AITPM Young Professional Award Winners 2019

AITPM is pleased to announce the Young Professional Award winners for 2019. Joining us at National Conference in Adelaide will be:

Phoebe Ho - New South Wales

Phoebe is a Graduate Engineer working in Jacobs’ traffic engineering and transport planning team in Sydney. She graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2018 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering with First Class Honours. After taking her first transport engineering course whilst on exchange at UC Berkeley, Phoebe was immediately drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of transport and its impact on communities and cities. Over the course of her career, Phoebe aspires to contribute to building a world with transport systems that are equitable, efficient, safe and sustainable.

In her final year at university, she completed a research thesis in collaboration with Aimsun and the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI). The study used empirical data to understand the behavioural impacts of variable message signs on drivers, which has implications in providing more accurate predictions of traffic conditions and evaluation of incident management strategies deployed on managed motorways.

Since beginning her career as an intern at Aimsun and throughout her time at Jacobs, she has gained extensive modelling experience working on various city-shaping infrastructure projects in NSW. As a lifelong learner, she is keen to develop depth and breadth in her skill set as a transport professional and hopes to gain a greater appreciation of the field at the 2019 AITPM National Conference and is looking forward to representing Young Professionals on the AITPM NSW Branch Committee.

Stephanie Cipressi - Queensland

Stephanie is a Graduate Transport Engineer at Jacobs in the Transport Planning team. She graduated in July 2018 from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce.

Stephanie’s passion for Transport Engineering stemmed from her involvement in the UQ Icarus Program where her team used Discrete Event Simulation coupled with Virtual Reality to find a solution to the peak hour queuing at Cultural Centre Bus Station in Brisbane. The team presented their findings at the Australian Transport Research Forum and were awarded runner-up for the David Willis Best Poster.

She has a keen interest in developing and improving sustainable transport infrastructure to combat the challenges of rapid urbanisation in major cities. Consulting on a variety of active and public transport projects with Jacobs, as well as from other work experience in transport advisory and design, Stephanie understands the importance of achieving a sustainable outcome. She has learnt that a shift in demand for sustainable transport, isn’t governed solely by a well-designed transport network but also by achieving social acceptance and creating behavioural changes from potential users.

Stephanie sees the National Conference as an opportunity to learn first-hand from industry leaders. She looks forward to representing QLD young professionals as part of the AITPM Branch Committee.

Michael Oliver - South Australia

Michael is a Graduate Engineer at SMEC Australia Pty Ltd with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Transport) (Honours) from the University of South Australia (UniSA). Having a strong interest in problem solving and providing innovative solutions through the use of analytical thinking, Michael continually seeks to provide new engineering and traffic solutions that will ultimately assist vehicles and pedestrians as part of the greater road network in South Australia.

Michael’s ambition to become a professional engineer in the sector of transportation is one that is motivated by having the opportunity to be part of a process that focuses on planning, designing, constructing and maintaining transport systems (i.e. roads, highways, bridges etc) that will provide strategic and efficient movements of people.

Since joining SMEC as a Graduate Engineer as part of the Roads and Highways Division, Michael has been exposed to a variety of local and state government projects where he has developed a keen interest in transport modelling (SIDRA Intersection Analysis), traffic operations and local area traffic management.

Michael considers the 2019 AITPM National Conference in Adelaide to be a great opportunity to broaden his knowledge of the traffic and transport profession, whilst also being able to network and establish connections from both experienced and young professionals from around the country. Exposure to a range of technical papers delivered by numerous experienced professionals will provide a great insight for Michael to keep up to date on the latest developments and innovative solutions being applied on a variety of projects. In addition, Michael is excited to have the opportunity to sit on the AITPM SA State Branch Committee and represent young professionals.

Samantha Chapman - Victoria/Tasmania

Samantha is a Graduate Engineer at GHD with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Hons) working within the Tasmanian Transport team. Since commencing as an Undergraduate Engineer at GHD in 2016, Sam has had many opportunities to work on Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning projects. Sam has had a broad range of Civil Engineering project experience including traffic modelling, traffic impact assessments, traffic management plans, transport planning, signal design and data analysis. Highlights of Sam’s work to date include working on the creation and implementation of Traffic Management Plans for Dark Mofo, and various modelling projects utilising AIMSUN and SIDRA modelling softwares.

Sam undertook an honours research project in collaboration with GHD and the Department of State Growth (DSG). The project focused on the impacts of inner city parking on the Hobart CBD road network including the potential benefits of relocating parking structures the CBD outskirts. For the project, Sam used DSG’s Hobart Mesoscopic model to simulate the impacts and analyse changes to the network under various parking conditions. As well as this, during her studies Sam completed a sustainability internship through the University of Tasmania where she completed the design of a bicycle storage facility for the universities new city campus supporting the use of sustainable transportation solutions.

Sam is looking forward to the opportunity to attend the 2019 AITPM conference and believes it will be an excellent opportunity to expand her knowledge in the field she has enjoyed working in over the past few years. In addition, it will be a privilege to sit on the AITPM VIC/TAS State Branch Committee as a young professional. Sam believes having a Tasmanian representative will be greatly beneficial and highly rewarding to represent young professionals.

Hugo Mackenzie-Rae - Western Australia

Hugo is currently working as a Graduate Transport Planner in the Transport Advisory Team at Jacobs. He recently completed Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Western Australia, where he developed skills in local and regional planning, urban regeneration, spatial analysis and infrastructure planning. Focusing on the human ecology in planning and ‘planning for people who live within the space’ is something Hugo is passionate about. Particularly, the movement of people in an efficient and sustainable manner has always been an interest of mine. His belief is that transportation is not an end itself, rather an investment tool that cities can use to achieve larger goals, with transportation touching on all aspects of city life and providing the essential connection required.

Hugo sees the National Conference as an opportunity to congregate with fellow like-minded professionals, enabling him to further expand his knowledge and appreciation for traffic and transportation planning. To be given the opportunity to listen to someone with such vast knowledge as JD Hunt, would be amazing. His multimodal transport and land use interaction models have been applied globally in cities such as London, Naples and Calgary and have had the impact of successfully identifying the infrastructure development and alterations to land use required for these transportation conditions.