December 5, 2013 - At the final student chapter meeting of the year, Benjamin Bacon, Mikhail Gordon, and Scott Seidband, Graduate Research Assistants at Auburn University, presented a lecture entitled “Discrete Choice Modeling of Long Distance Trips”. This presentation was also a result of an independent study class provided by Auburn University’s Department of Civil Engineering. Several aspects of modeling in Transportation Planning were discussed.

November 14, 2013 - Dan Fagnant, a Ph.D. candidate in Transportation Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, gave a presentation entitled “Autonomous Vehicles: Anticipating Impacts in a World of Increasingly Shared Mobility”. He obtained his Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering at Gonzaga University and his Master degree in Civil Engineering from University of Texas. His research experience includes mainly transportation planning and autonomous vehicles. The emerging technology component of the presentation and how the Transportation professional should plan for the autonomous vehicles (when analyzing the system for autonomous vehicles within a city, for example, how many vehicles should be assigned to each area, how to define an area, how to request a vehicle, how vehicles interact, among other issues) generated a tremendous amount of interest within the chapter.

October 31, 2013 - Auburn University and the ITE student chapter welcomed Becky Malenke, Project Manager with Neel-Schaffer, Inc., and President of the Alabama Section Institute of Transportation Engineers at that time. Becky received her Bachelor in Civil Engineering in 1998, and her Master degree in Community Planning in 1999, both at Auburn University. She presented a lecture entitled “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: Diversity Within the Transportation Engineering Profession”. The presentation provided exposure to a broad range of activities she was personally involved with.

October 3, 2013 - Dr. Huaguo Zhou, a new Associate Professor in Civil Engineering at Auburn University, gave a seminar presentation entitled “Contributing Factors Regarding Wrong-Way Driving Crashes on Freeways”. Dr. Zhou has a PhD in Transportation Engineering from the University of Florida, and a PhD in Highway and Railway Engineering from Beijing Jiao-Tong University.. Dr. Zhou is a new faculty member at Auburn, which made this meeting a good opportunity for students to get to know him and his areas of research, especially Traffic Safety.

September 5, 2013 - The Auburn University Student Chapter of ITE hosted the first meeting of the Fall semester, that started with a discussion of upcoming events. The current officers discussed topics related to the student chapter activities and also announced that new officer positions were being created. The attendance at student chapter meetings, field trips, service projects and other activities increased during the year of 2013. As a result, two more officer positions were created at the beginning of the Fall semester, Treasurer and Publicity Assistant. With 5 officers, more students can be closely involved with the activities, and also organize officers’ duties better. In addition, volunteers were requested to be part of the Auburn University Traffic Bowl team. The main presentation of this meeting was given by Clark Bailey, an engineer with Skipper Consultants and former member of Auburn University’s local chapter of ITE. Clark received his Bachelor and Master of Science degree from Auburn University, and joined Skipper Consulting in 2007. He gave a presentation entitled“280 Intersection Improvement Projects”.

April 25, 2013 - At the final student chapter meeting of the semester, Luana Ozelim and Elizabeth Hammer, Graduate Research Assistants at Auburn University, presented a lecture entitled “Microsimulation of the Opelika Road Corridor Using VISSIM”. This was a culmination event for an independent study class provided by Auburn University’s Department of Civil Engineering. Currently, the Department does not offer a specific class focused on traffic signal studies or the use of computer programs to evaluate current and future traffic conditions through simulation. Therefore, this was an important topic to present to students.

March 28, 2013 - Justin Steinmann, the Principal Planner for the City of Auburn, AL, presented a lecture entitled “Renew Opelika Road: the Opelika Road Corridor Plan”“Renew Opelika Road” is an ongoing project at the City of Auburn that will give as final outcome a plan to guide the future development of Opelika Road and help ensure the area’s future commercial viability. The plan included several public meetings, and the main goal was to verify how the community and City can support Auburn’s existing businesses and attract new destinations for residents. The lecture included general information about the project, public meeting opinions, the proposed design for the Opelika Road corridor, and results from studies such as pedestrian accessibility, overall look, and traffic studies. The presentation was relevant to the students and faculty attending the meeting, as it provided a unique perspective of transportation planning activities in their local community.

March 18-22, 2013 – The City of Auburn Travel with Care Program - During the Spring semester, the student chapter was able to continue its support of The City of Auburn’s Travel with Care Program. The main focus of the campaign is traffic safety, through the promotion of knowledge on a range of issues, particularly pedestrian, bicycle, and motorcycle-related. Public education is accomplished primarily through the promotion of awareness of pertinent laws and legislation in regards to jaywalking, proper passing of transit and school buses, motorcycle regulations, pedestrian rights, bicycle laws, and other safety related topics such as nighttime visibility.

February 28, 2013 - Dr. Sweta Byahut, an Assistant Professor in Community Planning at Auburn University, was the second speaker of the year. She has a PhD in Regional Development Planning from University of Cincinnati, a Masters in Planning and a Bachelors in Architecture. gave a presentation entitled “Transportation and its Impact on the environment: Climate Change and Public Health Perspectives”. The presentation exposed those in attendance tohow land use characteristics such as density, diversity, neighborhood design, transit accessibility, and regional location on household car travel can impact the environment.

February 14, 2013 -The first ITE student chapter meeting of the year was held to welcome new and returning students and to discuss the planned events. Volunteers were requested to help with the Engineering Day (E-day) activities. Upcoming meeting times and dates were discussed as well as potential topics and speakers. The City of Auburn Traffic Engineer Brandy Ezelle presented a lecture entitled “Pay to Play in the Streets”. Brandy earned a degree in civil engineering from Auburn University in 1999, and she has served as City of Auburn Traffic Engineer since 2002. In addition, she serves as the city’s bicycle coordinator and the chair of Travel with Care. Brandy presented general information about traffic conditions and upcoming projects in the City of Auburn, and also mentioned the Travel with Care program, asking for volunteers.