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Kittleson and Associates is a traffic engineering/transportation planning firm. Actually we get involved with
all aspects of transportation. So it includes planning of the facilities, the
design of the facilities, the operation of the facilities, and also policy related elements.
Planning sort of how governmental policy might apply to the development of the transportation
system. Our firm is made up of people not just from
civil engineering, but they also come from industrial engineering, mechanical engineering,
electrical engineering, and they don't just come from engineering.
They come from math and science, physics, geography, and not just the sciences. They
also come from music and sociology and accounting. All of those different fields have something
to offer in the area of transportation.
The students that are coming into this field of transportation today will be entering into
a whole new era. It's an exciting time when you're actually helping to define and create
the world as it changes, as it transforms. It's very similar
to what happened back in the early 1900's when we went from the horse and buggy system
to cars. Today we're going to these automated cars and connected
vehicles and technology is transforming. Cars that don't crash. Technology is changing the
way we practice engineering and the way that we help and improve the quality of life in
our communities. Well beyond what we can imagine right now and that's happening
in the next 10 to 15 years. I think that the regional centers are an important
bridge between the kinds of things that we're doing and the people who we would like to
see come into this transporation profession. From the perspective
of high school students and junior high school students, I think the centers have a great
opportunity, just by their location, by their presence, by the name recognition that they
create for themselves to reach more of these students and inform them
about this great opportunity that exists in this field. That way to introduce them to
us through that process. I'd like to say that the schools provide
the knowledge, but the jobs that we have provide experience. When we put the knowledge and
experience together, that's when we get really informative and significant changes in the
built environment. In the communities that we have. So that judgement
that comes out of that has to come from the combination of those two and the first step
on the road is building that knowledge infrastructure and providing the bridge back to it. That's
what the centers I think can do. The work that you do is not just for someone
else. It's for your parents. It's for your neighbors. It's for yourself. The benefit
of the kind of work that we do is when we re-time a traffic
signal or add a left turn lane at an intersection or change the circulation pattern in the downtown,
we also drive on those roads. We experience the effects personally of what we have done
and what we have changed and we can see it changing
the lives of the people, the commuters or the mothers or the children, the bicyclists
and the pedestrians. All of those things we can have an impact on.
A positive impact at improving their quality of life. Making the trip easier. Making the
trip safer, quicker. All of those elements.