2020-2021 Program Scholars
David Anton is a second-year student of the Masters in Public Administration at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Prior to his graduate studies, David acted as policy advisor for Argentina’s Federal Government in the areas of transit planning and affordability. He also acted as policy advisor for Argentina’s Presidency of the G20 Economic Forum, supporting the harmonization of regulations concerning public-private partnerships for infrastructure development among country members. David also has experience in the private sector, conducting economic and financial valuation of infrastructure assets as part of Compass Lexecon’s International Arbitration Practice. He graduated with a BA in Economics in 2015 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina.
At SIPA, David became increasingly interested in topics related to revitalizing cities and assessing the socioeconomic impacts of infrastructure projects and urban policy interventions. He also interned with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and worked on a capstone project with Daimler Trucks North America, advising the firm on how to work with local governments in adapting freight transport regulations.
David’s September 11th Scholar Project is at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), where he is studying the impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the agency’s Socioeconomic and Demographic Forecasts and Travel Demand models. The project is focused on how the increase in telework due to the pandemic will have long-term implications in the location of job opportunities across the New York Metropolitan Area and changing commuting patterns.
Seth Kerr is pursuing a Master of Urban Planning degree at NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Before graduate school, he served as a United States Army Officer specializing in medical logistics for eight years. During his service, Seth spent six years living in Kenya and Germany. He enjoyed riding transit systems worldwide and fulfilled his dream of riding the Shinkansen bullet train in Japan.
Seth is passionate about infrastructure and climate resiliency. He has a special interest in improving sustainable transportation options and believes wholeheartedly in the power of the humble, underrated bus. Bus Rapid Transit is captivating to Seth, and he would love to bring more dedicated busways to NYC, or ITDP rated BRT systems to US cities.
Seth’s September 11th project focuses on helping NYMTC improve its federal aid-eligible infrastructure condition monitoring and financial forecasting processes. He has had the opportunity to benchmark MPOs and State DOTs across the country for best practices. Seth will also help NYMTC develop an internal checklist for the Regional Transportation Plan financial forecasting process.
Next year for his last year of graduate school, Seth will serve as a John D. Solomon Fellow with New York City Emergency Management (NYCEM).
Niloufar Nouri started her PhD in civil engineering program at the City College of New York in 2014. She obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree in environmental engineering in her home country Iran. Her doctoral research activity lies in the intersection of resilient infrastructure systems and data-driven environmental risk assessment. Along with her PhD studies, she worked as an adjunct lecturer at CUNY Bronx Community College. Niloufar has been involved in various data-oriented projects while working as a research scientist at NOAA-CESSRT. She has a solid background in big data analysis using Python and R.
Niloufar’s September 11th Memorial program research will be on evaluating new methods of collecting travel data and identifying how such methods can complement traditional travel surveys. She will identify potential alternative travel data sources such as cellular data and Location Based Services (LBS) and will analyze their methodology, statistical properties, strengths and limitations.
Carla Tejada is a Ph.D. student in Transportation Engineering at the City College of New York. Before joining the City College of New York, Carla obtained a master’s degree in Logistics and Supply Chain from the University of Maryland at College Park and a graduate certificate in Supply Chain Management from MIT. She also spent several years in the industry in companies such as DHL Express and SONY.
Carla’s September 11th program internship is with The New York City Department of Transportation with the Pedestrian Unit (NYCDOT). NYC is the city with the highest number of pedestrian trips in the United States. Carla’s work focuses on developing a Pedestrian Network Flow Model that will allow the Unit to identify pedestrian generators, dense walking areas, and walking trip flow within New York City. This model will provide information to the New York City Comprehensive Pedestrian Map that will help create more rationality in the decision-making process within NYC streets.
Carla’s research interest is in commercial freight logistics and planning, multimodal interactions in the urban scenario, and network modeling and optimization. Her dissertation focuses on e-commerce and the interactions that urban deliveries have with people and the urban environment.
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