ITE Student Chapter Annual Report Midwestern District

April 6, 2016

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The ITE UIUC Student Chapter is pleased to submit this annual report for the academic

session 2015-16. For the last 26 years, the Chapter has worked with ITE, the University

of Illinois, and businesses in the Midwest to foster an understanding of the role that

Transportation Engineering plays in our lives and in the world at large. This year as well,

through a talented set of individuals on the Board as well as other members, we have

been able to continue our vision and mission.

This year, the Chapter continued longstanding and popular events while also adding

some new events. We have been able to reach out to a variety of audiences, from

students who are looking for a job in the sector, to local schools that want to encourage

their students to explore a career in STEM fields. This report is a concise summary of

these events.

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Contents

1. Student Chapter Officers ............................................................................................. 5

2. Student Chapter Membership ..................................................................................... 7

3. Information on Transportation Engineering Enrollment ............................................... 7

4. Summary of Student Chapter Activities ....................................................................... 7

5. Summary of Other Events ......................................................................................... 13

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Annual Report of the Student Chapter Activities

For the period of June 2015 to April 5, 2016

Student Chapter of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1. Student Chapter Officers

The following students at UIUC made up the Board:

President: Mohammed Abdul Rawoof Shaik Vice-President: Jacob Mathew

Treasurer: Tanay Gupta Secretary: Sushobhan Sen

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Social Co-Chair: Shashad Gujaran Social Co-Chair: Muhammad Asim

Event Planner: Ryan Smith

Co-EC Representative: Kiomars Nassiri Co-EC Representatives: Matthew Heinichen

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2. Student Chapter Membership

● Number of Current Student Chapter Members: 150

● Number of New Student Members of the Institute this year: 17

● Number of Students Eligible to be a Student Member of the Institute: 122

● Number of Faculty Members who are Current ITE Members: 1

3. Information on Transportation Engineering Enrollment

● Number of Undergraduate Students in Civil Engineering Department in

Fall 2015: 730

○ Transportation Primary in 2015: 33

○ Transportation Secondary in 2015: 25

● Number of Graduate Students in Transportation: 58 MS, 37 PhD

4. Summary of Student Chapter Activities

Traffic Bowl, June 2015

● Our student chapter participated in the 2015 Midwestern ITE Conference held in

Branson, MO

● Our student chapter represented the University of Illinois in the 2015 Traffic Bowl

Competition at the conference

● We were placed third in the competition

E-Night - Sept. 3, 2015

● An introductory event organized by the Engineering Council for engineering

students organizations on campus.

● Set up a booth and talked to students about ITE and Transportation Engineering

in general.

● Several students joined our mailing list and many of them have come to meetings

as well.

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Bowling Social - Sept. 20, 2015

● An informal social event organized in

association with the ASCE T&DI UIUC Student

Chapter.

● Saw a large turnout of ITE members for a

fun night of bowling.

First General Meeting - Sept. 22,

2015

● The first General Meeting (GM) of the

year was held in 1311 Newmark Lab.

● Hani Ramezani, PhD Candidate at

the University of Illinois spoke to

students about his research on traffic

calming to improve safety.

● Over 20 students attended the

meeting and asked some insightful

questions in the end.

● Pizza and soda was served.

ITE 17th Annual Students-Practitioners Golf Outing - Oct. 13, 2015

● ITE student members played golf with faculty and professionals.

● The outing started off at 12:30 PM and concluded at 5 PM on the Tuesday.

TES Pre-Conference Networking Event - Oct. 13, 2015

● This year a new event for networking was introduced in the TES Conference.

● The networking event was hosted at Jupiter’s at the Crossing, Champaign, 5:00 -

8:00 PM.

● It was good opportunity to network with fellow students, practitioners, conference

attendees, and speakers.

TES Conference - Oct. 14-15, 2015

● The 64th Illinois Traffic Engineering and Safety (TES) Conference was held at

the I-Hotel and Conference Center, bringing together professionals from the state

to discuss the traffic and safety situation.

● The Student Chapter participated by encouraging students to attend and also

volunteering for various activities during the conference.

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ITE Students-Practitioners Forum - Oct.

14, 2015

● As part of the TES conference, the Student

Chapter conducted the annual edition of its popular

Students-Practitioners Forum, in collaboration with

ILITE section, bringing together ITE Midwest

professionals and students to talk about a variety of

topics.

● There were 13 professionals present (11

Male, 2 Female) from 8 different companies which

are Jacobs, CH2M Hill, Stantec, Baxter & Woodman, Sam Schwartz, TranSmart,

TranSystems, and AECOM.

● Speakers addressed questions regarding the life of a traffic engineer and the

skills that students should obtain before graduating.

● There was also a discussion on the impact of the budget impasse in Illinois on

the Transportation Industry.

● Pizza and drinks were served.

ITE Chicago Trip - Nov. 20, 2015 ● The Student Chapter took about 35 students from UIUC to meet with representatives of

ILITE and tour offices of 4 consulting firms, AECOM, AES, CivilTech, and TY Lin, as part

of its annual networking trip to Chicago.

● Students met with company representatives and discussed about careers in the field.

Resumes were also exchanged for future opportunities.

● Students expressed a strong sense of appreciation for the event.

ITE UIUC Board at the Chicago Networking Trip

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Brian Roberts, ILITE Student Affairs Director (on the right) and Craig Jakobsen, ILITE Student Activities

Coordinator (on the left), were presented with a token of appreciation for coordinating the event

RSO Involvement Day - January 27, 2016

● Organized by the Office of Registered Student Organizations, RSO Involvement

Day 2016 was an opportunity for the Student Chapter to reach out to a wider

audience.

● We met several students from across the university and talked about the role of

Transportation Engineering in everyone’s lives.

● Many students joined our mailing list to remain connected to our activities.

General Meeting - Feb. 4, 2016

● The first GM of Spring 2016 saw a

huge turnout of over 50 students, as we

invited Jay Rank, planner at the Champaign-

Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD) to

talk about the largest public transit service in

the area.

● A presentation was made about the

size of the CUMTD’s fleet, how its operations

were managed, how data was obtained to

make future plans, and some plans that they

were considering to further improve the

service.

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● This was followed by an hour-long Q&A session where students asked further

questions about the system. Jay was also kind enough to invite us to the CUMTD

Operations Center in the future for a tour.

● Pizza and drinks were served.

Willard Airport Tour - Feb. 18, 2016

● The Student Chapter organized a tour of the Champaign Willard Airport in Savoy,

IL. The Airport is owned and operated by the

University of Illinois, along with an Aviation

Academy that was formerly run by the

University but now run by Parkland College.

● Two groups of students, with 14

members each, were given tours of the airport

facilities on a van to see airside features. The

students were taken on the runway and

allowed to observe flights and helicopters

landing and taking off.

● An impromptu lesson on how to read

the airport pavement markings proved to be

educational for everyone.

● The tours also included the commercial terminal building including the baggage

handling system, as well as the Airport Fire Department.

Illinois Transportation and Highway Engineering Conference -

February 23-24, 2016

● This annual conference is hosted by the civil engineering department to facilitate

discussion of critical issues in the safe and economical movement of people and

goods.

● 5 Student Chapter Members volunteered to help with registration during this

conference.

President Abdul Shaik with CMI Airport Manager Stephen Wanzek

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Engineering Open House 2016 - Mar. 11-12, 2016

● Engineering Open House (EOH), the

signature event of the University of Illinois,

was held this year with the theme - The

STEM of Innovation. Hundreds of

organizations on campus introduced their

work to thousands of visitors from local

schools and families to encourage them to

consider a STEM career in the future.

● The Student Chapter had a booth in

the Civil Engineering Department with

several exhibits. Our most popular exhibit

remained the Perception Reaction Time (PRT) instrument, and we had kids (and

adults) competing with each other for the fastest reaction time.

● We also had a live feed of O’Hare International Airport’s approach radar as well

as audio feed of the ATC tower streaming through liveatc.net. We further

displayed an old electro-mechanical traffic controller.

The Illinois Section ITE Student Day - Mar. 11, 2016

● The Illinois Section ITE Student Day career fair and luncheon took place on

Friday, March 11th at Hermann Hall (Illinois Institute of Technology), located at

3241 S. Federal St. in Chicago, IL.

● In this career fair which lasted for 2 and a half hours, 9 companies including

AECOM, TranSystems and Parsons Corporation exhibited and about 15 students

from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign attended the event.

● The career fair gave students a great opportunity to talk to the professionals and

a chance to better bond with them, unlike campus career fair.

● Career fair was followed by an informal luncheon in which both students and

professionals were present.

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O’Hare International Airport Tour - Apr. 5, 2016

On April 5th, ITE UIUC toured O'Hare

International Airport with 35 students,

ranging from freshman to graduate level.

The tour, first conceived of after the

student-professional forum in October,

started with a drive along active taxiways

to the United Airlines Cargo facility that

handles 140,000 lbs of cargo daily.

It concluded with a visit to the CDA

operations tower, with a view 15 floors

above the airfield.

Students were overjoyed to see aircraft so close and learn about our very own

ORD airport. It is possible that this will be a recurring tour in the years to come.

5. Summary of Other Events

Efforts for Development and Improvement of the Student Chapter

● The executive board of the student chapter is always looking to improve the

organization to gain new members, host events that are beneficial to students,

and increase funding. This year, we have tried to involve more students from

majors other than Civil Engineering, while also reaching out to more freshmen.

● The officers from the student board represent the organization in the college of

engineering by applying for awards in Engineering Council, attending

Engineering Council Meetings once a month, and participating in events hosted

by the council as described in detail below.

● The Student Chapter has also been looking out for opportunities to collaborate

with other organizations on campus.

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Engineering Council Meetings

● The Engineering Council meetings are attended by all engineering societies on

campus to get the most up to date information about what is going on in the

College of Engineering pertaining to the societies. It is where societies

communicate with one another and exchange information to improve society

efforts.

● Officers attend these meetings in order to represent ITE and bring back pertinent

information that is beneficial to the society.

Report Submitted By: Contents Approved By:

Mohammed Abdul Rawoof Shaik Professor Rahim Benekohal

Phone: 217-607-3222 (Faculty Adviser)