UCI’s Uriah Campos Named PSR Undergraduate Student of the Year

University of California, Irvine (UCI) senior, Uriah Campos, was recently named the Pacific Southwest Region Undergraduate Student of the Year. Campos is majoring in Urban Studies with a GIS Specialization, and a minor in Management. 

“I met Mr. Campos when he applied last spring for a position as an Undergraduate Research Assistant as part of the Transportation Undergraduate Research Assistant Program here at the Institute for Transportation Studies, Irvine,” notes UCI Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michael Hyland, who nominated Campos for this award. “I am his faculty advisor for his research project, Equitable Design of Shared E-bikes and E-scooter Systems within American Cities. This summer and fall, as part of his research, Mr. Campos investigated the implementation and design of shared e-bike and e-scooter systems within several US cities. He performed a spatial equity analysis utilizing ArcGIS to create maps and visualizations of spatial data illustrating the relationship between e-bike and e-scooter service quality in comparison to neighborhood demographics.”

Campos completed transportation-related research projects in each of his sophomore, junior, and senior years, and his research has been recognized broadly.  He was invited to present his research at the 2024 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Forum on Integrated and Sustainable Transportation System (IEEE FISTS) in Riverside, California in February of this year, at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC in January, to California Secretary of Transportation, Toks Omishakin and UCI in August, 2023, and at the 2023 Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Regional Conference and General Assembly in Palm Desert, California this past May.  He was also selected to represent UCI at the California Transportation Foundation (CTF) to participate in the 2023 CTF Education Symposium in Walnut Creek, California this past November, and was awarded and Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Travel and Publication Award to facilitate his progress this academic year.  Campos is also a high performing student, maintaining Dean’s Honor list status through his junior and senior years.

Campos’ career goal is to design cities for optimal and sustainable transportation systems. “I am so honored to have received the PSR Undergraduate Student of the Year award,” Campos shares. “I am deeply appreciative to be recognized for all the hard work and research that I’ve been able to complete as an undergraduate here at UCI. I am thankful to have worked with everyone who has offered me their help and support, especially my advisors at the UCI Institute of Transportation Studies. I have been able to learn from so many great experiences and opportunities that I am thrilled to take with me as I graduate and enter a career within the field of planning.”

“Uriah is an exceptional student who is a pleasure to have in my research group. He shows great promise as a young researcher, and will represent PSR well,” adds Dr. Hyland.

Campos will present his research and receive his award at the PSR Annual Congress this spring in Las Vegas, Nevada.