Umesh Somrah's engineering educational career commenced at the secondary school level at the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering, and Architecture, where he graduated as valedictorian. Subsequently, Umesh attained his Bachelor's in Civil Engineering with a minor in Construction Management at the New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering in May of 2014.
Jesse Vogl is currently enrolled in the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning Program at the University at Albany, SUNY concentrating in transportation planning. His research focuses on the similarities and differences between passenger transit and urban freight operations in an attempt to develop a more efficient system for urban freight deliveries. Namely, as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems attempt to emulate passenger rail in order to achieve efficient movement of people, so too could trucks be made to mimic freight rail.
Lerone Savage is an incoming graduate student at Hunter College where he has enrolled in the Geography Master’s program. For his graduate research project, Lerone proposes to build a framework in a Cloud Server for a transportation model for New York City under Professor Hongmain Gong’s supervision. The framework will link together several existing transportation-related research components at Hunter College.
Lily Gordon-Koven is a Master of Urban Planning Candidate at NYU Wagner, with a Environment, Infrastructure, and Transportation specialization. She is currently a Planning Intern at the New York City Department of Transportation with the Research, Implementation, and Safety group and a Research Assistant at the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management. She holds a B.A. in Geography and Urban Studies from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Before coming to Wagner, Lily worked as a subsidized housing case manager in Chicago.
Najwa Doughman is currently pursuing a Master of Urban Planning at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service with a concentration in International Development. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia and has since acquired 5+ years of design, planning and construction project management experience in Egypt, Lebanon, Washington D.C. and New York City.
Sandy Johnston is a student in the Master’s of Regional Planning program at the University at Albany, concentrating in Transportation and planning to complete a certificate in Urban Policy as well. He arrived in Albany after living previously in Portland, OR; a small town in Iowa; New Haven, CT; Chicago; Jerusalem; and New York City, and so considers himself well-versed in different kinds of urban forms and personalities.
Dan Wan is a PhD student in Transportation Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering in CUNY. Her research interests are big data analysis, transit, signal control, and transport finance. For this internship, she will study riders’ perceptions of Select Bus Service (a form of Bus Rapid Transit) elements in New York City. The important ridership drivers will be identified. An analysis of how Select Bus Service elements affect bus operations will be finished to help NYCDOT and NYCT design future SBS routes.
Gauri Jumde, a Master’s of Urban Planning candidate at NYU, will also intern at NYMTC for the preparation of Regional Bicycle – Pedestrian Handbook. The project will result in a best practices document to illustrate successful projects in the NYMTC area that enhance mobility, safety, sustainability, and economic development.
In August 2014, Ethan started as a Master's of Regional Planning student at SUNY Albany, with a concentration in transportation. After his undergraduate program in Sociology at SUNY Binghamton and an Americorps term with Mobility Management of South Central New York, Ethan decided he wanted to pursue planning as a career. He hopes to center his research project around how best to serve disadvantaged populations and promote equity through transit-oriented development.
Gary Jordan is pursuing a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from SUNY-Buffalo’s Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering Department, with an Area of Study in Transportation Systems Engineering. UB’s Transportation Systems Engineering program focuses on improving the efficiency, safety, sustainability, and resiliency of surface transportation systems. This program integrates research in intelligent systems, advanced computing, hazard mitigation, simulation and econometric modeling.
