TRAFFIC21 WOMEN IN TRANSPORTATION FELLOW, 2020 – 2022
Hajra joined Carnegie Mellon University’s MSPPM-DA program in 2020 as a transportation fellow for Traffic21 Institute. Reflecting on her time as a student of Heinz College, she feels honored to have had the opportunity to become a part of the CMU community and be surrounded by some of the best minds under one roof. For someone who deeply cares about how their work impacts society, Hajra says Heinz College turned out to be a perfect fit where she was constantly reflecting and exploring impact of different technological breakthroughs on society at large and how to maximize their social benefits. Her coursework, projects and research mostly centered around transportation and mobility that constantly opened up multiple pathways, especially within the autonomous mobility space which landed her an internship at Aurora, a self-driving vehicle technology company. Since then, she has started to critically understand autonomous driving technology and was able to further expand her research to multi-modal transportation systems including autonomous delivery robots through her research assistantship in the Civil Engineering Department at CMU.
“Joining CMU as a Traffic21 fellow truly set the foundation of every milestone that I achieved in graduate school. With the help of this fellowship, I was not only able to explore opportunities on-campus within the space of transportation and mobility, but also assume leadership roles on multiple occasions and carry out multiple community-led initiatives for Pittsburgh community at large.”
Upon graduation, Hajra has joined EBP-US as a Data Analyst- Transportation Economics focus and currently working with multiple DOTs, state agencies and other stakeholders to conduct mileage-based user fee socio-economic equity analysis, benefit-cost studies and cost optimization projects.
She hopes her work continues to improve the state of transportation and mobility by making it sustainable, equitable and accessible for communities across the globe.
