2024 Scholarship Winners
Katherine Turnbull Leadership Undergraduate Scholarship – Elizabeth Hying
Elizabeth is a junior in Industrial & Systems Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Previous internship experience and coursework sparked her interest in Traffic Engineering. Elizabeth’s favorite leadership experiences thus far include being a UMN Welcome Week Leader and a College of Science and Engineering (CSE) Ambassador. Elizabeth is excited to delve further into the world of transportation as I pursue a career post-graduation.
WTS Minnesota Graduate Scholarship – Molly Hill
Molly currently works as a water resources design engineer for the transportation team at Bolton & Menk. She is also enrolled as a full-time civil engineering graduate student through Colorado State University online. So far, Molly has taken courses in infrastructure management, project management, urban stormwater, pipeline engineering, and water resources planning. Having just graduated from MSU, Mankato last spring, she is truly grateful for the WTS Graduate Scholarship!
WTS/MSES Workforce Development High School Scholarship – Nasra Wagad
Nasra is a senior at SPPS Online High School. She am the founder of a local book club that highlights underrepresented authors and emphasizes diversity in literature. She also helps the Somali adults in her community as a language learning assistant. Nasra hopes to pursue an education that makes transportation accessible for all. Her motivation stems from personal experiences with inaccessibility in the world of urban planning.
WTS/MSES Advancing Women in Transportation Graduate Scholarship – Emma Verkuilen
Emma is a Humphrey School of Public Affairs graduate student working towards completing her master's degree in urban and Regional Planning. This spring she obtained her bachelor's degree in urban studies with minors in African and African American Studies and Sociology at the University of Minnesota. Emma is part of the 4+1 program at Humphrey, which allowed her to complete her first year of graduate school and senior year of undergraduate simultaneously this past school year.
Emma's passion for planning lives within her, as a child who grew up constantly absorbing the world around her. She couldn't understand why people weren't being housed. Driving on 94, she always noticed the change in landscape, from industry and old houses to green space and new suburban developments. Today, all those observations drive her to ask questions that haven't been asked. Question why things can't be changed and what is in place that is barring change.
Emma is grateful to be recognized by WTS as a 2024 recipient. She wants to recognize her fearless boss, Hally Turner, who has seen Emma’s value, supported and advocated for her growth and success since Emma's first day on the Policy Planning team at MnDOT.
As a woman in a predominantly male field, Emma does not see gender as a barrier to her ability to make a change, but as a strength. To reinforce daily to colleagues the importance of empathy and place-making, and de-emphasize purely technical planning approaches that neglect how humans interact with our decisions. New ideas and approaches eventually get implemented; once it is realized, the old way can't be sustained through menial changes anymore.
WTS/MSES Workforce Development High School Scholarship – Erin Siemienas
Erin is a senior at Chaska High School. At school she plays the bass clarinet in band, is a captain of the swim team, and a member of the National Honor Society. In her free time, she works as a lifeguard and swim instructor, and is working on earning a Private Pilot License. Next year Erin is attending the University of North Dakota with a double major in Commercial Aviation & Safety and Operations. Her plan is to fly for the airlines someday and inspire other women to join this incredible profession.
Dan Meyers High School Scholarship – Naveena Srinivasan
Naveena is a senior at Roseville Area High School. She is involved in Art Club and Band, and outside of school she dances and plays the piano. Next year, Naveena plans to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in Civil Engineering. She hopes to focus on safety in transportation, but also the many Human Factors that affect how people react to traffic and environmental regulations. Naveena hopes to encourage a new mindset of engineering and inspire other women to join this field!
WTS Minnesota Technical Scholarship – Ruby Daniels
Ruby is currently a student at the University of Minnesota’s Electrification engineering program. As one of the inaugural students of the program she is excited to apply technical skills she learns in the program to her current work with electric bus infrastructure at Metro Transit. She is enthusiastic about the future of electric buses and happy to contribute to the transition of public transit to Zero-Emission buses.
Donna Allan Undergraduate Scholarship – Sophia Hardman
Sophie is a 3rd year undergraduate student studying transportation engineering at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Last summer, she completed an internship with HNTB in Milwaukee this past summer working on a bus rapid transit and a passenger rail project. Sophie is passionate about the importance of public transit in creating more resilient places and environments.