New York Metropolitan Transportation Council
The prestigious September 11th Memorial Fellowship Program for Regional Transportation Planning annually motivates select students to explore creative, innovative solutions to transportation challenges under the mentorship of NYMTC staff and member agencies. Join us for a special NYMTC Brown Bag session showcasing their research on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
Abigail Alvarez
Rutgers University
RESEARCH TOPIC: Community-Focused Public Realm Programming with the New York City Department of Transportation
Natalie Aramendia
Columbia University
RESEARCH TOPIC: Elevated Infrastructure & Public Waterfront Access with the New York City Department of City Planning
Boshra Khalili
Columbia University
RESEARCH TOPIC: Computer Vision Mobility Counting Prototype with the New York City Department of Transportation
Sabah Usmani
Columbia University
RESEARCH TOPIC: Investigating the Relationship Between Street Projects and Health Outcomes with the New York City Department of Transportation
Megh Bahadur KC
University of Buffalo, SUNY
RESEARCH TOPIC: Designing a Freight Policy Tool: Driving Data-Informed Planning for the Future of Freight with the New York City Department of Transportation
Sri Sai Snigdha Anantharaju
New York University
RESEARCH TOPIC: Vision Zero Street Improvement Projects with the New York City Department of Transportation
2025 September 11th Memorial Fellowship Program
Afia Ibnat Subah is a Master of Science student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Afia’s fellowship is with the New York State Department of Transportation where she conducts research that determines latent demand and mode shift potential for shared mobility, micro-mobility, and active transportation across rural, suburban, and urban settings. Download Presentation
Bennett Jonathan is pursuing a Master of Science in Civil Engineering at Columbia University. Bennett’s fellowship involves spearheading a New York City Department of Transportation initiative to research and evaluate best practices to improve curb cut safety near schools. Download Presentation
Elliot Wareham is a Master of Urban Planning graduate from New York University. Elliot’s fellowship with the New York City Department of City Planning includes research into the public realm assessment of stations along the proposed Interborough Express (IBX) railway. The railway aims to connect the currently underserved areas of Brooklyn and Queens. This assessment includes land use and zoning and an urban design analysis of existing physical conditions, including key streets and corridors, open spaces, and station locations. Download Presentation
EunJin (E.J.) Shin is a Master of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Architecture graduate from Columbia University. E.J.’s fellowship with the New York State Department of Transportation focuses on exploring the use of open/crowd source data for transportation and community planning, and document international and national transportation and community planning examples of innovation. Download Presentation
Paula Yaghi Wareham is a Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rutgers University. Paula’s fellowship is with the New York City Department of Transportation and examines best practices in mitigating air and noise pollution from urban highways. Her research project identifies and summarizes existing lessons learned for urban highway mitigation worldwide, technology and innovation ready to be tested, and the applications for NYC’s own highway infrastructure. Download Presentation
Vivek Dsouza is pursuing a Master of City and Regional Planning at Rutgers University. Vivek’s fellowship with the New York State Department of Transportation explores the economic impacts of complete streets improvements and develops a process that transportation agencies and metropolitan planning organizations could utilize to measure the economic benefits of complete streets improvements along a roadway or downtown area. Download Presentation