Each summer, the Orange County chapter of WTS (WTS-OC) hosts the Transportation Academy, a two-week transportation immersion program for college students throughout the region, now in its 8^th year. From August 1-10,  28 students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, representing USC, UC Irvine, UCLA, Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Fullerton visited 13 firms including AECOM, Kimley-Horn, Metro, SCAG, Port of Long Beach, TRC, HDR, and more, as part of the 2017 academy.

Marisa Trautz, Student Outreach Chair for WTS-OC explained, “I’ve gotten to see the program evolve and grow over the years. This year, the Academy attracted the largest and most diverse class to date.” As a UCLA public policy student and transportation enthusiast myself, I was eager for an opportunity to meet other transpo-nerds, go on site visits, and hear about the many career paths in the transportation industry.

We visited mid-size and large firms in both the public and private sectors, opening up career possibilities in engineering, planning, policy, marketing, and construction. Because transportation touches our lives both in obvious and inconspicuous ways, I found my curiosity growing as the days went on. We met with warm professionals who were eager to engage with students and answer questions about their work and careers. At each agency, we heard from numerous transportation professionals who shared about their career journeys, lessons learned along the way, and opportunities and challenges they face in their work.  

Some days we learned about how large infrastructure projects are built, such as widening freeways, constructing a port from scratch in Doha, Qatar, and using Harriet the Tunnel Boring Machine to construct underground rail tunnels. Other days we broke into groups to design a bike path near freeway on-ramps and pitched a team of consultants and sub-contractors for a bid proposal.  We even sat in former toll booths (no longer used) and “operated” a freight train on the train simulator.

I started the Academy with nervous excitement and anticipation for what would lie ahead, meeting my fellow peers for the first time. But at the end of a packed two weeks, it was a bittersweet feeling at the program’s conclusion.

“I participated in this program six years ago, when I was completing my Master’s program. It is the hope of WTS-OC that through this experience, we’ve inspired students to pursue careers in transportation,” reflected Trautz. 

For me, I came away with a much clearer view about what kind of jobs I wanted to pursue, and also with a growing curiosity for how the field will evolve in the coming years. Most of all, I was happy to have gotten to know so many of my fellow peers, sad to have to part ways temporarily, but hopeful that I’ll be running into some of them in my early career.

About the author: Tiffany Chu

Tiffany Chu is a second year Master in Public Policy student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, specializing in transportation policy and planning. She enjoys playing with large datasets to visualize trends in public transit and cities, and is currently interning at LA Metro. She can be reached at [email protected].