Transportation Engineering Student Takes Two Major Awards

Utah State University PhD student of transportation engineering Yi He won the 2019 Utah Institute of Transportation Engineers student paper competition and was awarded a $1,000 scholarship from the Northern Utah Women's Transportation Seminar. 

Yi won the student paper competition for her research on the economic analysis of en route fast charging for battery electric bus systems. Yi’s research focuses on a model that determines battery size, charger type and recharging schedule for a general battery electric bus route. Based on the model, an economic analysis of en route fast charging is performed on a real-world bus system. Yi’s results demonstrate that given the current prices of en route fast charging stations and batteries, it is always beneficial to install en route fast charging stations for battery electric buses. These findings can serve as a reference for cities looking into electric bus systems.

The Women's Transportation Seminar supports women who are pursuing transportation degrees with the goal of advancing more women into the field of transportation engineering. This year the board of directors of the Women's Transportation Seminar announced Yi as one of the four scholarship recipients.

Yi said she plans to graduate by the end of fall semester 2019 and wants to further increase her expertise in research by applying for postdoctoral positions.