ShengAo Xie (Victor) completed his Master of Planning degree from USC with a concentration in transportation, and recently joined AECOM as a transportation planner in their downtown Los Angeles office.   Xie also holds a bachelor’s degree in finance. Actively exploring practical opportunities in the transportation field since he was still in school, Xie began his transportation career as an intern at several major public planning and transportation agencies in southern California region, including the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), the Port of Long Beach, and the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT). After he graduated from USC, the vibe of high intensity and innovation of the private sector drew his attention and he joined the WSP Salt Lake City office as a planner, where he participated intensively in varied aspects of local transit projects. His planning and finance backgrounds proved valuable to the projects in which he was involved, especially in web map production and cost-benefit analysis.

He recently moved back to Los Angeles to join AECOM. In addition to traditional transportation planning practice, AECOM has been offering Xie opportunities to work with emerging transportation technologies such as connected and autonomous vehicles and application of virtual reality. He is excited to see Los Angeles’ future transformation with the funding support from measure M and additional opportunities brought by Olympics. 

Xie noted he continues to benefit greatly from his involvement with METRANS, which he credits as being a valuable resource to him since he was a student. All the professional exposures and connections he had through METRANS really helped him gain a solid professional network when he started working. As someone who understands the importance of collaboration between the professional world and academic world, Victor says he looks forward to collaborating even more with METRANS scholars, staff, and students now that he is back in Los Angeles – and we could not be happier to welcome him!

About the Author: Dr. Gabriel Jiangbo Yu

Dr. Gabriel Jiangbo Yu (PhD, Transportation Engineering, UC Irvine) is a member of the Fehr & Peers Research Development team in their downtown Los Angeles office. He is interested in a "mixed-type" career that adopts a utilitarian approach to practical, social, theoretical, and technical skills and wisdom and is partial to working towards improving transportation systems and people's lives rather than sticking to a certain perspective or methodology. He can be reached at [email protected].