Professor Eric Shen (top) with USC Students, (left to right) Lilly Nie, Danielle Dirksen, Lei Lily Tam, Lauren Mullarkey-Williams, and Rachel Krusenoski. PHOTO/ERIC SHEN
USC Viterbi School of Engineering student Lei Lily Tam was one of five USC students recently invited to attend the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) sixth annual Student Leadership Summit in Berkeley.
The group joined over 150 delegates from nearly 20 universities for a weekend of technical, professional and leadership development, with workshops and talks centered on emerging topics in the transportation industry.
For Industrial and Systems Engineering student Tam, the event was her second ITE SLS conference supported by USC Viterbi, after she attended the event in Corvallis, Oregon during 2018.
Tam said the event was a positive experience, particularly being surrounded by so many transportation-focused minds, mostly civil engineers and planners.
“What I found most useful was finding potential options to get my foot in the door of the transportation industry,” Tam said.
She said that when it comes to recruitment, many transportation-related firms were primarily looking at civil engineers and planners. However, she said their interest was piqued by those with skills and interests in data, an area that is often neglected but very much needed in transportation.
“I would say as ISEs, our potential professional spectrum is quite vast. It never hurts to know more people, especially in different industries,” Tam said.
Tam’s fellow USC delegate at the conference, Lauren Mullarkey-Williams wrote for the METRANS website about the group’s experience at the event.
Published on March 18th, 2019
Last updated on March 18th, 2019
