Martimo Region VIII Student of the Year

Engineer in Training is the precise definition of Matthew Martimo's education and work as associate research fellow with the Advanced Traffic Analysis Center (ATAC). His enthusiasm and experience are also why Martimo is the 2002 Region VIII Student of the Year. He was among 32 awardees Jan. 13 during the Transportation Research Board 82nd Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The Mountain-Plains Consortium nomination came from Martimo's research on trip generation rates. His question - "Where does the traffic go?" - led to specific analysis of school and university trip generation rates. Martimo collected primary data through traffic counts at schools, and short interviews with students and parents. His methodology will allow small and medium sized cities to better account for these trips without needing to process traditional survey data.

His work ties into the ATAC Travel Demand Modeling Support Program implemented by Martimo and Ayman Smadi, director of ATAC. Their goal is to develop a resource for transportation planning modeling suited for small to medium size urban areas.

He likes working in a field that is growing, likes the intellectual stimulation, and doing the investigations that will provide practical benefits to people and transportation.

Martimo also likes the big puzzle of high-end analysis. Combining GIS, traffic analysis programs, simulation models and travel demand modeling software together to create practical solutions to problems, he leads the development of software enhancements to traffic simulation models. He recently accepted the responsibility of being the lead member of the ATAC team for teaching Synchro and VISSIM training courses.

His work has allowed him to become uniquely familiar with traffic operations and transportation planning. Integrating and linking engineering and long-range planning are challenges he embraces.

The Mountain-Plains Consortium supported Martimo's nomination as the University Transportation Center Program award winner. He was among Region VIII candidates from Colorado State University, North Dakota State University, University of Wyoming and Utah State University. This was the 12th Annual Outstanding Student of the Year Awards ceremony. For the past 11 years, the Department of Transportation has honored the most outstanding student from each UTC.

Martimo plans to continue at North Dakota State University, earning his master of science in civil engineering this summer. He holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from NDSU and is registered as an Engineer in Training having passed his Fundamentals in Engineering exam.

Continuing at ATAC will allow him to earn his license as a professional engineer. He was president of the ITE student chapter and is a member of Golden Key National Honor Society. Martimo is active in local and regional transportation organizations.