Four students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa have been named recipients of the 2024–25 Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowships. This award, administered by the Federal Highway Administration, aims to encourage students to pursue careers in transportation and research, helping to develop the next generation of transportation professionals.
The UH Mānoa College of Engineering facilitated the local competition, with the awards totaling $31,000. Recipients include undergraduate and graduate students from diverse fields—civil engineering, architecture, urban planning and computer science:
- Dingyi Liu was awarded $10,000 to assess the relationship between zoning and walkability in Honolulu, under the guidance of Department of Urban and Regional Planning Associate Professor Suwan Shen. Liu is a master of urban and regional planning student and a research assistant with Hawaiʻi Sea Grant.
- Ruimin Lin received an $8,500 fellowship to explore equity in public transit services in Honolulu using open-source data. A junior in civil engineering, Lin also interns with SSFM’s Traffic Group. Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering Associate Professor Roger Chen is advising her project.
- Paul Mullins earned a $7,000 fellowship to investigate design strategies for improving transportation accessibility for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Mullins, advised by School of Architecture Professor Kevin Nute, is a master of architecture student.
- Myra Angelica Ortigosa received $5,500 to study statistical data analysis for traffic signal control. She is a junior in computer science working under the mentorship of Department of Information and Computer Sciences Associate Professor Kyungim Baek.
“We are extremely grateful to the Federal Highway Administration for their support of our students,” College of Engineering Dean Brennon Morioka said. “This financial assistance helps our students focus and spend more time on their studies with the hopes this incentivizes them to continue working here at home to help solve our many problems we face every day here in Hawaiʻi.”
The program not only provides financial support but also offers fellows the opportunity to participate in the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting. The event will take place January 5–9, 2025 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
