Eric Gonzales Winner of the 2010-2011 UCTC Student of the Year Award
November 19—Eric Gonzales has been named the 2010-2011 UCTC Outstanding Student of the Year, UCTC Director Robert Cervero announced.
Gonzales is a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. He was nominated by Carlos Daganzo, professor of civil and environmental engineering, with whom he is doing research. His work focuses on how to manage multimodal transportation systems and street space in cities worldwide. His thesis is titled, "Allocation of Space and the Costs of Multimodal Transport in Cities."
"Eric innovatively applies a new understanding of the dynamics of traffic congestion in urban networks to characterize the operations of both private vehicles and public transit. His analytical results quantify costs and provide general insights for how to manage street space and price modes," Daganzo noted in his nominating letter.
He added that Gonzales "has taught transportation principles to over 100 undergraduate students and contributed to developing a new curriculum, course notes, and assignments for a graduate course on public transit. He has inspired several students to pursue a career in transportation and to research urban transportation systems."
His professional activities include leadership roles in various campus organizations, including the ASCE chapter at Carnegie Mellon and a bicycle sharing program at UC Berkeley. He has been a reviewer for the Transportation Research Board, the World Conference on Transportation Research, and the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference.
Gonzales is the winner of a Berkeley Fellowship for Graduate Study, the Gordon F. Newell Award at UC Berkeley, a UCTC Dissertation Grant, and a 2010 Eno Fellowship.
Gonzales holds an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Berkeley and a BS in Civil Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
As part of his UCTC award, Gonzales will join other Student of the Year recipients from university transportation centers across the U.S. at a ceremony in January immediately before the annual TRB meeting, which takes place Jan. 23-17, in Washington, D.C.
