CTR Highlights Recent Graduate
Kristen Torrance
Kristen Torrance, fall 2007 MS graduate in Civil Engineering, recently accepted a Traffic Engineer position with Parsons Brinckerhoff of Boston, Massachusetts.
Torrance, who studied transportation engineering while at UT Austin, is no stranger to the New England Area. She is originally from Southeastern Connecticut, less than two hours from Boston.
“I haven't been in New England since high school though, so the Boston weather is definitely going to be shocking. I'll just have to come back to Austin to visit in the winter months,” said Torrance.
While at UT, Torrance worked on TxDOT Project 0-5755, The Effects of On-Street Parking on Cyclist Route Choice and the Operational Behavior of Cyclists and Motorists.
“I really enjoyed this project because it gave me the opportunity to work on multiple aspects of a research project—data collection, data reduction, and data analysis—all which will be invaluable resources when I start working. Interaction with the PMC and the bicycling community also showed me the importance of collaboration. By feeding ideas off other professionals in the transportation and bicycling fields, it really helped to make our product the highest quality. CTR Researcher, Ian Hallett, was also amazing to work with on this project and his expertise taught me so much that I will definitely be able to carry into my career,” said Torrance.
Torrance’s favorite research experiences while at UT were working on the TXDOT project and her Master’s Thesis.
“Before coming to Texas, I never owned a bicycle and didn't understand the serious implications that result from bicycling and on-street parking. Through my personal bike riding experience, going into the field to collect data, and being a member of bicycling listservs, it has shown me the importance of integrating bicycle and pedestrian facilities into the transportation infrastructure. These are issues that I had never really thought about in the past, so I really enjoyed this challenge,” said Torrance.
When asked about her favorite and most difficult class, Torrance said, “I've really enjoyed all of my transportation classes here, but my favorite was Dr. Machemehl's Advanced Traffic Engineering. It was a great introduction my first semester in grad school and provided a good balance of theoretical and practical applications. The hardest class was probably Dr. Bhat's Discrete Choice Modeling. It really challenged me to learn and understand the statistical background, but in the end we all got a lot out of the course.”
Dr. Machemehl was not only Torrance’s professor, but also her advisor. When asked about Torrance, Machemehl said, “Kristen is outstanding. I asked her to help develop the final report for the bicycle project last summer and she rapidly learned what Ian was doing, developed a clear understanding of the project objectives and wrote an excellent report. That report became her thesis that I plan to nominate for a UTC award during the next award cycle (FY 07-08). She also contributed significantly to an SWUTC research effort. I understand that she is a very good soccer player as well.”
Machemehl is right. In addition to taking difficult courses in a tough program, Torrance also played goalkeeper on the UT Women’s Club Soccer team. Managing her time for all of her activities is what Torrance found the most difficult part of being an MS student.
“Coming out of undergrad you just have classes, so at first it was a lot harder to allocate time between more intense classes than I had before and the twenty hours of research each week. I also played on the UT Women's Club Soccer team, so we had multiple practices each week and traveled a lot around Texas for games, so I didn't always have a weekend to catch up.”
Luckily, in her new career, Torrance will be able to combine her passion for athletics with her knowledge of transportation.
As a Traffic Engineer for Parsons Brinckerhoff, she will work on a variety of projects, some focusing on parking, pedestrians, and traffic flow for new sports and entertainment facilities.
“I'm really excited that the company I'm working for does a lot with sports and entertainment facilities, since soccer has always been my passion. I'm glad that I'll be able to use everything that I have learned from UT and UVA to help me succeed in an engineering career and to be able to incorporate athletics.”
When asked what she will miss most about her time at UT, Torrance says, “My best memories will be all the time that I've spent with my amazing friends and classmates. Our ITE Holiday Party last year was a success, so I'm looking forward to that again this year. We have grown so close in a short period of time, and I will miss my friends a lot.”