.

Mary Kuhn, USC MPL student received the SPPD Lewis Mumford Prize for the most outstanding essay in Planning History for her work titled “Sustainable Mobility for Women.”

CSULB GLS students Karen Allec, Madeline Bristol, Nadia Chohan, Douglas Elliot, Susan Espana, Sokchanda Im, Stacy Kelso, Greg Matthews, Dan Phillips, Jennifer Recidro, David Rodas, Septiadi Tjahjono, Sven von Borries, Matthew Wilson, Raymond Wisniewski & Nathan Woodside won awards for Best Capstone Projects for the Program.

CSULB MAGL students Mathew Stramer, David Sung, & Christine Tamayo earned second place in the CSULB Annual Student Research Competition for their paper entitled, "The Impact of Consumer Demand, Market Price of Aviation Fuel and Competition on Load Factors of Air Freight Imports to the United States."  They were also honored as outstanding graduate research assistants at the CSULB University Achievement Awards & Research Celebration.

Student Presentations at Conferences

USC PhD students, Ahn Yong-Jin, Fynnwin Prager, Mohja Rhoads, Jiangping Zhou & Qunzhi Zhou and USC Masters students John Mimms & Zhaohu Fan were selected to present their research at the 2010 UCTC Conference in Irvine, California.

USC MPL students Jennifer Blackwell, Michelle Buchmeier, Joy Kwong & Brettany Shannon were invited to present their project, “Planning for Redevelopment Surrounding the Hauptbahnhoff (Central Station) Berlin,” at the 2010 National APA Conference in New Orleans and the 2010 UCTC Conference in Irvine, California.