Blog Post 1 - Introduction

 Hi everyone, I'm Amy. I'm a traffic engineer- and researcher-in-training as a PhD student at OSU, where I also got my bachelor's and MS. In between undergrad and grad school, I worked for a couple years as a traffic engineer at a civil consulting firm in Phoenix, AZ. Now I study how people interact with the built environment--especially how we can improve the experience of all road users, like pedestrians and bicyclists, through novel infrastructure design. When I'm not doing transportation, I like to be traveling, in nature, or trying out a new recipe. Last summer, I had the incredible opportunity to hike the John Muir Trail, which is 200-something miles of backpacking through the Sierras. It was really hard and really beautiful and I feel really lucky that I had the opportunity to do it. That's me at the right, after reaching the southern terminus. I was looking forward to a hot meal and a shower....

I'm excited to be on this sustainable mobility adventure with y'all to learn more about the transportation experience in other countries. Specifically, I'm interested in the bicycle and pedestrian experience, the different kinds of infrastructure erected to support it, and the culture surrounding it--especially when bicycling and walking comprises a relatively large split of mode share. Besides learning about transportation, my personal goals for the program are to have fun, get some exercise, meet people also interested in transportation, keep an open mind, and eat lots of Dutch food. See y'all soon!

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