We are pleased to introduce Student Assistant Yang Deng, who leads METRANS graphic design team. Yang is pursuing MS in Transportation Engineering at USC and expects to graduate in 2018.  Yang earned a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Shanxi University of Science and Technology at Xi’an, China and then worked as an R&D designer at Shaanxi Automobile Group Co., Ltd., one of China’s largest bus and truck manufacturers, headquartered in Xi'an, before coming to USC.  

Yang became interested in joining the METRANS student team after attending several METRANS events. At one of these, he met Nicole Guo, who was METRANS lead student assistant at the time. Yang recalled that Nicole shared with him the value she had found in METRANS. “She told me that METRANS introduced her to the field of transportation and that she transferred her major from Industrial Design to Transportation Engineering as a result,” Yang recalls.  “She shared with me that METRANS gave her the much-needed opportunity to talk to professionals in the field and helped her so much to broaden her horizons.  I knew then that I wanted to be a part of METRANS” With Nicole’s encouragement, he started volunteering with METRANS, and later advanced to a paid position with the center. “I am so proud to be the first student from my cohort to earn a coveted position as a student assistant at METRANS,” he added.

Yang has been working as the graphic designer at METRANS for a semester now. In this capacity, he prepares flyers, posters, and other materials for the center. Yang shared that one of the things he appreciates most about his job is the opportunity to work under the guidance of METRANS Associate Director, Victoria Deguzman. “I made several mistakes in my METRANS work my first semester; some were quite serious from my perspective, and Dr. Deguzman called them out to me, and my reaction was to apologize profusely and to tell her that I deserve some serious consequences. However, instead of reprimanding me, she thanked me for my apology, and gave me sound career advice on how to handle mistakes – both at work and in life.  She told me that mistakes will happen with all of us and taught me how to both learn from them and to address them completely – to apologize, to take full responsibility for my part, to put a plan in place so that I will not repeat them in the future, and to share that plan with those affected or to whom I am responsible. My first reaction was to be dejected and disappointed in myself and to decide that I was not worthy or capable of the job.  But she made me feel that I am moving in the right direction on my learning curve and can do much better going forward. She makes me want to be a better person, both for the team and for myself.”

Yang’s aim is to become a transportation engineer and planner in China and credits both his METRANS job and METRANS events as being helpful for his career goals.  “METRANS research seminars give me a chance to talk to various professionals from so many fields of transportation,” he noted.  “By connecting with them, I gain insights into my major as well as my career plan.”   Yang was particularly inspired by a recent METRANS seminar on the development of the “China's One Belt, One Road Initiative” and the expected increase in the demand for transportation facilities in China as a result. He now plans to use his education and knowledge to facilitate improvement of transportation facilities and urban planning in his hometown, so that the city can benefit from the policy.

In addition to his studies and work at METRANS, Yang is also the founder of a non-profit organization in China, FYPO (For Your Progress Only) , which has a 50,000 views social media platforms and a scholarship system. He has been running it for the past three years. FYPO focusses on decreasing the inequality among universities in western China. Yang encourages USC students to share their experiences with Chinese students from different developing universities, so that they can also inspire more students to explore and change the world.

About the author:

Madhurima Bhattacharyya is a graduate student pursuing MS in Engineering Management at the Viterbi School of Engineering and expects to graduate in December, 2018. She is the events coordinator for METRANS and intends to pursue a career in project management after graduating. She can be reached at [email protected].