Students Shine at Annual WTS International Conference

Last month, WTS International hosted its annual conference in Austin, Texas. The event spanned over three days with more than 600 corporate and governmental industry leaders worldwide in attendance.  Topics such as autonomous technologies, transportation funding, shared mobility solutions, innovative data collection methods, professional development, and more were discussed.

Every year the President and CEO of WTS International, Marcia Ferranto, selects a young professional who has leadership potential in the transportation engineering field to shadow her during the Annual WTS Conference. The nomination process is competitive as it involves submission of credentials and a statement of interest. This year, UFTI’s very own Ria Kontou was selected to shadow Ferranto. Kontou is a Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering specializing in transportation under Dr. Yafeng Yin. She is also the WTS Florida Gator Student Chapter vice president.

In her write up in the WTS Central Florida professional chapter’s newsletter, Kontou went into detail about her time with Ferranto.

During the first day of the conference, I had a seat at the table during the WTS Board of Directors and the WTS Foundation Board meetings. I now appreciate what it takes to successfully run a non-profit organization such as WTS. I also participated in the WTS strategic planning meeting, which is only conducted once every five years; it was exciting to join the discussion about future WTS actions that further advance women in our field.

The next day, Marcia introduced me during the Executive Women’s and the Women Business Owners’ Roundtable; there, I laid foundations for professional relationships with women and men who are at the forefront of the transportation industry. We also attended the Chapter Leaders’ breakfast where thoughts on strengthening collaboration between student and professional chapters were shared, as well as ways to increase local chapters’ membership and look for sustainable funding mechanisms.

During the final days of the conference, by shadowing Marcia, I had the opportunity to meet and interact with Lilly Ledbetter, who inspired the Fair Pay Act. Her speech emphasized the importance of speaking out about pay discrimination issues or inequalities and was highly motivational.

Another distinguished figure that I had the honor to interact with, was the former US Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood. Secretary LaHood gave me pragmatic advice on leading a successful transportation career and was very interested to hear about my accomplishments as a Ph.D. student and as the vice president of the WTS Student Chapter at the University of Florida.”

Another UFTI student in attendance was Yinan Zheng, who will be graduating this summer with her Ph.D. in civil engineering.

Like Kontou, Zheng has been very involved with the WTS Florida Gator Student Chapter during her time at UF. She served as website chair and has participated in various other community events. In these last three years, she has been a recipient of several scholarships offered by two Florida WTS professional chapters:

  • Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship, WTS South Florida Chapter (2016)
  • Frankee Hellinger Graduate Scholarship, WTS Central Florida Chapter (2015)
  • Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship, WTS South Florida Chapter (2014)

While at the conference, Zheng attended lectures on a variety of topics such as automated and connected vehicles, big data, female leadership and funding opportunities.

“The conference is also a very good opportunity to build connections, know more great females working hard in the transportation field across the country,” Zheng said. “Their stories and experiences are valuable, especially for a student or early-career professional.”