Gorripaty, Leshner Earn WTS Awards

September 14, 2017

Two transportation graduate students are garnering notice for their contributions to the field of transportation. ITS Berkeley master’s student Eleanor Leshner and doctoral student Sreeta Gorripaty received awards from the San Francisco chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar (WTS) Foundation.

Leshner was awarded the Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship. It was established in 1981 by WTS International to encourage women to pursue career paths in transportation. The scholarship is awarded to women pursuing graduate studies in transportation or a related field.
“It’s an honor, I am excited to receive this award from WTS,” says Leshner. “This award will help towards my studies and fulfilling career goals to improve transportation both in the US and abroad.”
Leshner is working on her dual master’s degree in transportation engineering and city and regional planning under advisers Karen Frick and Elizabeth Deakin. She is most interested in promoting sustainable transportation, specifically improving public transportation systems and better understanding institutional relationships. She is currently studying inter-agency coordination and innovative project delivery methods at the California-Mexico border.
Leshner earned her bachelors degree from Middlebury College in environmental economics. She is the UC Berkeley student liaison for WTS and is a member of the UC Berkeley Transportation Society (TRANSOC) and Planning Students Association.

Gorripaty earned the Leadership Legacy Scholarship. Established in 2007, the Leadership Legacy Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding young woman pursuing graduate studies working toward a career in transportation or a related field, and who demonstrates a specific interest in advancing transportation innovation in the international arena.
“It’s exciting and encouraging to win this award,” says Gorripaty. “This field needs more women and to be supported by a system like WTS and meet women already in the field is amazing.”
Gorripaty is a doctoral student in transportation engineering, specializing in aviation under Mark Hansen. She took her appreciation of flying and traveling as her inspiration to make the experience better for all by improving air traffic management using Machine Learning and Data mining techniques.
She earned her MS in civil engineering at UC Berkeley and her BTech in civil engineering from the India Institute of Technology Mumbai. She is the TRANSOC president and a seminar coordinator for the ITS 2015 Fall seminar series.
The awards will be presented on May 14, 2015 at the annual meeting of the organization, and both women have been given the opportunity to vie for the organization’s international awards.