In September 2018 students in post graduate and undergraduate courses at Monash University in Melbourne organised a Transportation Engineering Student Leadership Summit.

It was done under the auspices of the Australian and New Zealand chapter of the Institute of Transport Engineers ITE.

The summit is a scaled version of the model that Student Chapters of the ITE initiated in North America in 2012.

It is a chance for students to learn about the profession; and network with their peers and older professionals. But they were also given a project, in this case to look at the Box Hill town centre which is struggling to make the most of its identity and has a large bus depot and train station that are uncomfortably separated by some distance.

By developing their ideas, the groups of students got to work in one of a number of teams and to present their results to a large audience .

The summit started with a keynote speech from Anita Curnow who is the Executive Director of Access and operations at VicRoads, the road authority for the state of Victoria.

Students commented that Anita’s presentation was enlightening and encouraging. It was personable, not partronising.

Anita graduated as a Civil Engineer in the early 90s and she tossed up between a career in hydraulics or traffic engineering. I caught up with Anita at morning tea and asked her why she went into transportation.