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Eisenhower Transportation Fellowships have been awarded to two incoming graduate students, Karen Frick and Natasha Goguts, both affiliated with the Institute of Transportation Studies. They will join three other ITS graduate students who received Eisenhower Fellowships in 2000 and 2001.

The fellowships enable students to pursue master's and doctoral degrees in transportation-related fields. The award pays tuition and fees, a $2,000 a month living stipend, and a $1,500 allowance to attend the annual Transportation Research Board conference in Washington, D.C. The fellowship is awarded for up to three years.

Frick, a Ph.D. student in city and regional planning, worked for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for nine years, where she served most recently as project manager for the agency's Transportation for Livable Communities Program, which funds small-scale, community-based transportation projects such as transit-oriented developments and streetscapes connected to community revitalization efforts. Before that, she managed MTC's Bay Bridge congestion pricing project.

Her dissertation focuses on the political, financial and technical considerations that contributed to the design of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. "The dissertation is a political analysis of the regional decision-making process that considers the evolution of the design, the statewide legislative funding debate, and how key local and regional players participated in and dramatically affected the process," Frick explained. She received a master's degree in urban planning from UCLA. After receiving her doctorate she hopes to work in academia.

Goguts, who graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology last spring with a B.S. degree in civil engineering, plans to pursue a master's degree in civil engineering and urban and regional planning with an emphasis on transportation systems. "I am passionate about the planning, design and operation of sustainable transportation systems," she said. "I hope to be able to take a holistic look at transportation in relation to how our communities are formed."

UC Berkeley's other Eisenhower Fellows include Ph.D. students Todd Goldman, Noreen McDonald, and Jonathan Mason. The Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program was established in 1992 under the provisions of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 and was re-authorized in 1998 by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. It encompasses all modes of transportation and seeks to encourage promising students to pursue careers in transportation.

Students are chosen based on academic achievements, recommendations, and the likelihood that they will pursue a career in transportation. The Federal Highway Administration's National Highway Institute manages the program. For information about the fellowship program click here.