Cal Poly ITE cordially invites you to attend the 2024 Student Leadership Summit in San Luis Obispo from February 2nd-4th, 2024!
Cal Poly ITE is excited to host the 11th annual Western District Student Leadership Summit! It is an honor for SLS to be back in San Luis Obispo, where it all started. We are thrilled to have the opportunity for the members of Western District student chapters to share their passion for transportation, build relationships, develop leadership skills, and learn from one another. |
Registration
Early bird registration will end December 31, 2023.
General registration will end January 20, 2024. To register for the Summit, click the button below. *Update: We are sold out!* |
What's in Store?
Over this three-day summit, students and professionals will have the opportunity to tour transportation firms in San Luis Obispo, participate in engaging and educational activities, and network with other students and professionals. For more details, see the Tentative Itinerary below.
Students
160+ |
Professionals
40+ |
Ideas
∞ |
Click here to learn more about previous years' SLS.
Speaker presentations
Speaker Bio's
Saturday
Words from the Founders of the Summit
The Student Leadership Summit was founded by a group of Cal Poly ITE students who worked through 2013 and 2014 to plan the first-of-a-kind professional mini-conference, by students and for students. This group of Founders include Brian Sukkar (not pictured); back row: Graham Bultema, Victoria Edington, Nina Levine, Lauren Sotir, Briana Byrne; front row: Daniel Foye, Kevin Carstens, Krista Purser, Travis Low, Alexander Zhang, Sean Carney, and Troy Kawahara, all led by Committee Head Kaylinn Pell (held horizontally in front). The inaugural Summit attracted students from all over the West Coast and has spread to other Districts of ITE, and the Founders are excited to see the Summit entering its second decade! |
Words from Ray Davis
Ray is President of RED3 Consulting and has over 45 years of Traffic, Transportation and Public Works experience in both the public and private sectors. He served as Public Works Director (Belmont), City Parking and Traffic Engineer (Santa Monica) and Transportation Administrator (San Leandro) as well as providing contract professional services to the cities of Berkeley, Pacific Grove, and San Pablo. He developed a reputation for creative solutions to complex and politically sensitive issues. Ray is a co-founder of the Cal Poly, SLO Student Chapter of ITE and is celebrating his 50 th year of active involvement with the Institute of Transportation Engineers. He will be speaking on what makes a good leader and to encourage students to push the limits while in school. |
Technical Presentation by Adam Chase
Adam has over 25 years of experience and is a managing Principal and Executive Vice President at CR Associates whose experience includes developing diverse solutions for traffic and active transportation projects throughout Southern California. His expertise includes bicycle, pedestrian, transit facilities, neighborhood greenways, roundabouts, lane repurposing, multi-use trails, highways, and Caltrans encroachment permitting. Adam is a great mentor, a supportive colleague, and an excellent collaborator with staff and clients. He brings valuable insights into various features of project development including planning, funding, design, an agency approval for transportation construction, reconstruction, and retrofits. He will be speaking on CRA’s recent win designing the City of Ventura’s 4-mile Santa Paula Branch Line – Rails with Trails ATP Cycle 6 Project, by providing insights into a consultant’s perspective with community and innovation in mind. |
Technical Presentation by Lindsey Van Parys
Lindsey Van Parys is GHD’s Highways, Roads & Bridges Business Group Leader for the US West and has been working in transportation safety and engineering since 2004 and has been with GHD since 2012. She is a registered civil engineer in multiple states and works on projects spanning the globe. Lindsey is driven by a passion for improving people’s lives and the communities they live in, by using her knowledge, training, and skills to bring her ideals to life. Her background includes designing roundabouts, complete streets/streetscapes, multi-use trails, roadway and highway improvements, and many other various types of projects, taking them from the conceptual stage through to construction. Lindsey is involved in several professional organizations. She has been actively involved with ITE serving at different levels throughout the organization which started in an ITE Student Chapter in college and continues to this day through her current position as chair of the Council Leadership Team. She is also involved in ACEC, TRB, APWA and WTS. |
Technical Presentation and workshop by Brian Ray
Brian manages Sunrise Transportation Strategies, LLC. bringing more than 35 years' experience in multi-modal transportation planning, traffic engineering, and contextual roadway design. He is passionate about supporting communities from transportation systems planning to project implementation. He’s a nationally recognized subject matter expert via his national research leadership in topics supporting performance-based, contextual multimodal design. He enjoys sharing his technical and consulting experiences. Brian will speak on technical and professional leadership. |
Technical Presentation with Don Shupp
Donald Shupp serves as Vice President of Business Development for Econolite Control Products. He specializes in cloud-based signal performance and mobility platform deployments for Econolite and the PTV Group, under the joint brand name, Umovity. Mr. Shupp has 32 year’s experience in the traffic control industry, and was the founder of Western Pacific Signal (WPS) in 1997. Mr. Shupp has developed and updated the Model 2070 controller course for UC Berkeley, since 2012. WPS was acquired by Econolite last year, which has expanded the capabilities of this combined firm into providing improvements to traffic signal management systems, connected vehicle systems, advanced detection technologies, power backup, and managed private data networks. He is focused on fulfilling sustainable transportation designs, utilizing a host of cutting-edge AI based technologies. |
Technical Presentation and Workshop by Joe Fernandez
Joe Fernandez has practiced as a consulting transportation planner and engineer on the Central Coast for over 20 years. He founded Central Coast Transportation Consulting in 2011 to serve our region by developing and implementing safe and efficient local community mobility networks. He has been privileged to work on a wide range of local projects ranging from circulation elements to signal designs and everything in between. He has extensive experience conducting impact studies, planning mobility improvements, and forecasting travel demand and vehicle miles traveled throughout the Central Coast. His presentation will showcase the broad variety of local community projects that a small, established firm can work on. He will also describe the current private sector landscape, from multi-national conglomerates to the hundreds of small specialist consulting firms serving our communities. |
Workshop by Michelle Matson
Michelle Matson has 20 years of public and private engineering experience in transportation planning, traffic engineering, project management, design, and contract preparation and joined Central Coast Transportation Consulting in 2018. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is a Registered Civil Engineer and Traffic Engineer in the State of California as well as a level one Roadway Safety Professional. She previously served as the County of San Luis Obispo traffic engineer and has prepared traffic impact studies, grant applications, roadway safety analysis, bikeways plans, traffic signal plans, traffic control plans, and roadside sign and striping plans. Michelle looks forward to sharing her knowledge at the workshop. |
Workshop by Dr. Anurag Pande
Dr. Anurag Pande is a professor in the department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at California Polytechnic State University. Dr. Pande’s research interests include traffic safety and crash data, driver behavior, observational data applications in traffic safety, emergency evacuation, service-learning, and scholarship of teaching. He has led applied research grants (as PI or co-PI) worth more than $3 million from local, state, and federal agencies. He is the faculty advisor to the student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers — honored with the Best Student Chapter Award four times since 2014. He also oversees Cal Poly’s Service-Learning and Community Engagement program. |
Workshop by Michael Williams
Michael Williams is Principal of Michael Williams Company, a transportation consulting firm. He specializes in active transportation, the rural environment, edge lane roads, and traffic calming strategies. Michael has been involved both with the planning and design of active transportation facilities and public works construction management for more than 25 years. Michael advocates for, researches and presents on Edge Lane Roads (ELRs) in an effort to increase awareness of this new treatment. Michael’s website, edgelaneroads.com, is the most complete source of information on ELRs. In addition to fifteen years as a licensed public works general contractor, he holds three degrees and has been awarded more than ten patents. Michael is a member of APBP, ASCE, and ITE. |
Workshop by Paul Valadão
Paul Valadão holds extensive experience and knowledge of the capital project development process, Federal, State, and Local transportation policies and procedures, current transportation design standards, capability of civil engineering software, roles and responsibilities of various project development team members, and timely involvement of relevant stakeholders. Throughout his over two-decade professional journey, Paul has found the importance of teamwork – working with people, developing relationships, encouraging others, and continuously improving his own skills – a common factor in his successes. |
Workshop by Kevin Williams
Kevin Williams is a Professional Engineer on Consor’s Transportation Planning and Design Team in San Luis Obispo, CA. Kevin’s work primarily focuses on transportation infrastructure design from project planning to project construction throughout California. He is passionate about complex intersections and understanding user experience from a design implementation perspective. Graduating Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2019, Kevin is excited to bring a fresh view of current practices in roadway geometrics. |
Workshop with Hernan Gutierrez
Hernan Gutierrez is an Engineering Designer on Consor’s Transportation Planning and Design Team in Rancho Cordova, CA. Hernan has a diverse range of project experience including roadway geometric design and gravity flow drainage design. Prior to joining the Consor team, Hernan gained valuable experience through his internship with the City of Anaheim. Hernan holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of California Long Beach. |
Workshop with Ryan Caldera
Ryan Caldera is a Transportation Planner/Engineer at the City of San Luis Obispo focusing on active transportation, transportation safety, and engineering design. A Cal Poly SLO alumni, Ryan is a Professional Civil Engineer in the state of California and member of the American Institute of Certified Planners through the American Planning Association. Ryan serves locally as Secretary-Treasurer of the ITE Central Coast Section and regionally as Managing Editor of the ITE Western District. Ryan finds satisfaction in identifying unique solutions to complex problems, from parking operations to utility conflicts. He is excited to take part in a great seminar with ITE's best and brightest students! |
Dinner Banquet with Keynote Speaker Randy Iwasaki
Randy is the President and CEO of Iwasaki Consulting Services, Inc., spent over 10 years as Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation authority, and has another 27 years of experience working for the California Department of Transportation. He has been internationally recognized for his contributions to transportation research and innovation. Randy will be speaking on his experience in the industry as well as what he sees in the future for transportation, and particularly how soon-to-be professionals can make an impact.
Randy is the President and CEO of Iwasaki Consulting Services, Inc., spent over 10 years as Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation authority, and has another 27 years of experience working for the California Department of Transportation. He has been internationally recognized for his contributions to transportation research and innovation. Randy will be speaking on his experience in the industry as well as what he sees in the future for transportation, and particularly how soon-to-be professionals can make an impact.
Sunday
Keynote Address from Monique Chen
Monique, a founding Principal at CR Associates, has amassed a wealth of experience over the past 25 years providing active transportation and multimodal planning and engineering services to both public and private sector clients. As a registered engineer and seasoned mobility planner, or “plan-gineer,” Monique has overseen dozens complex and multidisciplinary projects ranging from active transportation plans, safety studies, mobility elements, corridor studies, transportation impact analyses, operational and demand assessments, and conceptual engineering, as well as master plans and specific plans. Enthusiastic, supportive, strategic, and fair-minded, Monique is an award-winning project manager who has led numerous mobility planning projects where active transportation and safety play a significant role in recommendation development.
Monique, a founding Principal at CR Associates, has amassed a wealth of experience over the past 25 years providing active transportation and multimodal planning and engineering services to both public and private sector clients. As a registered engineer and seasoned mobility planner, or “plan-gineer,” Monique has overseen dozens complex and multidisciplinary projects ranging from active transportation plans, safety studies, mobility elements, corridor studies, transportation impact analyses, operational and demand assessments, and conceptual engineering, as well as master plans and specific plans. Enthusiastic, supportive, strategic, and fair-minded, Monique is an award-winning project manager who has led numerous mobility planning projects where active transportation and safety play a significant role in recommendation development.
Panel with Joshua McNeil
Mr. McNeill serves as a Principal Engineer for Iteris’ Mobility Consulting Solutions, and has been with the firm since 2017. He is a registered professional Civil Engineer and Traffic Engineer with 16 years of experience working in the fields of transportation engineering and planning. Mr. McNeill manages projects that provide improvements to traffic signal systems, freeway traffic management, and multi modal networks. He is passionate about providing sustainable transportation design with an emphasis on systems engineering and utilization of emerging technologies. |
Panel with Zaki Mustafa
He has been very active with the Institute of Transportation Engineers since 1979 and served at all levels of ITE leadership: as a Student Chapter President, Section President, District President, International Board, and as the International President. Retired from the City in 2017 and started a non-profit with his wife Loretta. The mission of the organization is to restore and support the basic necessities of life to the needy and homeless through the provision of basic warm clothing and food, and to support those non-profit organizations which provide them shelter, with the ultimate goal of decreasing the number of cold and hungry, so that they may conduct their lives in a happy and dignified manner. |
Panel with Meagan Chan
Meagan Chan is a Civil Analyst on the Transit Design team at Kimley-Horn in San Jose, CA, Meagan has worked on a diverse range of transit projects including grade crossing improvements, bus maintenance facilities, track design, bus rapid transit, complete streets, zero emission vehicle transition, and quiet zone analysis and design. Before joining her team, Meagan gained additional experience through her internships at Caltrans, RailPros, and HNTB. Meagan is a proud alumnus of Cal Poly, graduating in 2021 with her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. She held numerous board positions across ITE, Chi Epsilon, ASCE, and RainWorks. Additionally, Meagan chaired the CEENVE Student Advisory Board during her time in college. Meagan continues to stay involved in ITE through her efforts on the ITE WD Student Funding and Initiatives Committee and founding of the Student Leadership Council. |
Panel with Sowmya Chandrasekhar
Sowmya is a licensed professional engineer in the U.S. states of California and Texas with more than 15 years of experience in the transportation industry. She currently works as a senior transportation engineer/project manager with Kimley-Horn in Los Angeles, CA. She has worked on a wide range of transportation projects including operations, traffic/parking studies, as well as design. She is passionate about safety and active transportation that improves mobility for all road users. She received her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India and master of science in Civil Engineering from Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO, USA. Sowmya has been an active member of ITE since 2014, has served on the ITE Southern California (SoCal) Section Board from 2016 to 2021, as Technical Program Chair for 2020 ITE Western District Annual Meeting, and is Leadership ITE alum. She was the recipient of ITE SoCal Young Transportation Engineer of the Year (2016-2017) Award and the ITE Western District Individual Achievement Award (2021). She is the LAC Chair for 2025 ITE Western District Annual Meeting to be held in Long Beach, CA. |
Technical Presentation by Ray Delahanty
Ray Delahanty is the creator behind CityNerd, a YouTube channel that explores urbanism, transportation, and all the things that make cities unique. The channel's point of view is strongly influenced by his professional background in transportation planning and traffic analysis. Prior to starting his YouTube channel in 2021, Ray's career spanned 15 years as a planner and project manager for consulting firms and public agencies in Portland, Oregon. |
Technical Presentation by Rob Sanders
Robert Sanders is a former radio news reporter and talk show producer who decided to jump feet first into transportation engineering. He writes and hosts the YouTube Channel, Road Guy Rob, where he bridges the gap between transportation experts and the general public. Rob holds degrees in Geography (BS) and Civil Engineering (MS) from Brigham Young University. |
Technical Presentation by Dave Amos
Dave Amos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. They are also the producer of City Beautiful, a YouTube channel about cities and city planning. Dave’s research interests include active transportation, land use, and street design. |
Technical Presentation by Taylor Rutsch
Taylor Rutsch is a Supervising Transportation Planner at the California High Speed Rail Authority (Authority) where he works on station access planning, project management, infrastructure delivery, and stakeholder engagement. He has been working in the public transportation industry for the past decade. Prior joining the Authority, Taylor worked as a Transportation Planner with San Francisco Bay Ferry and the Alameda County Transportation Commission, where he was dedicated to improving and expanding the public transportation network in the San Francisco Bay Area. Taylor is an Alumni of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and San Jose State University where he obtained a Master of Science in Transportation Management from the Mineta Transportation Institute. |
SPONSORSHIP
Help Make SLS Possible
Our SLS Committee is working hard to put together a fun and exciting schedule for both students and professionals. We hope to offer a plethora of events, including lunch and dinner banquets, and technical tours and presentations throughout this three day event, but we need your support and resources to put together a successful Summit. Your sponsorship will allow your firm to interact with students via technical presentations, the career fair, and mock interviews, and will help participating student ITE chapters continue to strengthen the future of the transportation community.
For more information on sponsorship benefits and how to sponsor the 2024 Student Leadership Summit, please see the attached Sponsorship Packet or reach out to us via the Contact Us page.
For more information on sponsorship benefits and how to sponsor the 2024 Student Leadership Summit, please see the attached Sponsorship Packet or reach out to us via the Contact Us page.
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Expressway
Highway
California High Speed Rail Authority
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Kimley-Horn
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Arterial
Boulevard
Iteris, Inc.