NCITE (North Central Section Institute of Transportation Engineers) and ITSO (Interdisciplinary Transportation Student Organization, ITE Student Chapter at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) had a joint meeting on Monday, October 8 in Mississippi Room on campus. About 70 professionals from NCITE, ITS MN et al., along with 26 students attended the meeting.

The meeting started with the recognition of NCITE scholarship recipients for year 2012. Then Nick Thompson from MnDOT introduced `MAP-21, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act’. The whole meeting lasted for about 2 hours.

Three VIP guests were invited to the meeting, to recognize their constant sponsorship of ITSO for years. They were: Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) director: Laurie McGinnis, CTS Program Coordinator: Shawn Haag, ITS MN president: Matt Gjersvik.

This meeting offered a good opportunity for students to connect with professionals. Also, brochures of transportation related professional organizations were distributed, to publicize them to students.

Figure: ITSO sponsors. Front row (from left to right): Laurie McGinnis (Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) director), Xuan Di (ITSO President), Dawn Spanhake (CTS Assistant Director). Back row (from left to right): Nick Erpelding (NCITE President), Matt Gjersvik (ITS MN President).