CEE student Cassidy Crossland was recently awarded a top accolade in her field, the merit-based Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship Program (DDETFP) Graduate Fellowship from the US Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.
Crossland, who is in the second year of her master’s studies in transportation under Assistant Professor Candace Brakewood, is researching the use of ridesourcing—namely Uber and Lyft—in the state of Tennessee.
“I am looking into who is using ridesourcing, how they are using ridesourcing, and how ridesourcing is affecting the transportation system,” said Crossland. “With insight into ridesourcing as a means of transportation, we will be able to provide recommendations for planning in our metropolitan areas.”
The DDETFP program awards fellowships to students pursuing degrees in transportation-related disciplines to help attract the nation’s brightest minds to the field of transportation, encouraging future transportation professionals to seek advanced degrees, and helping to retain top talent in the US transportation industry.
“Crossland is a top student whose research stands to make a huge impact on transportation engineering,” said Brakewood. “She is one deserving of the prestigious Eisenhower fellowship, and I trust her research will create breakthroughs in the field.”
Crossland noted that ridesourcing and its effects are just starting to be felt, underscoring the need to better understand how they will influence future transportation.
“Ridesourcing is continuing to grow across the country, and as the use of ridesourcing increases, the impacts of these services on cities will likely be magnified,” she said. “By understanding who is using these services and when and why, planning agencies will be able to better predict how the city will change over time, and hopefully reduce the impacts that are being felt.”
Founded in 1983, the DDETFP has awarded over $50 million to the brightest minds in the transportation industry. From this investment, fellows have pushed for innovative change in multimodal areas from highway infrastructure to aviation to maritime, making the industry more effective and efficient. Fellows pursue careers in academia, private industry, and public service, becoming leaders across the nation.