CEE Student Earns Scholarship

Jan. 24, 2018 - Civil and environmental engineering graduate student Felipe de Souza is a recipient of the Miguel Velez scholarship ($6,000), which supports students from Latin American countries who show outstanding academic achievement and future promise. A doctoral student in transportation systems engineering, de Souza is working with Professor Wenlong Jin to study and understand mathematical models of traffic.

“If we better understand the traffic dynamics, we can better manage the traffic and, hopefully, this will lead to less wasted time in traffic,” explained de Souza, who is from Brazil. He uses ramp meters on freeways as an example: if properly adjusted, he says, allowing vehicles to enter the freeway at better intervals, traffic would improve, including vehicles that waited longer to enter the freeway.

“I am really happy to be awarded the Miguel Velez Scholarship. It will help me focus on my research in which I have been working with colleagues in my country. I believe that working with people from my country… is a way to return the opportunity given to me.”

– Lori Brandt