On January 8, 2018, METRANS hosted its annual dinner to welcome University of Southern California (USC) and California State University Long Beach (CSULB) attendees to the Transportation Research Board (TRB) annual conference in Washington, DC. The dinner gave participants the opportunity to discuss research updates and industry innovations, and gave METRANS the opportunity to thank them for their continued support of the center.

“It’s always wonderful to keep connecting with METRANS community and the Trojan family,” shared Xize Wang, USC 2017 Urban Planning and Development PhD, and a current postdoc at the University of California, Berkeley, who presented a poster at TRB this year. At dinners like these, “we get to share experience on academics, policy and research life,” he added. 

“Each year, our TRB gathering is among the highlights of the week,” said METRANS Associate Director, Victoria Deguzman.  “We are truly grateful for the continued support of our students, affiliates, and alums.  We were thrilled to see so many in attendance this year and look forward to continuing this tradition.”

METRANS appreciates everyone’s attendance at the reunion dinner and wishes all success in the news year!

From left to right, first row: Fran Inman, Senior Vice President, Majestic Realty Co.; Genevieve Giuliano, Director, METRANS; Geraldine Knatz, USC Professor of the Practice of Policy and Engineering; Arthur Leahy, CEO, Metrolink; Todd Nguyen, Environmental/Transportation Planner, WSP; and Doran Barnes, Executive Director, Foothill Transit.

Second row: Victoria Deguzman, Associate Director, METRANS; Rui (Rae) Zhang, USC MPL 2018, Editor-in-Chief of METRANS Student Newsletter; Camille Wu, USC Dual BS in Public Policy and Business Administration 2014, consultant at CPCS; Lingqian Hu, USC PhD in Policy, Planning and Development 2010, Associate Professor at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee; Yilin Zhang, USC MPL 2018, Career Opportunity Editor of METRANS Student Newsletter; and Vy Phan Hoang, USC MPL 2015, Transit Planner at Foothill Transit, METRANS Student of Year 2015.

Third row: Rachel VerBoort, USC MPL 2012, Strategic Advisor, Seattle Department of Transportation; Paul Casey, USC M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning 1997, Consultant to Torrance Transit and Acadiana MPO; Eric Shen, USC Viterbi and Price Adjunct Professor; Sandip Chakrabarti, USC PhD in Urban Planning and Development 2015, Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad; Miles Winston, USC B.A. in Public Relations and CSULB MS in Supply Chain Management 2018, METRANS Student of Year 2017; Tyler Reeb, Director of Research at the Center for International Trade & Transportation at CSULB; Axel Hellman, USC MPL 2017, Transportation Planner at Our Bus, Inc., METRANS Student of Year 2016; Xize Wang, USC PhD in Urban Planning and Development 2017, Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley; Mingyang Hao, USC MSCE Transportation Engineering 2016, PhD candidate in the Department of Civil Engineering at Nagoya University; and Whitney O’Neill, Senior Manager of Government and Regulatory Affairs, Metrolink.

About the Author: Rui (Rae) Zhang

Rui (Rae) Zhang is a second-year Master of Planning student with transportation concentration at USC Price School. She is the Editor-in-Chief of METRANS Student Newsletter and has experience on transit fare policy, freight network analysis and Web GIS app building. She hopes to start her career as a transportation planner after graduation in May 2018. She can be reached at [email protected].