Rhonda Young, assistant professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, received the 2008 Transportation Professional of the Year award from the Colorado/Wyoming Section of the Institute of Transportation Engineers.
This award honors transportation professionals who have exhibited "a high level of hard work, promotion and dedication to higher education and the transportation industry."
Young teaches undergraduate and graduate level transportation classes that cover a broad range of the transportation field. One of these classes includes a senior level comprehensive design experience, which allows students to work on real-world projects for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
Among her current projects are:
-- Southern Wyoming I-80 dynamic message signs evaluation;
-- Intelligent Transportation System to reduce high-wind truck crashes on I-25 near
Bordeaux;
-- Variable speed limit system for I-80 Elk Mountain Corridor;
-- Evaluating effectiveness of Trapper's Point wildlife crossing animal detection
system.
Young has been an assistant professor of civil engineering for the past six years. She holds a B.S. in civil engineering from Oregon State University (1992) and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Washington (1999, 2002).