I examined electric vehicle planning and implementation, last-mile logistics, and new mobility solutions in Germany, Europe, and Globally. While in Germany, I was hosted by a university research group, a municipality in the Rhein-Main Region, and by a leading sustainable design firm in Berlin. Over the course of the year I learned German, traveled throughout Europe, and attended multiple conferences on electric vehicles and emerging transportation technologies. I had the opportunity to experience cultural events and discuss major issues facing Germany and the European Union with multiple elected officials.

Project manager for the award-winning Iowa Data Bike project, an innovative tool to collect trail pavement condition data in Central Iowa to improve maintenance planning on the multi-jurisdictional non-motorized transportation network. Oversaw travel demand, land-use, and growth modeling for the Long-Range Transportation Plan development using TransCAD, Envision Tomorrow, and ArcGIS. Managed performance measure data analysis, visualization, monitoring, and reporting per Federal Highway Administration regulations.

Led the mapping and data visualization on the Greater Des Moines Water Trails and Greenways Master Plan, a regional approach to recreational waterway planning in Central Iowa. Prepared monthly reports on performance measures for the transportation network within the planning area. Staffed Traffic Management Advisory Committee to further best practices in traffic incident management, traffic safety, intelligent transportation systems, and event traffic coordination.

As a member of the NEPA and Transportation Planning Technical Group in the Transportation Business Line for HR Green, I prepared transportation plans, corridor studies, and NEPA documents for projects throughout Greater Des Moines, Iowa, and other locations within the geographical area covered by HR Green.

Conducted literature review on transportation network analysis and modeling, accessibility, mobility, car-sharing, bike-sharing, and conjoint analysis to determine best practices for evaluating options for increasing mobility in the City of Dubuque. Developed a car-sharing vendor matrix to compare model types to guide focus group operations to determine preferences of attendees toward car-sharing and bike-sharing. Focus groups feedback was evaluated using conjoint analysis via SPSS to produce utility functions that highlight preferred choices. Analyzed the feasibility of implementing car-sharing in the City of Dubuque through the use of demographic data that has been selected as indicators of successful car-sharing operations as determined by previous studies.

Evaluated pedestrian/transit conflicts on the University of Iowa campus by determining intersections and crosswalks that have a high likelihood of pedestrian use based on observations of interactions. Produced a Pedestrian Safety Plan to define policy recommendations that attempt to improve transit safety near high pedestrian areas. Supervised data collection for dwell study of transit service to the outlying regions of the University of Iowa campus. Data collected by one intern using on-bus observations and Automatic Vehicle Locators.

Supervised seven Training Assistants responsible for monitoring customer service and safety, completing operator training and evaluation, and data collection. Oversaw training of over 150 new employees and identified future need for operators based on trends of employee turnover. Created a Drug Education presentation to formalize training and meet FTA instructional requirements. Collected and prepared ridership data for submission to the National Transit Database by the Metropolitan Planning Organization of Johnson County.