CANADIAN TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH FORUM

NAMED SCHOLARSHIPS 1999-2000

CN Scholarship ($4000)

Mr. Jake Kosior, University of Manitoba, Ph.D.

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3T 2N2 tel (204) 474-9801
fax (204) 474-7530 e-mail kosior@ms.umanitoba.ca

Jake M. Kosior is the Senior Research Associate of the Transport Institute. He has been with the Transport Institute for the past three years. Jake's specialties are intermodal logistics, and his main interests are: agri-business and international supply chain logistics, grain transportation, containerization, transport and trade policy, and applications of geographical information systems (GIS) for transportation.

Prior to his research work at the Institute Jake worked in industry for ten years as a private consultant and worked with Canadian Pacific Railroad and Reimer Express Lines

Mr. Kosior is playing a significant role to develop logistics education in Manitoba under the auspices of the University of Manitoba Transport Institute's Certificate in Logistics Program. Jake instructed the Logistics Fundamentals Course and plans to develop a course on international logistics. He is a current member of the National Transportation Week Committee, past member of the Canadian Standards Association Committee on Occupational Health and Safety and was a past Chair of the United Way Campaign at Canadian Pacific Railway.

Mr. Kosior is pursuing a PhD in industrial engineering and economics. His dissertation will focus on containerization of Identity Preserved Grains (IPG) and the implications for Western Canadian agriculture, and development of innovative economic analysis tools to assess the financial viability of new infrastructure under dynamic conditions.

Externally, Jake is a coach for his neighbourhood 4-6 year olds' hockey program, coached a girls bantam baseball team and is an avid hockey player himself. Jakes resides in Winnipeg with his wife Irene and three children.

CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY SCHOLARSHIP ($4,000)

Mr. Paul Salvini, University of Toronto, Ph.D. Civil Engineering

Paul Salvini is a Ph. D. candidate in Civil Engineering at the University of Toronto where he is working on the design and development of a microsimulation modeling software package called ILUTE. The goal of the ILUTE project is to create a model that will allow researchers and policy-makers to understand the long-term effects of transportation and land use decisions.  Paul's transportation interests also include real-time traffic control technologies for rail, vehicle, and air modes. From 1992 until 1994, he worked as a Systems Specialist in the Train Control Systems group at CP Rail. From 1994 until 1996, he worked as a Programming Supervisor at Metro Transportation in the Traffic Signal Control Section. Since 1996, Paul has worked at Side Effects Software as the Director of Research and Development. Side Effects Software is a Toronto-based company that develops 3D graphics and visualization software. Paul has a Master of Applied Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Toronto (1998) and an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo (1992).

BOMBARDIER SCHOLARSHIP ($4000)

Ms. Bonnie-Lynn Robertson,  University of British Columbia, Masters of Science Business Administration

Since 1981, I have been employed as a bilingual (English/Spanish) flight attendant with Canadian Airlines International. During this time, I have worked as a union officer, volunteered as a reservation agent, and been based in Lima, Peru, Honolulu, U.S.A. and Auckland, New Zealand.

Before beginning my formal education, I took the Canadian Securities Course and graduated from it with honors. In 1984, I began my undergraduate work at the University of Western Ontario. In 1998, I graduated Dean's honors list with a B.A. in honors economics. During my undergraduate program, given that the transportation industry is highly unionized, I wrote an empirical research paper analyzing the union /non-union wage differential in Canada. In addition, motivated by the increasing presence of charter carriers in Canada, my fourth year research thesis studied the effect of the entrance of low cost carriers on Canadian domestic airfares.

My undergraduate education and my airline experience have fostered an intense interest in transportation, motivating me to undertake further study. I am now in the second year of the Master of Science in Business Administration program at the University of British Columbia. My specialization is transportation and logistics and my advisor is Professor Tae Oum. Special areas of interest are the impact of low cost carriers on Canadian domestic airfares, the affect of the North American open-skies agreement on Canadian airlines, the affect of European air transport deregulation on European air carriers, and the impact of global alliances on human resource management and employee relations. To date, I have taken courses in mathematics for economics, transportation economics, air transportation, transportation research methodology, business performance and public policy, econometrics, and supply chain management. To complete my studies I am taking microeconomic theory, model simulation, information technology, finance, and marketing.

Upon completion of my graduate degree, I plan to work as a transportation analyst. This may be either in the financial sector, in a consulting organization, or in the transportation industry.

CTRF PRESIDENT'S SCHOLARSHIP ($4,000)

Mr. Paul Christensen, University of Saskatchewan, Ph.D.

Following the completion of both Bachelor and Masters degrees in Economics at the University of British Columbia, Mr. Christensen worked as a consulting economist in the transportation field. During his tenure as a consulting economist, Mr. Christensen had the opportunity to work with a number of experienced practitioners on projects encompassing aspects of transportation safety, discrete choice and aggregate demand modeling, benefit-cost analysis, transport logistics, and economic impact analysis. Since one of the most recent projects completed lent itself to more rigorous and original research, Mr. Christensen decided to pursue Ph.D. studies at the University of Saskatchewan. Following completion of his graduate studies, Mr. Christensen intends to continue his career in consulting with emphasis in the area of transport infrastructure management. Should the opportunity arise, Mr. Christensen would enjoy combining this work with additional teaching and research responsibilities at a Canadian university.

CANADIAN TRANSPORTATION EDUCATION FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIP ($4,000)

Mr. Stephen R. Ellsworth, University of New Brunswick

After obtaining an undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada and working in the private sector for two years after graduation, Mr. Ellsworth entered a Master's program at the University of New Brunswick during the fall of 1998, and has been pursuing a degree in transportation engineering. His course work in transportation has focused on the implications of theoretical material especially as it relates to policy-making and business practices, and has included courses dealing with traffic engineering, airport and aviation planning, transportation management, transportation simulation, and transportation data analysis. He is currently conducting his Master's thesis which focuses on forecasting air passenger travel in the Atlantic Provinces and expects to be completed his degree in the Spring of 2000.

Mr. Ellsworth has gained significant exposure to the field of transportation and new career avenues through the broad-based spectrum of courses offered through the UNB transportation program. He has found that his interests lie in areas where transportation intersects other fields such as government policy, business and urban planning, and particularly in the social and environmental implications of transportation engineering. Mr. Ellsworth looks forward to pursuing a career in either the public or private sector where he will be both challenged and permitted to demonstrate the knowledge and skills developed in previous educational and employment experiences.