Scott Himes, a doctoral candidate in civil engineering and research assistant at the Larson Institute at Penn State, has received the Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center (MAUTC) Student of the Year Award. Himes was honored for his accomplishments at the 15th Annual CUTC Awards Banquet, held in conjunction with the Transportation Research Board's (TRB) annual meeting, on Jan. 21, in Washington, D.C.
The MAUTC Student of the Year Award recognizes an individual for noteworthy technical research, academic performance, professionalism and leadership. Himes received a certificate and $1,000. Evidence of research merit is based on faculty nomination and evaluation of written papers or reports. Academic performance is based on completed coursework and grades attained. Professionalism and leadership can be in the form of presentations at professional society meetings and symposia and leadership in student professional activities.
Himes earned both his bachelor of science and master's of science degrees in civil engineering at Penn State. His research focuses on the operational and safety effects of highway geometric design. The State College native current research includes performing research participant assessments and vehicle installations for the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) naturalistic driving experiment. He also co-authored a FHWA informational guide related to speed concepts, and was an investigator on NCHRP Project 15-34, "Performance-Based Geometric Design Analysis of Highways and Streets." Himes has been the laboratory instructor for an introductory class in transportation engineering, a class in traffic engineering, and Penn State's capstone highway design course.
"Scott epitomizes what you want to see in a student," said Eric Donnell, associate professor of civil engineering and Himes's adviser. "In addition to being inquisitive, focused, and devoted to his course work and research, he has proven himself to be an effective teacher and mentor to younger students."
Himes is a young member of the TRB Committee on Geometric Design and a friend of the TRB Committee on Operation Effects of Geometrics. He has reviewed papers for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Journal of Transportation Engineering as well as for his TRB committees. He has been involved in the Penn State student chapters of the Institute of Transportation Engineers and the ASCE. He has published four refereed journal articles, two technical reports, and presented findings from his research at several technical meetings. He was nominated for the MAUTC student of the year award because of his outstanding research contributions, effective teaching, and service to the transportation profession.
MAUTC is the federally designated University Transportation Center for the region, which encompasses Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. A five-university consortium led by Penn State, MAUTC includes the University of Maryland, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia University. According to its website, MAUTC's primary goals include attracting the nation's best talent to the study of transportation and developing new strategies and approaches to effectively address existing and future transportation issues and problems.