Donald Katz

On March 13, the University of Texas’s transportation engineering faculty and students hosted myself and two other potential graduate students. The students held a cookout on Thursday night and I was introduced to 20+ folks in the program at one time. For this visit, graduate students offered up their places for us to stay, so I slept on the couch at one’s apartment. This same helpful (unfortunate) student had to bring me to the airport at 6:15 AM on Saturday morning for my flight out.

The visitation day consisted of meeting every member of the transportation faculty, one-on-one for some, and as a group for other. I only briefly saw where my office would be down in the basement because we spent most of our time on the 6th floor of the Civil Engineering department’s tower where professors have their offices. All the professors were engaging, and I especially was excited to talk to those who would likely advise me: Dr. Kara Kockelman, Dr. Chandra Bhat, and Dr. Randy Machemehl. Lunch and dinner were nearby campus at two restaurants the students say they frequent.

Austin is a great city, and I could see myself living whether I head there for graduate school or not. The vibe fits my personality, and the weather is incredible (not the weekend I visited though: 45 and rainy.) I had come here in summer 2007 for a job interview with HDR and loved it then. And the venue for rowing is one of my favorite in the country.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 12:15 pm and is filed under School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.