The 2016-2017 academic year has been a great era for the Student Chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) at University of Tennessee (UT). It was a great honor to serve as the president and also to be part of the many accomplishments of the Chapter. In an age where new technologies are rapidly emerging to meet transportation challenges, we cannot help but to be kept abreast with the pace of such technological advancements. The ITE student chapter at UT was committed to serving its members by organizing transportation seminars, sponsoring members to attend professional development meetings and creating avenues for students to connect and give back to the community with the goal of promoting safer environment for the movement of people and goods in an efficient manner. I am pleased to share with you some of our notable accomplishments in the past year.
Welcoming six new members, the chapter had an engaging and exciting year full of activities. Since February 15, 2016, we have organized 14 chapter meetings. Coordinating with the faculty of Transportation Engineering and Science Program (TESP) at UT, several professionals in the industry and academia were invited to speaker at our transportation seminar series. These meetings and seminars were great resources for our members to learn of the latest development in transportation research, policies, and practices in this country and abroad. For the first time, our student chapter hosted a successful joint meeting with the Student Chapter of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at UT.
Within the past year, the chapter has provided varied opportunities to its members through professional, social, educational and community-service activities. An important element of our efforts was our outreach to pre-college students and teachers so as to alert, engage and motivate them to consider educational and career opportunities in transportation. Other key activities included participation in section and district ITE annual meetings and other professional conferences. One notable community-service that our group participated in was Open Streets Knoxville, an event which brings together community groups and local businesses, giving people of all ages and abilities, the opportunity to walk, ride bikes, hula hoop, and much more — all in a setting that is fun and safe!
During the 2016-2017 academic year, several of our members received awards through competition, scholarship and publications. Our student group was awarded the best ITE student chapter at the Tennessee Section and Southern District levels. Our traffic bowl team did us an honor by winning the TSITE traffic bowl competition and advanced to the district competition. We congratulate our representatives for making us proud.
We are very grateful to our faculty, the department staff, the Center for Transportation Research, the Southeastern Transportation Center and our liaisons with the TSITE chapter for their assistance, guidance, and collaborative efforts in creating and sustaining our vibrant student organization.
–ITE Student Chapter President Kwaku Boakye