INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERS

Annual Report of Activities January 1, 2007 - December 31, 2007

Auburn University Student Chapter Department of Civil Engineering 238 Harbert Engineering Center Auburn University, AL 36849-5337

INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERS

AUBURN UNIVERSITY STUDENT CHAPTER ANNUAL REPORT OF ACTIVITIES 2007

Report submitted by: Contents approved by:

Renee D. Ayala Rod E. Turochy

President Faculty Advisor

(334) 214-4933 (334) 844-6271

ayalard@auburn.edu rodturochy@auburn.edu

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Student Chapter Officers Spring, Summer Fall

President Andrew J. Heath Andrew J. Heath

Vice President Ben Burmester Renee D. Ayala

Engineer Council Rep. Jonathan Pritchett Kendra Peters

Student Chapter Membership Number of Student Chapter Members – 51

Number of Student Members of Institute – 51

Number of Faculty Holding ITE Membership – 4

Enrollment Information Civil Engineering Undergraduate Enrollment (as of Fall 2007)

Class Full-time Students

Pre-civil-engineering 237

Sophomore 28

Junior 80

Senior 117

462

The curriculum does not allow a specific “major” or “concentration” in transportation (or any

other civil engineering discipline). Students, however, can choose up to four elective courses in

transportation.

Civil Engineering Graduate Student Enrollment (as of Fall 2007)

Civil Engineering (Masters) 54

Civil Engineering (Ph.D.) 22

Transportation (subset of CE) - Masters 3

Transportation (subset of CE) - Ph.D. 1

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SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

Student Chapter Meetings and Projects

1. February 1, 2007

A brief ITE Student Chapter meeting 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. The annual SDITE traffic bowl was discussed to

encourage students to participate. Upcoming meeting times and dates were discussed as

well as potential topics and speakers. A service project was also presented to the

students to assess interest. Finally, a trip generation study was proposed.

Attendance = 12

2. April 5, 2007

Mr. Mickey Hall, a consultant with Skipper Consulting, presented a lecture sponsored by

the ITE student chapter entitled “Transportation Planning Activities at Auburn

University”. Mr. Hall is a graduate of Auburn University and has had over 20 years

experience in transportation planning. He is currently the Director of Transportation

Planning for Skipper Consulting and presented several projects that his company has

conducted for the City of Auburn and Auburn University. He presented traffic study

findings, plans, impact study requirements, and corridor studies that were all contracted

by the City of Auburn. Auburn University contracted with this company to conduct

feasibility studies for the proposed Tiger Transit system. More recently they have

conducted evaluations of the Tiger Transit system that is operational and available to

students on and off campus. Skipper consulting has also created a parking and

transportation master pan as well as a plan for Game Day.

Attendance = 14

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3. April 12, 2007

Mr. Walter Dorsey, P.E., City Engineer for the City of Opelika, gave a seminar

presentation entitled “Access Management in the Real World: Opelika’s Experience.”

Sponsored by the ITE student chapter, the seminar was given at the monthly meeting.

Mr. Dorsey presented a case study to the group which focused on access management.

He presented the basic principles that were supported through photographic examples.

Attendance = 9

4. July 17, 2007

Auburn University and the ITE student chapter welcomed Mr. William Hutto, Jr., Airport

Director for the Auburn-Opelika Robert G. Pitts Airport. Mr. Hutto gave a presentation

entitled “Auburn-Opelika Airport and Air Traffic Control.” He offered an overview of

the daily operations of the airport as well as upcoming construction, and expansion. He

also focused on issues associated with the old and new designs and what it takes to

manage and maintain an airport.

Attendance = 15

5. August 23, 2007

First organizational meeting of the new semester was held to discuss upcoming events.

Among the topics was a discussion about potential guest speakers and topics for the

upcoming meetings. A picnic was also planned for students and faculty involved with

the student chapter organization.

Attendance = 16

6. August 26, 2007

The ITE student chapter hosted a “Back to

School Picnic” to give the new students an

opportunity to mingle with other members and

faculty. We also wanted to get the new students

interested in the activities planned for the

semester. We provided food and had several activities for students to enjoy such as

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horseshoes and swimming.

Attendance = 17

7. September 13, 2007

The Auburn ITE Student Chapter hosted a general meeting that included a short

presentation by Mrs. Nancy Hudson, Executive Director of the Alabama Operation

Lifesaver, Inc. She gave a presentation on issues surrounding railroad crossings and

safety. Mrs. Hudson also spoke about her organization and how they are trying to spread

awareness to help reduce the number of incidents that occur each year. She also had an

interactive discussion with the group regarding ways that she could get her message out

to students.

Attendance = 13

8. November 13, 2007

Mr. Gary Moore, P.E., a Traffic Design Engineer for the Alabama Department of

Transportation, gave a seminar presentation entitled “ALDOT ITS – Past, Present, and

Future” to the student chapter. Mr. Moore presented a case study to the group which

focused on Intelligent Transportation Systems and how ALDOT has chosen to utilize

them.

Attendance = 13

9. November 27, 2007

The Auburn ITE Student Chapter hosted a general meeting that included a short

presentation by Mrs. Brandy Ezelle, P.E. She is one of the Traffic Engineers for the City

of Auburn. Mrs. Ezelle highlighted some of the issues and new developments in the area.

She also had an interactive session with the students allowing them to ask questions and

gain a better understanding of how decisions are made between the University and the

City.

Attendance = 15

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10. November 29, 2007

The Auburn ITE Student Chapter sponsored a presentation by Mr. Rex Bush to a

Geometric Design class and ITE student chapter members. Mr. Bush is the Assistant

Chief Engineer/Pre-Construction for the Alabama Department of Transportation. His

presentation was entitled “3-D Roadway Design.”

Attendance = 43

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Activities with Alabama Section, ITE

1. Four ALSITE members gave presentations at Student Chapter Meetings.

2. The student chapter put in a large publicity effort to advertise the Charles E. Alexander

Transportation Engineering Scholarship and the Billy Jones Memorial Traffic

Engineering Scholarship sponsored by the Alabama Section.

3. The Student Chapter maintains a computerized membership database for the Alabama

Section and provides mailing labels, membership rosters, and other material to the

Section upon request.

4. The Chapter serves as custodian of Alabama Section historical records.

5. The Chapter serves as host for the Alabama Section’s website.

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Other Activities

1. Clark Bailey and Richard Willis, graduate students and members of the ITE student

chapter, both presented research projects at the TRB 86th Annual Meeting, January 21 –

25, 2007.

2. The 50th Annual Alabama Transportation Conference was held on February 21 and 22,

2007, in Auburn, AL. Many ITE student chapter members attended portions of the

conference.

3. The student chapter provided bus-shuttle services during E-Day, February 23, 2007, for

guests visiting the College of Engineering. Several members of the student chapter

assisted as ambassadors to the university and counting of shuttle bus passengers. The

student chapter also coordinated the bus pick-up scheduling for schools participating in

the day.

4. Andrew Heath, Clark Bailey, Grant Julian, and Jonathan Pritchett, all student chapter

members, participated in the Temple Scholarship Challenge (Traffic Bowl Competition)

at the Southern District ITE annual meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee in April 2007. The

team placed 2nd out of nine teams. Conference, transportation, and lodging fees were

reimbursed to the students by Alabama Section ITE funds.

5. The ITE student chapter conducted a trip generation and parking occupancy data

collection for the International Board of ITE. The location that was selected for the study

was the Wal-Mart Supercenter Store located in Opelika, AL. The data was collected

during the morning and evening peak hours over three consecutive mid-week days in

April, 2007. The mentor that oversaw the data collection was Walter Dorsey, the City

Engineer for the City of Opelika. The $1000 grant received for collecting this data was

given to the ITE student chapter fund for travel expenses associated with ITE

meetings/activities and for the enhancement of student meetings.

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6. One of our members, Johnnie Waid, is both a National

Science Foundation Fellowship and Eisenhower

Fellowship Recipient. Johnnie Waid traveled to Albany,

New York in September 2007 to present at the IHEEP

(International Highway Engineering Exchange

Professionals) Conference on the topic of Alternate

Funding Sources for State Highways. After winning the

student presentation district competition in Birmingham,

Alabama she came in as runner-up in Albany.

7. Four students and two faculty members

attended the Alabama Section of the Institute

of Transportation Engineers (ALSITE) Fall

meeting which was held on October 4, 2007

at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum

in Birmingham, Alabama.

8. A field trip to the Georgia Navigator

Transportation Management Center in

Atlanta, Georgia was conducted on

November 2, 2007. Twelve students and the

ITE student chapter faculty advisor Rod

Turochy all attended. A tour of the Georgia

Navigator center and facilities were given.

Students were able to ask questions and

view the equipment that is utilized both in

the field and within the center.

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9. The student chapter maintains a website. The home page of this site contains

correspondence information and links to other sites of interest. Additional pages contain

information about the Chapter, its purpose, activities, officers, and a membership list.

Links from this site include the ITE headquarters, the Alabama Section ITE, the College

of Engineering, and the Auburn University home pages. The URL of the Student

Chapter is:

www.eng.auburn.edu/organizations/ITE/

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Finance

Chapter dues were not assessed this year.

Balance (01/01/2007) $758.03

Receipts

Reimbursement for ALSITE Website registration 34.99

District 5 Student Chapter Award 100.00

Late registration fee for ALSITE meeting on 10/03/2006 85.00

Award from ITE for Trip Generation Study 1000.00

ALSITE Donation 500.00

TOTAL 1719.99

Expenditures

ALSITE Website registration 34.99

Snacks for meetings 162.50

Payment of registration fees for members attending ALSITE meetings 30.00

TOTAL 227.49

Balance (12/31/2007) $2250.53

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Student Chapter Membership 2007

FIRST NAME M I LAST NAME FIRST NAME M I LAST NAME Sean P Aland Richard A. Moon Jeffrey K. Alexy Kimberly S. Mullins Renee D. Ayala Joshua J Newman Clark Bailey Kevin M. Pawlik Laken W. Baker Kendra D Peters William A. Bowdoin Jonathan T. Pritchett Benjamin C. Burmester Kevin J. Pugh Robert W. Cardwell Wesley S. Roy Jason D. Dickerson Will Sanford Nicholas D. Franklin Heath R. Sexton Nick D. Freeman Bethany D. Sherman Kelli-Mae Goddard-Sobers Alex L. Shoemaker Brian D. Hamilton Dharamveer Singh Jenifer K. Hammack David E. Stanley Andrew J. Heath Dustin T. Stewart Jedidiah S. Hellmich Joshua D. Tatum Gary G. Julian Erica L. Thomas Luke H. McGinty Yvette M. Thomas Samuel L. McClendon Jason D. Thompson Adriel D. McConnell Joni M. Townsend Daniel T. McIntyre Johnnie Waid Jerad R. McIntyre David L. Walker Jennifer E. Michael James R. Willis William C. Minor Andrew Wood William A. Mitchell Benjamin C. Yates Thomas J. Mobley

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