WWU alumnus wins prestigious transportation fellowship from Federal Highway Administration

Western Washington University alumnus Alexander (A.J.) Garcia, from Spokane, has been awarded a prestigious Dwight David Eisenhower Graduate Transportation Fellowship from the Federal Highway Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Garcia graduated from WWU in the spring of 2010 and now is pursuing a master’s of science degree in Urban and Regional Planning form Florida State University.

For the fellowship, Garcia will be conducting research on a public transit-related topic. His research will be presented at the 2012 annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington, D.C. In addition, he will be interning the summer of 2011 at TriMet, the public transportation agency in Portland, Ore.

While at Western, Garcia served on the Associated Students Transportation Advisory Committee as a freshman. He attended the American Public Transit Association conference on transportation and university communities in 2008. He was hired as the Associated Students Alternative Transportation coordinator in 2008-2009 and again in 2009-2010. He also completed an internship with Whatcom Transportation Authority during the summer of 2009.

“I'm very excited and grateful to be given this fellowship, and I know that the work that I did in Bellingham at both Western and WTA went a long way toward being chosen as a recipient,” said Garcia in a press release.

The estimated amount of the fellowship is $31,900. The fellowship award includes tuition, stipend and travel expenses to attend the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in January.