Awards

CUTC Awards

The CUTC Awards Competition recognizes outstanding transportation students, faculty and leaders for their accomplishments in the field of transportation research and education. Each year nine individuals (six students, two faculty and one lifetime achievement) are honored at the Annual CUTC Awards Reception and Banquet. These individuals, who have been nominated by educators from across the country, have emerged as some of the best and brightest minds in the industry.

The Milton Pikarsky Memorial Award, Charley V. Wootan Memorial Award and Neville A. Parker Award are given annually to four graduate students in Transportation for the two best PhD Dissertations, MS Theses and MS/ME Reports. The Distinguished Contribution and New Faculty Awards are given to deserving faculty members.

Please click the links below to view policies and nominating information for each award.

Here are this year’s CUTC Student Award Winners:

• Lifetime Achievement in Transportation Research & Education: Bill Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association
• Distinguished Contribution to University Transportation and Research: Dr. Daniel Turner, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Alabama
• CUTC-ARTBA New Faculty Award: Dr. Bruce Wang, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University
• Pikarsky Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation in Science and Technology:
  Dr. Vikrant Suhas Vaz, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the dissertation: “Competition and Congestion in the National Aviation System: Multi-agent, Multi-stakeholder Approaches for Evaluation and Mitigation”
• Wootan Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation in Policy and Planning:
  Dr. Kari Edison Watkins, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Washington for the dissertation: “Using Technology to Revolutionize Public Transportation”
• Pikarsky Award for Outstanding M.S. Thesis in Science and Technology:
  Mr. Alexander Bigazzi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Portland State University for the thesis: “Traffic Congestion Mitigation as an Emissions Reduction Strategy”
• Wootan Award for Outstanding M.S. Thesis in Policy and Planning:
  Mrs. Carey Blackmar Barr, The University of Texas at Austin for the thesis: “Comparing Transit Accessibility Measures: A Case Study of Access to Healthcare Facilities”
• Parker Award for Outstanding Non-thesis Masters Degree Paper in Science and Technology:
  Mr. Rubens Sylvain, Department of Civil Engineering at The City College of the City University of New York for the paper: “Implementing an Integrated Transportation Planning and Operations Model to Support Infrastructure and Operations Temporal Changes”
• Parker Award for Outstanding Non-thesis Masters Degree Paper in Policy and Planning:
  Mr. Michael Litschi, Mineta Transportation Institute San Jose State University for the paper: “Video-Based Driver Risk Management Systems: Evaluating Effectiveness at Improving Transit Safety”

Below are the categories for the CUTC Awards Competition. Please click on view more to find out more about nominating an individual.

Distinguished Contribution to University Transportation Education & Research

This award has been given annually since 1998 to honor individuals who have had a long history of outstanding contributions to university transportation education and research.

Lifetime Achievement in Transportation Research & Education

Instituted in 2004, the Lifetime Achievement Award honors those individuals who have contributed immensely throughout their professional lives to transportation research and education.

CUTC-ARTBA New Faculty Award

This award recognizes outstanding teaching and research contributions to the transportation field by a new tenure track faculty member in transportation.

Milton Pikarsky Memorial Awards

These awards are given annually for the best Ph.D. dissertation and M.S. thesis in the field of science and technology in transportation studies.

Charley V. Wootan Memorial Awards

These awards are given annually for the best Ph.D. dissertation and M.S. thesis in the field of policy and planning in transportation studies.

Neville A. Parker Awards

These awards are presented each year to two transportation studies graduate students for outstanding non-thesis papers in the fields of science and technology, and policy and planning.