The University of Tennessee student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers won first place for the Best Student Chapter Award at the Southern District of ITE Annual Meeting April 8-9 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Best Student Chapter Award is awarded based on student chapter reports, which outline a chapter’s overall goals and summarizes its activities/events in areas such as networking, leadership development, K-12 STEM outreach, and service projects. The award came with a $1,000 prize.
UT ITE students also won third place in the Traffic Bowl, which is a jeopardy-style competition among the various student chapters. Teams are quizzed on their knowledge of transportation and traffic-related topics.
The Traffic Bowl begins at the state level and progresses to the international level. UT’s team won the state-level competition in Memphis in February, and the third-place finish at the district level came with a $250 prize.
UT’s ITE Student Chapter is led by faculty advisor Candace Brakewood. The student chapter officers include President Ashley Hightower, Vice President Latif Patwary, Secretary and Treasurer Saurav Parajuli, and Webmaster Yangsong Gu. During the 2023-24 academic year, the chapter organized and participated in at least 29 different meetings and events.