Transportation symposium at UWM goes next-level

Eight men, standing in a row, flanked by tall banners.
Jay Otto, Banyan Collaborative (from left); Bryan Porter, UWM Graduate School dean; David Noyce, associate dean, UW-Madison College of Engineering; Scott Lawry, Deputy Secretary, WisDOT; David Hubbard, WisDOT Assistant Deputy Secretary; Ali Abedi, UWM Vice Chancellor of Research; Andy Graettinger, UWM associate dean; and Xiao Qin, director of UWM's IPIT and civil engineering professor are some of the main players in hosting the symposium.

The annual Southeast Wisconsin Transportation Symposium grew into an even bigger event than last year with record-breaking attendance and an inaugural Student Research Poster Competition.

Nearly 240 registrants from across the state and in multiple disciplines participated with 12 industry-leading sponsors and 22 speakers.

Co-hosted by the UWM Institute for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation (IPIT) and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), the symposium focused on the theme “Advancing Multi-Modal Integration in Wisconsin.” Multi-modal integration refers to the design of networks that help people easily switch from one mode of transportation to another during a single trip.

A room full of people listening to a speaker. Two screens in the back display PPT tiles.
This event brings together academics, students, and practitioners to network and share knowledge on topics of interest to transportation professionals.
A young Black man speaks at a podium
Olanrewaju Emmanuel Ogunniyi, UWM PhD student, civil & environmental engineering, gives a three-minute explanation of his research poster.
A young Asian woman points to a poster while she speaks to a guest on her other side.
Xiao Liang, UWM PhD student, civil & environmental engineering, explains her research to a symposium guest during the Student Poster Competition.
Five people in a row, three men and two women. The middle three are holding award plaques.
Michael Hoelker, director of the Bureau of Project Development at WisDOT (left) and Andy Graettinger, associate dean of the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science (far right) pose with winners of the Student Poster Competition: Bofeng Cao, (left of Hoelker), UW-Madison; Ruolin Yang, UW-Madison; and Olanrewaju Emmanuel Ogunniyi, UWM.
A group of young men stand around a poster listening while the one on the far right talks about it.
Carter Thompson (right), UWM graduate student, urban planning, joined engineering students in presenting research at the symposium.
Eight men and one woman (far right) stand in a line and look at the camera
Members of IPIT include (from left): Xiaowei “Tom” Shi, assistant professor; Yang Li, scientist; Xiao Qin, professor and director; and graduate students Dhruv Naidu Alti; Olanrewaju Emmanuel Ogunniyi; Muhammad Fahad; Mohammad Abrari Vajari; Narayan Rai; and Xiao Liang.

And, for the first time, student research was on display with the addition of a poster competition.  

A total of 12 posters, half from UWM and half from UW-Madison were judged after each student gave a three-minute pitch.

Congratulations to the top place holders:

First Place: Bofeng Cao (UW-Madison)

Second Place: Ruolin Yang (UW-Madison)

Third Place: Olanrewaju Emmanuel Ogunniyi (UWM)

Beside Ogunniyi, these UWM students, also competed:

  • Muhammad Fahad (civil & environmental engineering)
  • Xiao Liang (civil & environmental engineering)
  • Narayan Rai (civil & environmental engineering)
  • Mohammad Abrari Vajari (civil & environmental engineering)
  • Carter Thompson (urban planning)