Introducing the Emerging Leaders in Transportation Fellows
Congratulations to the inaugural class of Emerging Leaders in Transportation! We are thrilled to welcome these impressive individuals this fall to the NYU Rudin Center to amplify their leadership skills, develop new ideas to bring to their workplaces, and create an innovator network among local transportation organizations. We can't wait to see what they do.
Meet the Fellows:
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Onyinye Akujuo, from Queens, NY is an Assistant Director of Grant Management for the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA); she has delivered over 8 years’ experience in public service with a major career focus on the transportation funding and planning sector.
John Baker is Technical Staff at Consensus Systems Technologies, where he specializes in geographic information systems, regional ITS architectures, systems engineering, and the design and implementation of ITS standards.
Graham Cavanagh: With an MS in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute and now working at the NYC DOT Manhattan Borough Commissioner's Office, Graham Cavanagh has been greatly influenced by the values of communication design and community participation in the planning process - with the intention to promote safe, healthy, and innovative Cities.
Jana Langhammer is an electrical engineer at JFK Airport, aviation geek born in Prague, world traveler, surfer and piano player.
Andrew Lappitt works at TransOptions, a transportation-oriented nonprofit in New Jersey and has a strong interest in communicating the impacts of transportation planning concepts and principles to the public.
Aviva Laurenti is a traffic engineer (and avid cyclist) working at Sam Schwartz Engineering primarily on transportation analyses for environmental review documents with experience in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Christopher Lee is a Senior External Relations Representative for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, focusing on Government and Community Outreach to elected officials and groups in the Boroughs of Staten Island and Manhattan.
Stephanie Lotshaw is a Program Manager in the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy's US & Africa office; her work focuses on helping cities on both continents to implement gold-standard BRT and has also recently focused on working with cities to develop high quality transit-oriented development (TOD).
Dawn Miller is the Executive Director of Strategic Planning at the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, where she focuses on improving access to safe, convenient, high-quality for-hire transportation throughout the city.
Jacob Nussbaum: Originally from Charleston, SC, Jacob graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012 with a BA in Urban Studies and currently works for JetBlue Airways in Revenue Management.
Kate Rube is the Transportation Program Manager at Project for Public Spaces, and she works to foster great streets and sustainable communities through policy, training, and technical assistance work.
Frank Ruchala Jr is an associate city planner and urban designer at New York’s Department of City Planning’s Manhattan Office where he is the primary project manager for Midtown Manhattan.
Patrick Sabol: As a researcher at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, Patrick’s work is focused on identifying, developing, and implementing innovative new approaches to infrastructure funding and finance.
Rodney Stiles is a graduate of the Bloustein School for Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers, and he is coming to terms with being an expert on the taxi industry in New York City—a symptom of years of combing through millions of taxi trip and administrative records to find answers for his bosses.
Tiffany-Ann Taylor is a formally trained Urban Planner with a passion for transportation planning, emergency management, public policy and community infrastructure.
Midori Valdivia is currently a Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the Port Authority and has a background in urban planning and financial management.
Ema Carol Yamamoto: Equipped with degrees in civil engineering and transportation planning, Ema works to advance the state of transportation in Philadelphia as a Planner/Analyst for Philadelphia’s Mayor’s Office of Transportation & Utilities.
Beth Zall is a Transportation Planner at Parsons Brinckerhoff who is currently actively involved in the Port Authority Midtown Bus Master Plan effort.
The fellowship will be directed by Sarah Kaufman of the NYU Rudin Center.
This fellowship is co-sponsored by the University Transportation Research Center.