A student of the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED), Terrance Chen, was announced as the inaugural recipient of the $10,000 new Mobility Bursary created by subsidiary New Flyer of America Inc. (“New Flyer”) in partnership with supplier AROW Global Corp (“AROW Global”).
First announced in November 2021 and conferred through NFI Group Inc. Vehicle Innovation Center, a leading independent bus and coach manufacturer and a leader in electric mass mobility solutions, the award is focused on supporting underserved, underrepresented, or disadvantaged individuals that are enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and math (“STEM”) related programs and intending to pursue careers in the new mobility era.
Terrance Chen, a student of Environment and Business Program discusses the process of winning the bursary, how Waterloo has influenced his thinking, and his future plans.
Can you tell us about your journey to winning this award?
I found out about this scholarship through my former supervisor in CanU were I volunteered. To apply for the scholarship, you have to write an essay about what you think the future of transportation should look like. This scholarship is offered by a bus manufacturing company, New Flyer, based in Winnipeg where I lived before attending University of Waterloo. Ironically, Winnipeg has an objectively bad public transport system for a city of its size. New Flyer exports most of it’s products. Therefore, in my essay, I used Winnipeg as an example of where change should be made. I did lots of research. In my essay, I wrote about routes for a potential subway system. I talked about how good cycling and walking infrastructure not only has environmental benefits, but also social benefits such as improving physical and mental well-being for residents. I even mentioned how having such infrastructure helps existing small businesses to thrive, and encourages more new businesses to open.
How do you feel about the win?
This bursary motivates me to do well in university and pursue a career in which I can improve infrastructure, such as urban planning or entrepreneurship in improving transportation technologies. I am passionate about technologies that lead to a more sustainable future, like the public transit systems using alternative sources of energy.
In high school, caring about things such as transportation methods and whatnot was seen as “weird” or nerdy. Now that I have won the scholarship, it gives me confidence that caring about urban planning is definitely something that people do appreciate. In fact, in my residence building (Claudette Millar Hall), I overheard a group having a conversation about public transportation and I joined them. They really appreciated me sharing my thoughts and ideas. I now think that it’s cool to care about future of transportation.
How has your time at Waterloo influenced your views on transportation?
While transportation is mostly urban planning related, and I’m not in an urban planning degree, my degree has affected my views on transportation nonetheless. The courses I have taken in my undergrad degree in Environment and Business have changed how I think of sustainability. I was taught to question how things can be improved rather than to think that it’s good to be content with “the way it’s always been”. Unfortunately, I have realised that in our current society, sustainability is not valued enough. The current North American society unfortunately is almost completely designed to only benefit the automobile industry and oil industry, at the cost of the environment and everyone’s quality of life.
In addition, living here in Waterloo region has influenced what I think is good urban planning. In Winnipeg, I have never experienced good public transit. I used to think that good public transit could not be achieved in any Canadian cities since they’re mostly low density. However, despite being similar density to Winnipeg, Waterloo has a much better public transit system. What I liked the most so far on campus is the ION train. Another incident which influenced what I thought about urban planning was that the Uber I took from Toronto to Waterloo almost had an accident on the 401 highway, which reminds me of how dangerous cars are compared to other alternative public transit.
What is your next plan?
I want to explore more opportunities since it was expansion of my interests through volunteering that led to finding out about opportunities such as this scholarship. In university, we sometimes feel that grades should be the only thing to care about. While good grades did contribute to me winning that scholarship, it is important to do extracurriculars, and especially those that benefit sustainability efforts.
I will join more clubs that are related to sustainability. I already joined Fossil Free UW last year. In my spare time, I will read and watch more about urban planning. I watch Youtube channels about urban planning and what effective public transportation looks like.
I will apply for co-ops that involve governments or companies designing better transportation methods. That includes public transit, cycling, and cars running on alternative energy. Potential careers include not just urban planning, but also doing marketing and research for better public transportation methods.