Helene M. Overly Memorial Graduate Scholarship 

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Andrea Bryson

Andrea is a graduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago pursuing a degree in Urban Planning and Policy with an emphasis in transportation planning. With a previously career in food science, she sought to transition to Urban Planning and Policy for work that was more community focused. As a student she was a teaching assistant for Sustainable Urban Cities and a research assistant at the Urban Transportation Center. Over the past year Andrea served as president of the WTS chapter at UIC. The organization hosted 6 events throughout the year that brought transportation professionals to campus to engage with students. In addition, Andrea is a board member of her neighborhood association and volunteers with the Cook County Forest preserve.  Her career goals include planning for and supporting transportation projects that result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This includes planning that improves trains, public transportation, biking, and walking.

 

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Bridgette Beato Leadership Legacy Scholarship for Graduates

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Dana Monzer

Dana is a graduate research assistant in the Transportation Systems Planning and Analysis program at Northwestern University. Her research is interdisciplinary, involving topics in advancing modeling methodologies to better understand traffic dynamics encompassing both human drivers and autonomous vehicles, analyzing the economic opportunities and environmental impacts of urban air mobility, and improving the efficiency of freight operations. She also holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a certificate in Railroad Engineering. Dana is a first-generation student and is deeply passionate about access to education and equal opportunities in professional development and employment. Alongside her academic and professional pursuits, Dana enjoys extreme sports like bungee jumping and skydiving and admires the art of stand-up comedy as a way for cultural enrichment.  

 

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WTS Molitoris Leadership Scholarship for Undergraduates 

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Sophia Donnellan

Sophia recently earned her bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with a focus in transportation and water resources. On campus, she served as a Civil Engineering Student Ambassador, offering guidance to prospective students and representing the department at outreach events. Sophia began her transportation experience as early as freshman year with Thomas Engineering Group, where she spent three years learning the many components of roadway design — from geometric layouts to drainage planning. Last summer, she continued her growth at Peralte-Clark in a leadership role mentoring fellow interns in design tools and industry practices. Now working full-time, Sophia is driven by a passion for accessible and resilient infrastructure. She remains committed to mentoring the next generation of transportation engineers and hopes to make a lasting impact on the communities her work serves

 

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Sharon D. Banks Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship

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Kalaya Sriver

Kalaya is a sophomore studying civil engineering at Purdue University. Concentrated in transportation engineering, her interests are in public and mass transit as well as general accessibility to a multimodal transportation network. Kalaya is also interested in urban planning, architecture, and behavioral studies. With Jacobs, she is a 5-term co-op in her hometown Chicago as a civil transportation engineer working on urban street redesign for the improvement of pedestrian, cyclist, and driver safety. As a co-op student, she serves as an ambassador of the co-op program at Purdue for the Office of Professional Practice (OPP) with the Professional Practice Ambassadors (PPA) providing support for current and future co-op students. At Purdue, she is in the Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE) program facilitating her domestic work experience as well as future international work experience and study abroad. In summer 2022, she studied abroad in Zaragoza, Spain, and in summer 2024 she returned to Madrid as part of her minor in Spanish for the Professions.

 

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WTS Chicago Diversity in Transportation Scholarship

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Anchal Bansal

Anchal is a Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Complex and Sustainable Urban Networks Lab (CSUN), where she is doing research in sustainable and inclusive transportation systems. As a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering, Anchal is working on the ITAG project for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) — developing a user-friendly tool to help transit agencies estimate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Originally from Delhi, India, Anchal brings experience in climate policy and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) to her research. She is particularly interested in how data and policy can work together to make public transit cleaner, more inclusive, and better aligned with the needs of all communities. Through her work, she hopes to contribute to practical, evidence-based solutions that support environmental responsibility and social equity in transportation.

 

 

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WTS President's Scholarships

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Jillian McNally

Jillian is a third-year student studying civil engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). At UIC, she is involved with the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) and serves as the social media officer. She is also a manager for the UIC Women’ Basketball team. Prior to attending UIC, she completed her Associate of Science and Associate of Arts at Joliet Junior College, where she played college basketball. After graduation, she intends to obtain professional engineering credentials to work in design or construction in the Greater Chicago area.

 

 

 

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Matiana De Alba

Matiana is a sophomore pursuing a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering with a minor in Spanish at Purdue University. To nurture a diverse and thriving engineering community, Matiana’s campus initiatives include being a Mentor to young students for Algebra by 7th Grade, a program that helps students in minority schools achieve a deeper understanding of math and prepare for algebra in junior high. As a first-generation college student, she serves as the vice president of the First-Generation Engineering Student Advisory Board and as the president of Women in Aerospace. She is passionate about pursuing a master's degree and contributing to the advancement of sustainable technologies in aviation, including working with carbon-free propulsion systems.

 

 

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Megan Bowman

Megan is pursuing a master’s degree in civil engineering, specializing in structural engineering, at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). She is planning to graduate in May 2026. Since 2021, she has been working in the transportation industry and currently works as a bridge designer for TYLin. Megan chose to get a master’s degree in hopes to develop a deeper understanding of structural engineering principles and further apply those to her projects in the workplace. Her passion for problem-solving and innovation drives her to continuously learn and grow in the industry.

 

 

 

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Raguez Taha

Raguez is a Ph.D. candidate in the Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Laboratory at the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC). Her research focuses on the use of smartphone-assisted photogrammetry reconstruction and additive manufacturing (AM) in structural applications, particularly exploring the capability of 3D-printed metals for structural repairs. She is involved in research developing advanced ultrasonic imaging techniques for the rapid and high-resolution quality assessment of nuclear AM structures and parts. Alongside her research, Raguez is committed to improving the education experience for engineering students through her own work on group dynamics in engineering courses. She collaborates with the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence, conducting classroom observations on inclusive teaching practices and developing teaching guides. She is passionate about bridging the gap between research, industry, and education to foster a more accessible and dynamic engineering community.

 

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Reina Itai

Reina is currently a junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with a primary concentration in Structural Engineering and secondary concentration in Transportation Engineering. Her interests in the transportation field grew during her engineering internship at the Village of Hanover Park in the Public Works Department. This summer, she will be interning at a civil engineering consulting firm, Bollinger Lach & Associates as an engineer intern on their structural team. Her goal is to work in an engineering firm to design road infrastructure. In the long term, her ambitions involve addressing equity, sustainability, and innovation in transportation, ensuring the systems we build today serve diverse communities for future generations.

 

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Transportation YOU High School Scholarship 

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Teniola Ajagbe

Teniola is a current senior at Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep. She will be attending Northwestern University in the fall of 2025 to study mechanical engineering with a concentration in aerospace. Prior to her acceptance, Teniola has been the Outreach Director for the Chicago Association of Student Engineers, a summer intern at TYLin for the past two summers, and a member of the University of Chicago's Space Explorers Program. After attending Northwestern, Teniola wants to make more discoveries in space by building autonomous robots that can be used for space exploration. 

 

 

 

 

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WTS Chicago Executive Partnership Scholarships 

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Sylvia Waechter

Sylvia is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) with a concentration in urban data analytics and minors in geographic information systems (GIS) and Spanish for the Professions. She is heavily involved in the UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs as a founding member and leader of the Society of Undergraduate Urban and Policy Students (SOUUPS) as well as an active member of the WTS UIC student chapter. As a research assistant at UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development, she is investigating the use of virtual sidewalk auditing tools to create ADA Transition plans for communities in the Chicago area. Sylvia is driven by a passion for building equitable, accessible, and sustainable transportation systems that offer an alternative to car-centered planning.

 

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Camila Marden

Camila is an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, majoring in civil engineering, with a focus in structures and transportation. On campus, she tutors introductory engineering courses to 1st and 2nd year students and teaches a supplementary education class in statics. This year she assisted in founding a new registered student organization called EMBRACE, which stands for Empowering Minorities and Building Representation Across Civil Engineering and now acts as Scholarship Chair. With a focus in bridge design, she had the opportunity to work on the Brent-Spence bridge renovation as an intern with AECOM last summer. She additionally worked on the expansion project. Camila is currently interning with SpaceX under the Spaceport Development team, where she is assisting on the expansion of Starbase. 

 

 

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Previous Scholarship Recipients

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