Civil engineering graduate receives prestigious Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship
Friday, Dec. 15, 2017
MANHATTAN — New Kansas State University civil engineering graduate Blake Moris, Manhattan, has been selected by the Federal Highway Administration to receive a Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship for 2018. The program provides fellowships and funding to students pursuing master's or doctoral degrees in transportation-related disciplines.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awards the fellowship annually to 150-200 exceptional students around the country. The 12-month, $31,900 award Moris received includes $10,000 for tuition, a $1,700 per month stipend, and $1,500 for travel to the upcoming annual meeting, Jan. 7-11, 2018, of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C.
Moris is a December 2017 graduate of Kansas State University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He will start work on his master's degree in civil engineering at the university in January 2018.
Under the supervision of Eric Fitzsimmons, assistant professor of civil engineering, Moris will research overweight and oversized freight flow and safety on the state's roadways, using the Kansas Truck Routing and Intelligent Permitting System, or K-Trips.
"I expect this research project to have far-reaching results within Kansas and the Midwest region, where transporting goods and services by truck is critical to the economy," Moris said.
As an undergraduate, Moris was a member of the Kansas State University Marching Band, serving as drum major in fall 2017 — a position he will also hold in 2018.
The Center for Transportation Workforce Development, a part of the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, manages activities that integrate transportation into college and university programs, with the aim to increase the number of postsecondary students interested in pursuing transportation-related careers as well as helping to retain top talent in the U.S. transportation industry.
