Three CEE Students Notch Prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Graduate Fellowships
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Three students from the UMass Amherst Civil and Environmental (CEE) Department have obtained graduate fellowships from the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program (DDETFP), administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration. The three highly accomplished fellowship recipients are Ph.D. student Bryan Remache-Patino, M.S. student Leila Cesic, and M.S. student Tate Coleman.
According to the DDETFP website, “The goals of the DDETFP Graduate Fellowships are to 1) attract the nation's brightest minds to the field of transportation, 2) enhance the careers of transportation professionals by encouraging them to seek advanced degrees, and 3) bring and retain top talent in the transportation industry of the U.S.”
The title of Remache-Patino’s DDETFP proposal is “Enhancing Pedestrian Network Nighttime Visibility Through LiDAR-based Infrastructure Mapping and Illumination Modeling.” His Eisenhower Fellowship amounts to $10,000 until May 31 of 2024.
As Remache-Patino explains, “My Eisenhower proposal was about completing an analysis of nighttime lighting conditions against existing crash records and other relevant data, like speed records, particularly focusing on pedestrians, as the majority of pedestrian fatalities occur at night. Discrepancies between lit and unlit conditions could then be identified to see how lighting affects incidents and severity.”
Remache-Patino also says that “This project aims to help remedy the increasing pedestrian fatalities occurring in recent years. Most pedestrian fatalities occur at night, so project goals are to identify areas with high pedestrian crashes occurring at night in order to map out existing pedestrian infrastructure and lighting conditions with a LiDAR unit and a camera at these locations.”
Cesic’s DDETFP project will focus on research titled “Driver Attitudes and Behavior in the Presence of E-scooters Versus Bicyclists.” Cesic is receiving $31,500 for a one-year fellowship.
According to Cesic, “Increased popularity of electric scooters (e-scooters) has led to safety concerns ranging from conflicts over sidewalk space with pedestrians to personal injuries. While existing research has investigated interactions of e-scooter users and pedestrians due to sidewalk riding and e-scooter parking, information on safety implications of e-scooters riding on shared lanes with other motorists or dedicated bicycle infrastructure has been limited.”
Cesic also explains that “The first phase of this research focused on understanding e-scooter pilot-program regulations and safety challenges through structured interviews of involved cities and e-scooter providers. Additionally, it explored driver attitudes and behaviors in the presence of e-scooters and bicyclists through a survey…Ultimately, these findings will inform the current second phase of the project on e-scooter safety.”
The third CEE recipient, Coleman, who is receiving $31,500 for one year, is researching “Small Towns, Big Moves: Crafting a Rural Transit Roadmap for Success.”
According to Coleman, “This project aims to equip rural transit agencies with knowledge and tools through case studies and field research, with the goal of facilitating effective decision-making for both existing transit-network evaluation and the introduction of new services.”
Coleman concludes that “The resulting guidebook will consider a spectrum of flexible transit models, ranging from fixed-route to micro-transit. It will aim to provide insight into when and where each model is best deployed, given demographic information about the agency's member communities, existing service-ridership trends, and results from various public-input tools, including surveys and travel diaries.” (December 2023)