SYDE’s own 4th year student Emma Swarney has won a competitive external scholarship in part for her research work in transportation systems.

Emma is a student at the University of Waterloo studying Systems Design Engineering - an interdisciplinary engineering program which she pursued with the hope to tackle urban planning and transportation issues. Emma explored a variety of jobs through the co-op program, including working as an Undergraduate Research Assistant on a conference paper studying a transit-integrated ridesourcing pilot in Waterloo. She became the first author of the paper, which she will present at the Transportation Research Board’s 100th annual meeting in January.  Emma is currently working on her engineering capstone project with an aim to create a tool to help transit planners and advocates quantitatively assess transit networks for equity – something that currently does not exist in industry. Emma volunteered at Canada Learning Code teaching women and girls programming skills, oversaw the Women in Engineering efforts by the Waterloo Engineering Society, and has contributed to the annual HeForShe writing contest for gender equity. Emma is also a volunteer at TTCRiders, a grassroots organization that advocates for passengers and equitable transit service. Emma plans to attend graduate school next year, and hopes to combine her passion for transportation with her technical experience to help create a more equitable, just world for all.