Donald Katz

For the summer, I have come on board as a research assistant on a project at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education. This research center is located on NC State’s Centennial Campus. I found myself here after emailing my friend and former classmate (while he was still a PhD candidate) Dr. Bastian Schroeder who works in their Highway Systems Group.

The project I am working on is a study of an all-weather paint product for use in work zones, headed up by my former mentor Dr. Joseph Hummer. The new pavement marking was developed by 3M and tested earlier at the Texas Transportation Institute, but we have been contracted by 3M to study it through a field evaluation. Typical pavement markings are retroreflective in dry conditions through the use of glass beads embedded in the paint, but when it rains, they do a poor job reflecting the headlights back to the user. The 3M system has special elements that are retroreflective even when under a layer of water, making it safer for the user to drive in dark rainy conditions. The image below shows a microscopic closeup of the 3M system with both glass beads and 3M’s specially designed elements. The two following show pavement markings without the 3M elements and with the 3M elements. In both of those, the image on the right shows the lane lines’ retroreflectivity in wet conditions. Note how the lane lines are much more difficult to see without the 3M elements when under water.

In our experiment we are choosing work zones that will require lane shifts in Wake and other neighboring counties in North Carolina.  Our goal is to see how drivers react to the different lane markings in nighttime rainy conditions. To gather this data, we are monitoring the placement of the pavement markings, and setting up cameras at the work sites to collect video of vehicles operating in nighttime rainy conditions. For me, it means I’m out in the field a lot with my hardhat and orange vest setting up cameras, running retroreflective tests on the lane lines, and overseeing their placement by contractors. It will be an exciting summer.

I took the image below during my first day in the field on I-85 near Henderson, NC. On the left is the standard pavement marking with only glass beads. On right is the 3M pavement marking with the 3M’s retroreflective elements also dropped onto the paint with the glass beads.

In order to help fund my graduate studies, I was recently awarded a Dwight D. Eisenhower Fellowship by the Federal Highway Administration. I had to quickly notify Georgia Tech so that the award could be processed. Although I did not receive the top level of funding, the version of the fellowship I received provides funds aimed to help students attend the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, held every January in Washington, D.C.

My graduate school decision process is finally complete, I have chosen to attend Georgia Tech starting this autumn. My advisor will be Dr. Michael Meyer in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. At Georgia Tech, I intend to pursue a dual degree program to earn a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of City and Regional Planning. Narrowing my choices down took a lot of thought and I spent time considering all aspects of each school. After visiting all the programs I was still considering three: Georgia Tech, Berkeley, and Texas. It was very difficult to make the final choice as each school and program offered something I wanted unique to that place. But now I am headed for Atlanta in August.

On April 3, I attended MIT’s visitation day for prospective students in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. After a breakfast for all students visiting the department, those of us who were accepted into the Master of Science in Transportation program, about twenty of us, were taken by Dr. Joseph Sussman to go through our day of activities. Various research groups presented what their current research is about before we headed to lunch. In the afternoon we were provided time to visit the two research groups we were most interested in so we could  ask questions, in which I chose to hear from Dr. Joseph Ferreira in Urban Planning and then John Attanucci and Mikel Murga from Transit.

One interesting aspect of this visit was a chance to listen to a talk by James A. Aloisi, Massachusett’s Secretary of Transportation. As part of a speaker series at MIT, he was discussing the issues facing the Commonwealth and the ways he is hoping to take progressive steps to solve them. I was glad the department allowed us to sit on this talk, it made the visit unique. In considering all my potential schools, I had already evaluated the lecture series they have running, and I applaud MIT for showcasing it to us.

After a Q&A session with current students, we were brought to a reception to interact with them as we pleased. The evening ended with them taking us out in Boston to eat, drink, bowl, and shoot pool. I enjoyed the visit because it had the most variety of events throughout the day of schools I have been to so far. Boston of course is a great city, and I relished the chance to go up for the weekend. I also got to take Amtrak’s Northeast Regional train there and back.

On March 19, the University of California-Berkeley’s transportation engineering faculty and students hosted myself and four other potential graduate students. This was not the main visitation for prospective transportation students, which on April 10 clashed with my family trip to Cleveland, but instead was an Open House for the entire Civil and Environment Engineering (CEE) Department. At least 200 students were there, but again, only five for transportation. About 40 more will show up on April 10.

With this day not being as big of a day as the later visitation, we spent most of the day with professors, and were able to meet the students later at night for dinner. I was contacted late to set up a stay with a current graduate student, and had already arranged to couchsurf at someone’s place in Berkeley (first time actually couchsurfing!) It worked out well, and my couchsurfing host showed me parts of Berkeley I would not have seen otherwise.

The visitation day consisted of an opening breakfast hosted by the CEE department, meetings with faculty, a lunch from CEE, and dinner with graduate students. As a group, we had the chance to meet all the faculty currently on campus (two are on sabbatical, but we caught one real quick in the building.) I did not get to see much of where my workspace would be, and I missed out on seeing their transportation library which is one of the best in the country. Instead I saw lot of campus, taking several chances to walk around it. It is perhaps the most beautiful I have ever seen. The professors fielded all our questions and were excited to remind us about the breadth the program offers. After meeting them, I felt I would most likely end up working Dr. Adib Kanafani, Dr. Joan Walker, or Dr. Mike Cassidy. But at Berkeley, unlike the others, I will have a stronger tie to the City and Regional Planning department, and I am told I need to talk to Dr. Robert Cervero there.

Berkeley seemed to be a very exciting place, and along with the entire Bay Area, I see why people enjoy living there. This was my first time in Northern California, and I could tell how different its vibe was from other parts of the country. This feeling was strengthened by my stopover to see friends in Palo Alto.

This year’s Fulbright Annual Report mentions my experience in its short section on Bangladesh. Each country has one to two short blurbs about Fulbright Scholars and Fulbright Students that visited in the last year. Also in the Bangladesh section is a blurb about Dr. Ahrar Ahmed from Black Hills State University in South Dakota. I could not find an online version of the Annual Report, so below is the text and the photograph they used:

Fulbrighter Experiences Culture of Bangladesh

Donald Katz, 2007 Fulbright Student, pictured left in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is a civil engineering graduate student of North Carolina State University. His Fulbright research is focused on public transportation. He was affiliated with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. [photo caption: U.S. Fulbright Student Donald Katz (far right) and friends in Bangladesh.]

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.

Last week Dr. Moshe Ben-Akiva from MIT called me to let me know I was accepted into their Master of Science in Transportation program. In the follow-up email they informed me I would be funded through the MIT Energy Initiative Fellowship. This was the last school I was waiting to hear from. Their visitation is in early April, and I plan to go up to Cambridge for it.

I have until April 15 with all schools to notify them of where I will attend. I already informed Purdue that I would not be attending. I am midway through visiting schools, meeting with faculty and students at Texas and Georgia Tech in the last two weeks. Berkeley is this week.

On March 6, Georgia Tech’s transportation engineering faculty and students hosted myself and three other potential graduate students. The students of the program gave us a tour of campus and the Sustainable Education Building which houses the transportation labs and faculty offices. In the afternoon I had the opportunity to talk with five faculty members, including Dr. Michael Meyer and Dr. Adjo Amekudzi who I would likely work most closely with if this is where I choose to study. They ended the day with a casual reception, at which most faculty and students were in attendance.

I enjoyed the two days I was in Atlanta, and felt comfortable in the academic environment they have in the transportation engineering group. It was seven years since my last visit to this campus, when I came with my mother as a junior in high school. This was one school I had really wanted to attend for undergraduate studies, and I would have had I not received that phone call from Rafaella at NC State’s Park Scholarship office suggesting I apply to be a Park Scholar!

The end of February marked my last day at the Regional Plan Association. On February 26 I presented my study on high speed rail in the Northeast Corridor to RPA staff and one of my interviewed stakeholders. I have taken comments from the presentation and used them to update my report. I still have more comments I have received from other stakeholders through email, and still must incorporate those as well. When the report is complete, I will post it here.

The site visit on the northern end of the NEC was a great experience. It was helpful to see firsthand the development near the tracks, and understand all I have viewed through satellite imagery. As well, I collected data on how long it took the train to travel between points on the NEC, and was able to compare the speeds of the Amtrak Regional and Amtrak Acela trainsets. I could not resist having my photo taken with the Acela’s engine cab.

Interning at RPA was a great experience. Firstly, I feel very priviledeged to have worked with the RPA staff whose expertise in planning and the NYC region created a vibrant work atmosphere. I also enjoyed getting the chance to work on railroads. It has been a fascination of mine since childhood, and now I can say it is a top area I want to work with professionally. Lastly, I found that I do enjoy planning work. The increased focus on policy and land use is something I want to incorporate into my education. I am quite confident now that I will pursue a dual Master’s degree wherever I go to graduate school: a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of City and Regional Planning.