The AITPM Young Professional Awards
Each year the Institute offers the opportunity for one recent transport graduate, or final year student in a field of study that contains transport elements, from each state to attend the AITPM National Conference.
The aims of the Young Professional Award is to:
- enable students or graduates to learn more about the traffic and transport profession by actively participating in a peak industry event;
- provide the opportunity to meet with other young professionals from other states;
- provide networking opportunities to meet with a wide variety of professionals; and
- inspire graduates to pursue a professional career in this very rewarding industry.
Entries for the 2022 Young Professional Awards have now closed
2021 WINNERS
Jessica Athayde - NSW
Jessica is a Graduate Transport Engineer in the Transport Planning team at Arup in Sydney. She graduated from the University of NSW with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Honours 1) and a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Business Strategy and Economic Management.
Jessica’s background in economics has fuelled her interest in integrated land-use and transport planning. As a consultant, Jessica has worked on strategic projects that adopt the Movement and Place framework to plan for vision-led precincts and cities. She is passionate about active transport planning and the role it plays in creating sustainable cities.
Jessica has also developed skills in user experience and service design with a focus on human-centred design in cities, places, teams, and transport planning. She has lead design research in transport infrastructure and conveyed customer insights within the integrated technical design response. Jessica aspires to continue championing the adoption of human centred design to promote cycling in cities through understanding customer needs, barriers and experience.
Xanthia Dubler - QLD
Xanthia is a Graduate Civil Engineer in the Brisbane Traffic and Transport team at AECOM. She recently graduated from the Queensland University of Technology having majored in Civil and Transport Engineering with First Class Honours. She is passionate about transport and traffic, and after experiencing her fair share of frustration at the existing transport systems (late buses, significant congestion and unsafe conditions), she thought the best way to fix the network was to be involved in the planning.
Within consulting, Xanthia has been heavily involved in major projects including Rockhampton Ring Road, Gold Coast Light Rail, Bundaberg Integrated Transport Strategy and Inland Rail to name a few. As a young professional, she loves the opportunity to expand her knowledge in all areas of traffic and transport and has enjoyed the variety of project work. She continues to extend her knowledge in traffic modelling software packages, SIDRA, ArcGIS and Excel, but she also enjoys aspects of transport planning which rely more heavily on problem solving rather than modelling. Most recently she aided in the development of the Movement and Place criteria for Bundaberg where she got the chance to consider broadly the aspects which make up a place or a movement.
In addition to consulting, Xanthia loves research and keeping up to date on the latest trends and technologies within the transport industry. Her honours thesis considered the impacts of fare-free public transport on school students to determine how mode share could be impacted by such a scheme. She hopes to undertake more research and present at a future AITPM conference. Attending this year’s National Conference provides an exciting opportunity to continue this research journey while learning from industry leaders on the innovative trends in Australia.
Gayath Chalabi - SA
Gayath is a Graduate Transport Modeller in SMEC’s Transport Planning team. He has graduated with a bachelor ‘s degree in Civil Engineering from Al-Mansour University in Baghdad, Iraq and master's degree in Structural Engineering from University Putra Malaysia. He is currently doing a PhD in Transport Planning and his research project titled the impacts and effectiveness of telecommuting as a travel demand management strategy in Australian cities. The aim of the project is to develop city-specific telecommuting models that reflect the travel habits and preferences of a wide range of individuals with varying socioeconomics and demographic characteristics.
Since he joined SMEC he worked on multiple projects, including the North South Corridor project in Adelaide, where he worked on developing the demographic input for the strategic transport model and has spatially analysed the output using GIS. He is currently working on the development of a strategic transport model. During the work, he was involved in transport and econometric analysis to forecast for future scenarios. He also gained experience in using different transport modelling platforms such as Cube, AISMSUN and SIDRA.
Gayath believes that joining AITPM and representing the Young Professionals of AITPM’ South Australia is aligned with his career objective is to achieve a challenging career where his skills and experience in Transport Engineering and Planning could be enhanced and utilized until achieving a long-term goal of being a recognized transport planner where he can significantly involve in designing transport policies, strategies and plans that contribute to meeting social, economic and environmental needs.
Jessica Tong - VIC
Jessica Tong is a Graduate Transport Engineer at WSP Australia and has been working with the Victorian Planning & Mobility team since mid-2018. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master of Engineering (Civil with Business) in 2020, where she worked concurrently as a research assistant in the Transport Technologies Group.
Jessica’s continued interest in the transport industry stems from her current experience in transport engineering and planning as well as future technologies research. She is interested in future mobility and transport data analytics – specifically, the application and integration of new transport technologies, including data and policy, for future mobility and safety. Jessica looks forward to continued research and contribution to this field and applying data analytics and visualisation to establish evidence-based systems to understand current transport trends and inform future planning.
Harry Fleming - WA
Harry is a Graduate Consultant in AECOM’s Infrastructure Advisory team. He graduated from Curtin University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce (Finance).
Having been passionate about transport from a young age, Harry has been single-minded in his ambition to work in the transport industry. He is particularly passionate about public transport, notedly improving the uptake of Public Transport solutions that are efficient, sustainable, and accessible. Harry’s final year research project, titled An Investigation of Planning Factors Surrounding the Implementation of Middle Tier Transit in the Perth CBD investigated the restructuring of project definition and planning works to improve the likelihood of delivery for inner-city projects in Perth.
As a consultant at AECOM, Harry has been fortunate to be involved in a plethora of city-shaping projects in Perth and across Australia, at all project stages. This experience across sectors has helped Harry gain an understanding of projects from a multi-disciplinary perspective, along with a keen interest in land use and transport planning, business case creation and project management.
Having attended the 2018 AITPM National Conference in Perth as a university award winner, Harry is aware of the importance of the AITPM organisation in growing awareness of the industry, and how beneficial attending the national conference and other technical events can be for young professionals. He is excited to remain involved within the AITPM Branch and Young Professional committees, and to continue to promote the transport industry through involvement with universities and other organisations.
2020 WINNERS
Isabella Kim - NSW
Isabella is a Graduate Traffic Engineer in the Transport Advisory Team at Cardno in Sydney. Recently, she graduated from the University of NSW with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Environmental) (Honours Class 1). Early in her studies, Isabella understood that transport is an integral part of society in moving people, goods and ideas. She is passionate about developing sustainable and integrated transport solutions to ensure that future systems can meet the changing needs of society.
Since joining Cardno as an Undergraduate, Isabella has been involved in a number of projects for private and public sector clients. Some of her notable projects include traffic modelling for major state infrastructure projects, technical assessments of key strategic centres and traffic impact assessments for state significant projects. Through these experiences, Isabella has been refining her skills in traffic engineering, modelling (SIDRA) and developing her engineering judgement. She is always searching for ways to expand her capabilities and learning different approaches to broaden her experience. Currently, Isabella is placed on secondment to local government where she is using her skills to make a positive difference.
In 2019, she was selected to present her thesis at the AITPM National Conference on travel behaviour variations across Sydney. As part of the study, a new metric was developed to quantify travel behaviour consistency to gain a better understanding of the geographic impacts on individual travel behaviour and accessibility, with possible implications to public transport service improvements. This is one of her top career achievements.
As a driven individual, Isabella is always seeking opportunities to learn and develop her skills as she aspires to become a professional who makes positive contributions to the industry. She is looking forward to furthering her knowledge at the National Conference and getting involved in AITPM as a young professional, representing the next generation of industry leaders.
Tierney George - QLD
Tierney is a Graduate Civil Engineer in GHD’s Transport Planning team. She graduated from the University of Queensland in July 2019 as Valedictorian with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Honours I) and a Bachelor of Business Management.
Creating a sustainable and efficient transport future is Tierney’s passion. Her research project, titled the Contribution of zero emission vehicles in meeting Queensland’s carbon targets sought to answer the question of if and how Queensland can reach zero transport emissions by 2050, with particular emphasis on the impact of electric passenger and low emission freight vehicles.
As a consultant, Tierney has worked on projects to improve safety and encourage active transport in the community. She understands that transport and traffic engineering is a complex and dynamic field that requires a fundamental understanding of how people interact with physical infrastructure and react to change.
Tierney is excited by the evolving possibilities in the transport sector and strives to be a part of supporting and shaping these shifts. Tierney sees the National Conference as a unique opportunity to learn from industry leaders and understand the discourse surrounding transport innovations and COVID-19.
Tierney is looking forward to sitting on the AITPM State Branch Committee as a representative for Young Professionals in Queensland.
Alexander Ye - SA
Alexander is a Graduate Transport Engineer at WSP Australia Pty Ltd in South Australia Planning and Mobility Division. He has completed a Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours, majoring in Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Adelaide.
Alexander’s passion to become a transport engineer is one that traffic is the key to help the societies thrive sustainably. He believes the development of infrastructure remains priority of a region’s economy. The construction of roads that keep SA moving and strategic planning of networks ensure a promising future of local communities. Also, transport planning is to organise more efficient or reliable networks and to guide multi-modal solutions. The idea of shaping cities wakes him up and keeps him enthusiastic every day.
Since working with WSP that see to plan, design and manage innovative solutions with people (clients, end users, communities and shareholders), Alexander has been involving in the projects that help clients better understand how their communities, customers and end users will live in the future by applying future trends and scenarios really broadens his horizons and inspires him to engage proactively in the industry.
Alexander believes the AITPM Nation Conference will provide him more opportunities to network with other fellows, to extend his knowledge and to continue his professional development. He has helped to plan some AITPM SA YP social events. Involving such an activity allows himself to gain a better understanding the process of preparing an event and how to better serve the participants as an organiser. Alex is looking forward to helping more organise social events and technical forums, sharing his knowledge with YPs and reinforcing the connections between AITPM and other YPs in the transport industry.
Roy Zhu - VIC
Roy is a Graduate Consultant in Arup’s Victorian transport planning team. He graduated from the University of Queensland (UQ) in July 2019, completing a Dual Bachelor of Civil Engineering (First Class Honours) and Finance.
As an undergraduate, Roy was heavily involved in public transport research through the UQ Icarus Program. He led a multidisciplinary team from the University of Queensland and the University of Maryland in a project that utilised smart card data for analysing and optimising Brisbane’s public transport operations. After the project’s conclusion, he extended this work and developed new visualisation techniques for investigating passenger movements and vehicle dwell time. These outcomes were ultimately presented at numerous conferences worldwide, including at the Transportation Research Board’s 97th Annual Meeting.
Roy then joined Arup in 2017 and gained experience across numerous city and community shaping projects in Australia and South-East Asia. While he is primarily a transport modeller (CUBE, AIMSUN and VISSIM), Roy has also contributed to community engagement programs, active transport projects and spatial analytics. He particularly enjoys projects which combine perspectives from different disciplines – from urban planning to commuter psychology to traffic engineering – in order to achieve a holistic outcome for end-users.
As an avid learner, Roy is keen to strengthen his knowledge of the transport planning field at the 2020 AITPM National Conference and is looking forward to representing Young Professionals on the AITPM VIC Branch Committee.
Lloyd Baker - WA
Lloyd is a Graduate Engineer at Main Roads Western Australia, and recently completed a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Construction) (First Class Honours) at Curtin University. His interest in traffic engineering stemmed from an early appreciation of the built environment, and continued through his university studies, culminating in a model to calibrate vehicle saturation flow rates to represent Perth traffic.
Lloyd joined Main Roads Western Australia in 2017 as an Engineering Cadet, and has worked in Project Delivery, Road & Traffic Engineering and Project Development. Vocational work experience whilst studying at university allowed him to develop a keen interest in traffic analysis and modelling (using SIDRA Intersection). In his most recent role, he has been able to implement best practice road design and planning principles small-to-medium scale projects in the Perth metropolitan area.
Attending the 2018 Perth AITPM National Conference as one of eight university award winners, he knows how beneficial the event can be to broaden his knowledge of the traffic and transport industry. He looks forward to establishing new connections with industry representatives across the country, and see the steps the industry is taking to tackle the problems of tomorrow. Lloyd is also looking forward to representing young professionals on the AITPM WA Branch Committee.
2019 WINNERS
Stephanie Cipressi - QLD
Stephanie is a Graduate Transport Engineer at Jacobs in the Transport Planning team. She graduated in July 2018 from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Commerce.
Stephanie’s passion for Transport Engineering stemmed from her involvement in the UQ Icarus Program where her team used Discrete Event Simulation coupled with Virtual Reality to find a solution to the peak hour queuing at Cultural Centre Bus Station in Brisbane. The team presented their findings at the Australian Transport Research Forum and were awarded runner-up for the David Willis Best Poster.
She has a keen interest in developing and improving sustainable transport infrastructure to combat the challenges of rapid urbanisation in major cities. Consulting on a variety of active and public transport projects with Jacobs, as well as from other work experience in transport advisory and design, Stephanie understands the importance of achieving a sustainable outcome. She has learnt that a shift in demand for sustainable transport, isn’t governed solely by a well-designed transport network but also by achieving social acceptance and creating behavioural changes from potential users.
Stephanie sees the National Conference as an opportunity to learn first-hand from industry leaders. She looks forward to representing QLD young professionals as part of the AITPM Branch Committee.
Hugo Mackenzie-Rae WA
Hugo is currently working as a Graduate Transport Planner in the Transport Advisory Team at Jacobs. He recently completed Masters of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Western Australia, where he developed skills in local and regional planning, urban regeneration, spatial analysis and infrastructure planning. Focusing on the human ecology in planning and ‘planning for people who live within the space’ is something Hugo is passionate about. Particularly, the movement of people in an efficient and sustainable manner has always been an interest of mine. His belief is that transportation is not an end itself, rather an investment tool that cities can use to achieve larger goals, with transportation touching on all aspects of city life and providing the essential connection required.
Hugo sees the National Conference as an opportunity to congregate with fellow like-minded professionals, enabling him to further expand his knowledge and appreciation for traffic and transportation planning. To be given the opportunity to listen to someone with such vast knowledge as JD Hunt, would be amazing. His multimodal transport and land use interaction models have been applied globally in cities such as London, Naples and Calgary and have had the impact of successfully identifying the infrastructure development and alterations to land use required for these transportation conditions.
Hugo has attended several AITPM events and speaking with the current YPN Coordinator (Xin) from WA. Hugo is looking forward to being part of the AITPM WA Branch Committee and representing young professionals and students in the industry.
Michael Oliver - SA
Michael is a Graduate Engineer at SMEC Australia Pty Ltd with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Transport) (Honours) from the University of South Australia (UniSA). Having a strong interest in problem solving and providing innovative solutions through the use of analytical thinking, Michael continually seeks to provide new engineering and traffic solutions that will ultimately assist vehicles and pedestrians as part of the greater road network in South Australia.
Michael’s ambition to become a professional engineer in the sector of transportation is one that is motivated by having the opportunity to be part of a process that focuses on planning, designing, constructing and maintaining transport systems (i.e. roads, highways, bridges etc) that will provide strategic and efficient movements of people.
Since joining SMEC as a Graduate Engineer as part of the Roads and Highways Division, Michael has been exposed to a variety of local and state government projects where he has developed a keen interest in transport modelling (SIDRA Intersection Analysis), traffic operations and local area traffic management.
Michael considers the 2019 AITPM National Conference in Adelaide to be a great opportunity to broaden his knowledge of the traffic and transport profession, whilst also being able to network and establish connections from both experienced and young professionals from around the country. Exposure to a range of technical papers delivered by numerous experienced professionals will provide a great insight for Michael to keep up to date on the latest developments and innovative solutions being applied on a variety of projects. In addition, Michael is excited to have the opportunity to sit on the AITPM SA State Branch Committee and represent young professionals.
Samantha Chapman - VIC
Samantha is a Graduate Engineer at GHD with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Hons) working within the Tasmanian Transport team. Since commencing as an Undergraduate Engineer at GHD in 2016, Sam has had many opportunities to work on Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning projects. Sam has had a broad range of Civil Engineering project experience including traffic modelling, traffic impact assessments, traffic management plans, transport planning, signal design and data analysis. Highlights of Sam’s work to date include working on the creation and implementation of Traffic Management Plans for Dark Mofo, and various modelling projects utilising AIMSUN and SIDRA modelling softwares.
Sam undertook an honours research project in collaboration with GHD and the Department of State Growth (DSG). The project focused on the impacts of inner city parking on the Hobart CBD road network including the potential benefits of relocating parking structures the CBD outskirts. For the project, Sam used DSG’s Hobart Mesoscopic model to simulate the impacts and analyse changes to the network under various parking conditions. As well as this, during her studies Sam completed a sustainability internship through the University of Tasmania where she completed the design of a bicycle storage facility for the universities new city campus supporting the use of sustainable transportation solutions.
Sam is looking forward to the opportunity to attend the 2019 AITPM conference and believes it will be an excellent opportunity to expand her knowledge in the field she has enjoyed working in over the past few years. In addition, it will be a privilege to sit on the AITPM VIC/TAS State Branch Committee as a young professional. Sam believes having a Tasmanian representative will be greatly beneficial and highly rewarding to represent young professionals.
Phoebe Ho - NSW
Phoebe is a Graduate Engineer working in Jacobs’ traffic engineering and transport planning team in Sydney. She graduated from the University of New South Wales in 2018 with a Bachelor of Civil Engineering with First Class Honours. After taking her first transport engineering course whilst on exchange at UC Berkeley, Phoebe was immediately drawn to the interdisciplinary nature of transport and its impact on communities and cities. Over the course of her career, Phoebe aspires to contribute to building a world with transport systems that are equitable, efficient, safe and sustainable.
In her final year at university, she completed a research thesis in collaboration with Aimsun and the Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI). The study used empirical data to understand the behavioural impacts of variable message signs on drivers, which has implications in providing more accurate predictions of traffic conditions and evaluation of incident management strategies deployed on managed motorways.
Since beginning her career as an intern at Aimsun and throughout her time at Jacobs, she has gained extensive modelling experience working on various city-shaping infrastructure projects in NSW. As a lifelong learner, she is keen to develop depth and breadth in her skill set as a transport professional and hopes to gain a greater appreciation of the field at the 2019 AITPM National Conference and is looking forward to representing Young Professionals on the AITPM NSW Branch Committee.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
2018
- Nabela Tasnim - South Australia - Read submission
- Xin Hou - Western Australia - Read submission
- Sophie Zachulski - New South Wales - Read submission
- Rachael Amies - Queensland - Read submission
- Clements Chan - Victoria - Read submission
2017
- Delaware Khan – Point8, QLD
- Navreet Virdi – Arup, NSW
- Laura Aston – Monash Uni / Transport for Victoria, VIC
- Ashlee Ferencz – AECOM, SA
- John Samineeni Jesudoss – Arup, WA
2016
- Rachel Kohan – Cardno, NSW
- Sharvari Bhuskute – Mott Macdonald, SA
- Dylan Melsom – ARUP, WA
- Michael Byrne – Monash University/ARRB Group, VIC
- Tim Boxall – PSA Consulting (Australia), QLD
2015
- Daniel Kwon – Arup Pty Ltd, NSW
- Matthew Matricciani – DPTI, SA
- Claire Ashburn – Jacobs, WA
- Alfred Chan – Monash University, VIC
- Cameron Reid – Veitch Lister Consulting, QLD
2014
- Nan Chen – ARRB Group Ltd, NSW
- Nicholas Firth – DPTI, SA
- Philip Navin Lourdesamy – Curtin University, WA
- Louisa Sorrentino – Veitch Lister Consulting, VIC
- Thomas Thai – PSA Consulting, QLD