ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals

The South Texas ITE Section recently wrapped up our Corpus Regional Meeting, and what an incredible experience it was! This event brought together transportation professionals and industry leaders from across the region to discuss the future of our industry, share insights, and collaborate on solutions that will shape the roads, cities, and communities of tomorrow. Special thanks to everyone who joined us, engaged in thoughtful discussions, and contributed to the meeting's success! Thank you to our speakers for sharing their wisdom and updating our community on all the new projects and initiatives going on in the Corpus region. A huge shoutout to our event organizers (Eliseo Suarez, PE, Josue Ortiz, P.E., PTOE, Stephen Skrobarczyk Jr. P.E., Julio Ramos, America Garza & Alex Magdaleno )  for their hard work and dedication. Your commitment to advancing our profession and supporting each other makes gatherings like these truly impactful. Lastly thank you to our event sponsors Quality Counts, LLC & HIGHWAY BARRICADES AND SERVICES LLC We look forward to hosting more events like this in the future that keep us connected, inspired, and moving forward together!

📢 Join Us for the Transportation Graduate Seminar! The FIU ITE Student Chapter and FIU WTS Student Chapter are thrilled to invite you to our upcoming Transportation Graduate Seminar on Friday, November 8, 2024, from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. We are honored to welcome Mr. Tony Kratofil, P.E., Vice President, DOT National Practice Consultant at HNTB Corporation. Mr. Kratofil will share invaluable insights from his extensive experience on trends and opportunities in the transportation sector. This is a must-attend event for students, professionals, and anyone interested in developments in transportation. 📅 Date: Friday, November 8, 2024 🕚 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM 📍 Location: https://lnkd.in/esVZ52mq Bio: Tony Kratofil is a National Practice Consultant in the DOT market sector for HNTB, a leading national transportation engineering company, supporting the needs of the firm’s state transportation agency clients and providing advisory services for other clients. Mr. Kratofil joined HNTB in July 2022 after a 30-year career with the Michigan Department of Transportation, which included roles as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Engineer and Metro Detroit Region Engineer. He has broad-based experience in transportation planning, project development, alternative program and project delivery, transportation systems management and operations (TSMO), connected and automated vehicle programs and policy, organizational development, and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the transportation industry. Mr. Kratofil was recognized as a 2020 TSMO Champion by the National Operations Center of Excellence. He received the AASHTO/FHWA Civil Rights Leadership award in 2012, was recognized by the Michigan Chapter of the Council of Minority Transportation Officials in 2017 with the Pioneer Award and in 2018 with a Special Recognition Award and honored as the 2018 Outstanding Civil Engineer of the Year from the Lansing-Jackson Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Today, we had the pleasure of attending an insightful seminar by Jun Ying at Purdue’s Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). Jun’s talk, titled "Modeling and Evaluating Impact of Cyber Attacks for Transportation Applications with Symbolic Regression," was an eye-opener on the evolving challenges and solutions in the cybersecurity landscape of transportation systems. Guided by Dr. Yiheng Feng, Jun shared innovative methods for assessing and mitigating cyber threats, bringing valuable perspectives to our field. It was a fantastic opportunity to connect, learn, and discuss the future of secure transportation networks. Thank you to everyone who joined and contributed to the conversation. Looking forward to more knowledge-sharing sessions like this! ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals Great Lakes District of ITE Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Purdue

The Engineering Workforce Consortium has the potential for substantially making a difference in the recruitment, retention, and development of engineers across the United States. I was proud to attend this important event at the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) offices and I am also proud to represent ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals. My goal is to continue identifying new collaboration opportunities for members of both organizations with all of the EWC members and bringing the very best practices from across the #workforcedevelopment landscape to our organization. Thank you to ACEC, American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Public Works Association for your leadership! Rensel Consulting, LLC Steve Kuciemba Matthew Hardy, Ph.D.

In this webinar, taking place on Thursday, November 7 at 2:00 p.m. ET, attendees will learn about two innovative approaches to grading that can transform the learning experience in engineering courses. One presentation will focus on standards-based grading, a method that emphasizes students' mastery of specific learning objectives rather than traditional point-based systems. The other presentation will cover the self-grading framework, where students take an active role in assessing their own work. Both approaches offer valuable strategies for creating a more meaningful and student-centered grading process. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3NfvBqY Masoud Ghodrat Abadi, Kevin Chang, Grant Schultz, Peter Savolainen, Alyssa Ryan

I was excited to represent ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals at the Engineering Workforce Consortium (EWC) MOU signing last week. Looking forward to collaborating with the charter members of the EWC and working toward our goals of attracting, retaining and cultivating the next generation of professionals in engineering and public works. #transportation #infrastructure Steve Kuciemba Matthew Hardy, Ph.D. Eric Rensel

Creating safe, accessible routes to key destinations for students, parents, and other residents strengthens communities. The new multi-use path along Harvey Mitchell Parkway/FM 2818 in Bryan, Texas, is designed to do just that. Our team collaborated with TxDOT to lead the PS&E preparation for this project under the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP). Connecting the community directly to schools and other essential destinations, our approach enhanced mobility and prioritized safety every step of the way. To minimize disruptions, our team implemented work-hour restrictions, pausing activities during peak school drop-off and pick-up times to allow for smooth traffic flow near the intermediate school along the corridor. To learn more about how this project is making Bryan-College Station safer for everyone, check out the ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals Journal feature: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g6TcZvGa 🔗 #communitysafety #pedestriansafety #communityplanning #transportation #transportationengineering 

There’s still time to submit your abstract! This Annual Meeting is going to be even better than the last one! https://lnkd.in/gS_WA9k8 ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals

This month's Women in ITE blog focuses on preventing burnout with self-awareness. With strong self-awareness, we can recognize stress early and make changes before it escalates to burnout. Self-awareness allows us to monitor our behaviors and emotions, keeping us grounded and attuned to our needs. This blog shares some powerful tools that can help build self-awareness. Read: https://lnkd.in/ewhVHfNx Kathi Driggs, Jodi Godfrey, Erica Myers, PE, PTOE, Angela Garland, PE, PTOE, RSP-1, Beth Ostrowski, PE, PTOE, Carrie Falkenrath, PE, PTOE, PTP, RSP1 (she/her)

I participated in the Traffic Engineering Council Virtual Meeting organized by ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals today. I must say, I am thoroughly impressed by the dedication of the Council and Executive Committee in arranging all the sessions. Having personally attended some of the webinars, I can confidently say that they have provided me with valuable insights. I am eagerly looking forward to seeing the discussions take shape in 2025. Thank you, ITE—A Community of Transportation Professionals, for continuously striving to improve the field of traffic engineering.