University of Toronto graduate student Alaa Itani (CivEng PhD candidate) won second prize for her entry “Decision Support Tool for Deploying Shuttle Buses during Major Rail Disruptions” in the ITS Canada 2020 Student Essay Competition.
Fresh from intensive volunteer duties at TransitData 2020 which finished the previous day, Itani was elated to receive the notification from ITS Canada on August 14.
The committee citation for Itani’s award states:
The submitted essay is distinguished by a well-presented methodology. It outlines a decision support tool that allows adaptations to major disruption situations for the deployment of rail shuttles. The content of the essay is adapted to the current situation of COVID-19 demonstrating the impacts on the transport network. The CV of the candidate shows several participations in ITS related events with valuable publications.
About the essay competition
The competition, now in its third year, promotes the ITS expertise, experience and interests of young researchers from Canadian universities. The essays are intended to connect academic research to real-world transportation issues.
Submitted essays were reviewed and scored by an ITS Canada expert panel of judges. Winning essays are judged to be of high quality and relevant to the ITS industry.
About ITS Canada
In addition to hosting this student essay competition, ITS Canada further supports young researchers by hosting an Education Roundtable and a Young Professionals panel session during their annual conference.
ITS Canada defines Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) as the application of advanced and emerging technologies (computers, sensors, control, communications, and electronic devices) in transportation to save lives, time, money, energy and the environment.
Read more: ITS Canada 2020 Essay Competition Award Winners (external link)
Read Alaa Itani’s prize-winning essay “Decision Support Tool for Deploying Shuttle Buses during Major Rail Disruptions: A Case study of the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).”