ITS Berkeley doctoral students Nathalie Saade and Jesus Barajas are amongst the top 20 transportation graduate students across the country who will come together at the Eno Future Leaders Development Conference May 31 to June 4, 2015 in Washington DC.
The Eno Center for Transportation is a neutral, non-partisan think-tank that promotes policy innovation and provides professional development opportunities across the career span of transportation professionals. Each year, Eno’s student conference gives 20 Eno Fellows a first-hand look at how national transportation policies are developed for a week of meetings with federal officials and leaders of business and non-profit organizations.
A doctoral student in City and Regional Planning, Barajas focuses his research on understanding what influences the way immigrants travel. He is studying how preferences and attitudes toward transit, bicycling, neighborhoods, and safety issues inform transportation choices of this population.
“Jesus has demonstrated the strong capacity for intellectual contributions and leadership that the Eno Foundation is seeking,” said Barajas’ lead adviser Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning Daniel Chatman in his nomination letter. “His experiences make him particularly suited to study and address issues of transportation equity from several vantage points, and they also make him a particularly important person to include in leadership opportunities such as those offered by the Eno Leadership Development Conference. Participation in the Conference would help him develop his abilities and build his networks.”
Barajas is also the Rodney Slater Award recipient, which is awarded annually to a student who demonstrates outstanding leadership qualities amidst life’s challenges and adversity, a thirst for knowledge, and a drive to achieve.
Saade, a doctoral student in Transportation Engineering, is focusing her research to develop a computer-based model using network-wide relations between city-street traffic densities and flows to determine the conditions and designs for bus-lane conversions to improve travel for bus patrons and commuters. She hopes to shape her research into a policy that can positively impact professional practice and policy-making.
“It is, in my view, an opportunity that [Nathalie] richly deserves, and it is most assuredly one that would enrich her professional preparation,” said Saade’s adviser, Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor, Michael Cassidy in his nomination letter. “I further believe that, given the chance, Nathalie would contribute to this year’s Future Leaders Development Conference in very favorable ways.”
Eno’s Board of Regents chose 20 students for the 2015 Class from a pool of more than 50 nominees from top universities across the country. Nominees were presented by each University's faculty as their top candidate for this highly competitive opportunity.