Announcements
Announcements from the Texas A&M University ITE Student Chapter, including information about upcoming meetings, events, and other items of interests.
Submitted by ite on November 3, 2009 - 4:12pm
I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weather in the first week of November. I would like to let you know about some events TAMUite has coming up in the next week.
Professor Appreciation Potluck
The annual professor appreciation potluck gathering will be held this Saturday (November 7) at 3:00 PM at the University Apartments Community Center. We have sent a couple of e-mails out already about this event and many of you have responded and volunteered to bring some food to share. If you are planning to come and bring food, please let Susan Paulus know what you are bringing (e-mail: spauluscm@aol.com). If you do not have time to cook, or you are like me and do not cook very well, I suggest picking up a bag of chips or other snacks from the store on your way to the potluck. Please let me know if you need a ride or more information.
General Meeting November 10
Our next general meeting is one week from today, Tuesday, November 10. Our guest speaker will be Rachel Hayden, P.E., President of Hayden Consulting. The topic of the presentation will be "Starting Your Own Consulting Firm." The presentation will focus on the opportunities and challenges of starting your own transportation consulting firm and some of the projects Hayden is currently working on. I encourage all of you to attend, particularly if you are interested in starting your own consulting firm during your career. Free sandwiches from Potbelly will be served. Please join us next Tuesday at 5:30 PM in CE Room 118.
Submitted by ite on October 1, 2009 - 11:12am
Just wanted to remind you about some events we have coming up...
Adopt-A-Highway (Saturday)- Please meet in the back of Lot 50 at 9:30 AM. We will have a quick safety meeting and head out to the site. Please wear closed-toed shoes (no sandals or flip-flops). Long pants and a hat are recommended. Other safety gear and all supplies will be provided by ITE.
Cookout @ Dr. Hawkins' (Saturday)- If you have not RSVP for this event please do so especially if you are bringing a side dish or dessert. Dr. Hawkins has already sent out an e-mail about the event with more details.
General Meeting (Tuesday October 6)- Our next general meeting will be on Tuesday, October 6 in CE Room 118 at 5:30 PM. The meeting presentation will be given by Robert Wunderlich, ITE Vice-President, who will be discussing "ITE and Your Career." See attached meeting flyer for more details. Free dinner from Fazoli's will be provided to all in attendance.
That's all for now. See you Saturday!
Submitted by ite on September 2, 2009 - 11:47pm
Howdy TAMUites!
Now that you are all settled here in B/CS and the first few days of classes are behind you, it's time for the ITE Student Chapter to kick-off the 2009-2010 academic year. Read on to get some more info about some events we have coming up in the next couple of weeks. If you are new to the program or have not participated in ITE events for a while, please consider attending these events and learn more about what ITE is all about.
Our first meeting of the new semester will be next Tuesday, September 8 at 5:30 PM in CE Building Room 118. The speaker will be Jim Dale, Vice President of PTV America, giving a presentation on "Innovative Technologies for Traffic Analysis." The focus of the talk will be on the software package VISSIM, which is in widespread use by transportation consultants for a variety of applications. Free dinner from Chipotle will be provided to all in attendance and we will have a door prize-an autographed copy of country music singer Granger Smith's new CD. Information on how to join the ITE Student Chapter will be available as well. I hope to see you all there next Tuesday at 5:30 PM.
Next Saturday, September 12, we will have our first Adopt-A-Highway litter cleanup of the new semester. For those that are unfamiliar with the program, our Chapter cleans litter off a one-mile stretch of highway outside of Bryan four times per semester. We will meet at 9:30 AM in the back of Parking Lot 50 on campus and carpool out to the site. More information and sign-up will be available at the meeting Tuesday. We normally go out for lunch after the cleanup activity, but we will not this time because we will be having a cookout at Dr. Hawkins' house starting a 2:00 PM. More information about that will be available on Tuesday as well.
If you would like more information about upcoming TAMUite events, please see the attached Fall 2009 events schedule or visit the Student Chapter website at http://ite.tamu.edu.
Submitted by ite on June 3, 2009 - 8:18am
Welcome to summer! I want to let you know about some events we have coming up in the next two weeks. This issue of TAMUite Announcements has a common theme, but I will leave it up to you to figure out what that theme is.
First, There will be a TAMUite General Meeting (first of the summer) next Tuesday, June 9 at 11:30 AM in CE/TTI Room 217. Note that this is a lunch meeting and not an evening meeting. The speaker will be Dale Picha from the City of Bryan, Texas presenting on "Traffic Control for Special Events: 2009 Texas Reds Festival in Bryan, Texas." The presentation will focus on local traffic engineering and operational issues associated with street closures and parking for the Texas Reds Festival in Downtown Bryan to handle the more than 20,000 visitors to the annual festival. Pizza lunch will be served to all those in attendance. I hope to see you all there next Tuesday.
Second, we will be having a field trip to the City of Bryan Development Services Open House on Friday, June 12 from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Transportation engineers and planners have a lot of interaction with local agencies such as this and the Open House gives us a unique opportunity to see what The Development Services Department does and to meet the professional staff. There will also be a free lunch. To learn more about the City of Bryan Development Services Department, please visit: http://www.bryantx.gov/departments/?name=planning. More details and sign-up will be available at the June 9 meeting.
Finally, TAMUite has been asked to provide some volunteers at the 2009 Texas Reds Steak and Grape Festival in Downtown Bryan. This will be the second year that TAMUite has volunteered at the event. We need to fill 16 two-hour shifts throughout the day on Saturday, June 20. Shifts are two hours in length and go from 8:00 AM until Midnight. Volunteers will recieve a free hamburger meal and a volunteer T-shirt. For those who did not participate last year in the event, it is a blast and once your shift is over you can stay and enjoy the festival. For more information about the festival, please visit: http://www.texasredsfestival.com/. Please respond to me via e-mail if you would like to volunteer or if you have any questions. Sign-up will also be available at the general meeting on June 9.
That's all for now. See you Tuesday if not sooner.
Submitted by ite on May 19, 2009 - 4:19pm
Howdy TAMUites!
I hope that you all have recovered from finals and have settled into whatever you are doing this summer, whether you are still here in College Station, at an internship outside of Aggieland, or studying abroad. I have a few items that I would like to share with you regarding summer activities.
Summer Activities For those in area, we have a few official events (and probably some un-official events too!) planned for the summer. I have attached the tentative schedule below, so mark your calendars for summer fun! As usual, visit the TAMUite website ( http://ite.tamu.edu) for the latest and greatest events schedule.
Student Posters at ITE Annual Meeting As many of you know, the ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit will be held this August 9-12 in San Antonio. You may have also seen a few e-mails about the Student Poster Sessions that will be hosted by ITE at the Annual Meeting. I want to encourage any member who is interested in submitting a poster for the Annual Meeting to do so. There are many reasons to submit a quality poster, but among the most compelling is that they are an excellent way to meet and network with professionals with similar interests. The deadline for responding to the call for student posters is Monday, June 1. Please click on the links below for more information or to submit your poster for the meeting. Also, if you submit a poster, please drop me an e-mail and let me know so we know how many of you have expressed interest in the sessions.
Other Annual Meeting Info In light of the Annual Meeting being held right in our backyard, there will be no TexITE Summer Meeting this year as in past summers. Thus, I expect that TAMUite will have a major presence at the upcoming Annual Meeting, just like the TexITE meetings. We are still in the process of working out some logistics for the Annual Meeting, so stay tuned for more details. In case you did not get the insert to last month's ITE Journal, you can check out the Annual Meeting website at ( http://www.ite.org/annualmeeting/) to learn more about the Meeting schedule, speakers, and other events.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to your e-mails for more announcements of official and un-official events planned throughout the summer.
Submitted by ite on April 25, 2009 - 3:00pm
Howdy TAMUites!
As the end of the semester draws near, I need to let you know about some fun activities we have coming up in the next 2 weeks.
The final TAMUite general meeting of the Spring 2009 semester will be held on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 5:30 PM in Room 118 of the CE Building. Bob Appleton, Director of Transportation Planning and Development at the Texas Department of Transportation Bryan District will be giving a presentation on the status of major projects in the Bryan/College Station area, including an overview of the projects that are funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the "stimulus" bill. Mr. Appleton will also discuss the different ways that consultants or local government staff work with TxDOT district offices to keep Texas moving. Dinner from Panda Express will be provided, so bring a friend and see you next Tuesday at 5:30.
The Brazos Valley ITE Section will be having a general meeting on Thursday, April 30 at 12:00 Noon in Room 103 of the Gibb Gilchrist Building on west campus. Bill Stockton will be speaking on "Transportation Needs and Revenue Pictures in Texas." Lunch from Jason's Deli will be provided at a cost of $6 for students. If you would like a lunch, please RSVP at http://www.texite.org/bv by Tuesday, April 28.
TAMUite will be hosting an end-of-the-semester cookout and potluck on Saturday, May 2 from 4:30 to 7:30 PM. We are going to try and have this event at Hensel Park, which is just north of the University Apartments on South College Avenue, but we'll announce the location on Tuesday once we have finalized the plans. We will be grilling burgers, hot dogs, and maybe some of Sunil's famous veggie kabobs. TAMUite will provide the main courses and drinks, but we will be counting on you to bring a side dish or a bag of chips. There may even be a contest with prizes for the best side dish, so you do not want to miss out.
Another end-of-the-semester tradition for TAMUite is the study break. This semester, the TAMUite study break will be held on Thursday, May 7 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in Room 217 of the CE/TTI Tower. Pizza will be served around 11:30 AM and we will present the Spring 2009 Participation Award shortly thereafter. The Study Break is a very informal event and you are free to come and go as your schedule permits. Feel free to bring a dessert to share, if you have time for baking during the semester-ending madness!
I know everyone is working hard to finish their papers, projects, and studying for finals. If you need a break from all the fun, join your fellow TAMUites at some of these events. They all have food, and after all, you gotta eat, right?
Submitted by ite on March 23, 2009 - 10:34pm
Howdy TAMUites!
Hope you all had a wonderful spring break week. I want to fill you in on some events and deadlines of interest that are coming up soon.
There will be a Brazos Valley Section ITE meeting on Thursday, March 26 at 12:00 Noon in Room 102 of the Gilchrist Building on west campus. The speaker will be Bart Benthul of the Bryan/College Station MPO presenting on "Current and Future Travel Demand Modeling and Forecasting Activities in Brazos County." Lunch from Jason's Deli will be available for those who RSVP by Tuesday, March 24 at 5:00 PM (Cost to students will be $6.00). RSVP on-line at: http://www.texite.org/bv/. You can also bring your own lunch if you so choose. I encourage all of you to attend Thursday's meeting and get a taste of what the professional sections of the ITE organization are all about.
The Institute offers its student members the opportunity to apply for numerous scholarships and fellowships to support our educational endeavors. The deadline for to apply for most of these scholarships or fellowships is April 1. Please visit this link http://www.ite.org/education/scholarships.asp for more information.
Finally, I want to let you know that one week from tomorrow, on Tuesday, March 31, there will be a TAMUite general meeting at 5:30 PM in CE Building Room 118. Our speaker will be Mr. Jerry Fleming, P.E. of Freese and Nichols presenting on "End-Around Taxiways at DFW International Airport." Dinner will be provided from Fazoli's. Mark your calendars and bring a friend.
If you have any questions about these events or any other questions about TAMUite, please feel free to contact me at tamuite_president@yahoo.com. Have a fantastic week!
Submitted by ite on March 13, 2009 - 5:22pm
As many of you know, Texas A&M University spring break will be next week, March 16-20. Enjoy the break, relax, and get ready for more TAMUite fun in the second half of the semester. For those that are traveling this week, please be safe. See you all on the day classes resume, Monday, March 23.
Submitted by ite on February 24, 2009 - 4:25pm
The City of College Station is in the process of updating its Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Greenways Master Plan. An online survey is available for those that are interested in contributing to this update. Click on the link below and you can navigate to the online survey. The survey will be available through February 28.
http://www.cstx.gov/hikeandbike/
Submitted by ite on February 24, 2009 - 4:05pm
Howdy TAMUites!
I have several announcements for you tonight. We have a lot of exciting events coming up on the TAMUite calendar, so read on or risk missing out on all the fun!
The next general meeting will be on Tuesday, February 24, at 5:30 PM in CE Building Room 118. Our speaker will be Troy Rother, P.E., City Traffic Engineer from the City of College Station and he will be presenting on "The College Station CARES Program." It should be a very interesting presentation about the City's red-light camera program. As usual, dinner will be provided (pizza from Papa John's). I hope to see all of you there on Tuesday.
We are once again going to be offering the opportunity for you to make some extra money doing turning movement counts at intersections around town. This year, we will be paying $15 per hour and you do not want to miss out on that kind of extra cash. No experience is necessary! We are also implementing some new safety training procedures that you will be required to understand before you go out in the field. After the general meeting on Tuesday, at 7:00 PM in CE Building Room 137, there will be a brief (half-hour) training session for those wishing to participate in traffic counts. Anyone who attends the training session will be paid for a half-hour of their time, provided that you count at one of the intersections for at least 2 hours. You can also sign up for shifts at Tuesday's training.
There will be a Brazos Valley ITE Section meeting on Wednesday, February 25 at Noon in Gilchrist Building Room 102. The speaker will be R.J. Porter of TTI presenting about the Highway Safety Manual. Lunch from Jason's Deli will be provided for $6 to those who RSVP by Monday, February 23 at: http://www.texite.org/bv. I hope to see many of you at that event as well.
Next Saturday, February 28, we will be doing our regular Adopt-A-Highway litter cleanup on our stretch of highway near Lake Bryan. We will meet at the back of Lot 50 on campus at 9:30 AM and carpool out to our site. After the cleanup, we will be going to Boston's Pizza for social activity and lunch provided by TAMUite. There will be a sign-up sheet at Tuesday's meeting. The more people we have cleaning up litter, the quicker we get done and can go to Boston's, so please consider coming out next Saturday and doing your part to Keep Texas Beautiful.
Finally, we are still planning a field trip to the Houston Rodeo on Wednesday, March 4. On the field trip, we will tour the Rodeo's transit operations center and see why they are the best in the nation at transit for special events. We will also stay for the rodeo and concert if there is enough interest. We are currently planning to leave College Station around 10 AM and return around Midnight. Cost for the field trip will be $10, which will cover our admission to the Rodeo grounds for that day. There will be a sign-up sheet at Tuesday's meeting for this tour, which should be a really good time.
That's all for now. Hope to see all of you on Tuesday.
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