University of Washington

CUTC AWARDS AND PACTRANS RECEPTION AT THE 96TH ANNUAL TRB MEETING At the 2017 TRB Annual Meeting, PacTrans student and faculty researchers were in attendance from all five of our consortium institutions. In total, PacTrans researchers had over 100 papers accepted to, and presented at, the meeting; and those researchers participated in over 90 lecterns, poster sessions, workshops, committees, and subcommittees. PacTrans also hosted its annual Region 10 reception on the evening of January 9th, 2017, which brought together professionals, public officials, and students from all over the world. Oregon State University student, Masoud Ghodrat Abadi received the Michael Kyte Region 10 Outstanding Student Award. Finally, PacTrans associate directors and staff attended the Council of University Transportation Centers (CUTC) banquet, where University of Washington PhD student, Eric Howard, and Oregon State University PhD student, Jason Anderson, each received outstanding student of the year awards. This past February, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) elected 84 new people to its membership, bringing the total count to 2,281. Among them was UW Alumni, Deb Niemeier. Election to the NAE is among the most prestigious professional distinctions that engineers aspire to. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to, "engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature" and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education." PACTRANS SPONSORED UW HYPERLOOP TEAM PLACES 4TH NATIONALLY, 6TH WORLD WIDE This January, the 35-member UW Hyperloop team competed against other Hyperloop teams from across the country and the world in Hawthorne, California. Last January, at the first of a series of competitions, the UW team was identified as one of twenty-six teams to advance to the building phase of the competition. In this competition each team's "pod" was tested on safety, design, and scalability (ease with which the design could be constructed at full size). The UW team placed 4th in the nation and 6th in the world under these criteria. For the next competition, which will be held this summer, the focus will be on speed. "In the coming months, the UW team will likely focus on it's use of composite materials in the pod's construction," said Malachi Williams, one of the directors of UW Hyperloop Team. Dr. Niemeier has served as chair of the UC Davis civil engineering department. She is a member of the UC Davis graduate faculty in the departments of Computer Science, Transportation, Technology, and Policy, Ecology, and Geography. She currently sits on the Executive Committee of the Graduate Geography Group. She also served as the Director of the John Muir Institute and Associate Vice Chancellor in the Office of Research at UC Davis. She has received a number of awards including the Aldo Leopold Leadership Award, the Chancellor's Fellow Award, an NSF CAREER award, and UC Davis Outstanding Faculty Mentor and Faculty Adviser awards. Dr. Niemeier also recently completed a six year appointment as the Editor-in-Chief of Transportation Research, Part A, the leading international journal focused on transportation policy and practice. She was the first woman in the journal's history to serve in this position. She received her B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Texas (1982), and her Ph.D. in civil engineering from the University of Washington (1994). FORMER UW STUDENT ELECTED TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING 6 Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium

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