Established in 1994, the James H. Kell Award honors the late ITE Western District fellow and Honorary Member James H. Kell who passed away in July 1991. The competition intends for student chapters to develop innovative solutions to a transportation problem and to encourage participation in the profession. In 2002, then-Career Guidance Chair Charlie Ebeling introduced the Student Competition, and the following year, the Western District Board approved the renaming of the new competition to the Kell Award due to the level of participation.
The Kell Competition encourages ITE student members to attend and participate in Western District Annual Meetings, provides networking opportunities for students and professionals, and creates a fun atmosphere in which students can acclimate to the Annual Meeting. The District issues a request for proposals (RFP) inviting ITE student chapters to design and run the student competition at the Annual Meeting. The winning student chapter is awarded up to $1,500 to cover material costs and travel expenses to attend the Annual Meeting.
- Deadline: Proposals due May 1st to the Student Funding & Initiatives Committee Chair
- Notify the Student Funding & Initiatives Committee Chair of your student chapter’s intent to attend the Annual Meeting and the Kell Competition by June 1st.
- Winning student chapters prior to 2020 reflect the Western District boundary prior to the creation of the Mountain District.
| Year |
Award Winners
|
|---|---|
| 2024 | RFP Award: University of Southern California – “Transitopolis: Building Sacramento’s Future” |
| Student Competition – 1st Place
Joey Watson – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
2nd
Bennett Phelps, Oregon Tech
Rob Rudy, UC Berkeley
3rd
Liana Wang, UC Berkeley
Maximilian Krouse, Oregon State
|
|
| 2023 | RFP Award: University of California, Berkeley – “Portland Transit Game“ |
|
Student Competition – 1st Place
Olive King – UCLA Kelly Chan – UCLA
2nd
Kai Vincent – USC
Alex Wong – USC
Dhruv Chakraverty – USC
3rd
Josh Ogden – BYU
Matthew Davis – BYU
|
|
| 2022 | RFP Award: Oregon State University |
|
Student Competition – 1st Place
Gabe Denson – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Garett Davis – UC Berkeley
Bryan Kao – UC Berkeley
2nd Jason Ng – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Sophia Tan – UCLA
Bennett Phelps – Oregon Tech
3rd Leif Tuel – Oregon Tech Nathan Sharafian, UCLA
Jacob Hamanda, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
|
|
| 2021 |
Hosted by the Student Funding and Initiatives Committee
|
| Student Competition – 1st Place Joshua Dungca – UCLA Alyssa Inoue – UCLA Sophia Tan – UCLA Andrew Wong – UCLA 2nd Cody Lim – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Philip Yang – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Lauren Zuend – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 3rd (Tie) Jacob Hamada – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Emily Lin – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Jason Ng – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 3rd (Tie) Eileen Chai – Oregon State McKenna Milacek – Oregon State Namu Timilsina – Oregon State Jane Weber – Oregon State |
|
| 2020 | Hosted by the Student Funding and Initiatives Committee |
| Student Competition – 1st Place Natalie Gray – BYU Sami Lau – BYU Bruce Wang – BYU 2nd Logan Bennett – BYU Justin Hunter – BYU Camille Lunt – BYU Mason Shoaf – BYU 3rd (Tie) Zachary Fucini – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Jacob Hamada – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Bryant Lee – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Emily Lin – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Philip Yang – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 3rd (Tie) Kassidy Kightlinger – Oregon Tech Lauren Krueger – Oregon Tech Cynthia Roe – Oregon Tech Caroline Schulze – Oregon Tech |
|
| 2019 | RFP Award Brigham Young University – “MiteY Rice” |
| 2018 | RFP Award California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo – “Amass Transit” |
| 2017 | RFP Award University of California, Berkeley |
| 2016 | RFP Award California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo |
| 2015 | RFP Award Sacramento State University |
| Student Competition – 1st Place Noel Le – Cal Poly Pomona Elias Garcia – Cal State Fullerton Jordan Frustaci – Brigham Young University Natalia Brown – Brigham Young University Robert Harmon – Cal Poly Pomona Brendan Byron – University of Wyoming Kevin Carstens – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Jose Palma – Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 2nd Alexander Sequeira – Cal Poly Pomona Jacob Murray – Oregon Tech Brian Jouflas – Northern Arizona University Kevin Liang – Brigham Young University Janet Ye – UCLA XuQi Feng – UCLA Isabel Hemerly Viegas de Lima – UC Berkeley Gregory Sanchez – Brigham Young University |
|
| 2014 | RFP Award Cal Poly San Luis Obispo |
| Student Competition – 1st Place Allison Bruner – University of Kansas Christian Tran – UCLA Johnny Truong – Cal Poly Pomona Casey Knecht – BYU Dick Apronti – University of Wyoming Alvin Lam – UC Davis 2nd David Chang – BYU Kwaku Boakye – University of Kansas Jaime Hepner – University of Wyoming James Fok – San Jose State Karen Kulesza – Sacramento State 3rd (Tie) Mark Shisler – Cal Poly Pomona Saly Heng – Cal Poly Pomona Armando Soto – University of New Mexico Prathmesh Argade – University of Kansas Elias Garcia – CSU Fullerton Mario Flores – San Diego State 3rd (Tie) Casey Le – UCLA Adrian Cortez – CSU Fullerton Danny Nguyen – Sacramento State Vishal Sarikonda – University of Kansas Elizabeth Ruedas – UC Irvine Sara Lay – UC Irvine Adrian Torres – San Diego State |
|
| 2013 | RFP Award California State University, Sacramento |
| Student Competition – 1st Place Marion Cartas, Cal Poly Pomona Leonardo Flores, San Diego State Vijay Sabawat, University of Wyoming Andrew Scales, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 2nd Mattew Vo, CSU Fullerton Robert Kopelk, Cal Poly Pomona Seishi Yamagata, BYU 3rd Kevin Lu, Cal Poly Pomona Paul St. Pierre, Cal Poly Pomona Eric Milliken, University of Wyoming Arturo Sotomayor, San Diego State |
|
| 2012 | RFP Award University of Nevada, Reno |
| Student Competition – 1st Place Matthew Feeley, Cal Poly Pomona Gurtej Gill, UC Irvine Travis Low, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Martin Nguyen, Cal State Fullerton Gretel Ochoa, Cal Poly Pomona 2nd Marion Cartas, Cal Poly Pomona Octavio Duran, Jr., UC Irvine Saly Heng, UCLA Russell Oyewole, CSU Sacramento Matt Schaible, Montana State Paul Van Dyk, CSU Long Beach 3rd Keven Carstens, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Robert Kopelk, Cal Poly Pomona Trisha Munoz, Cal Poly Pomona Ryan Quach, UC Irvine Vijay Sabawat, University of Wyoming |
|
| 2011 | RFP Award University of Washington |
| Student Competition – 1st Place California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 2nd California State University, Fullerton University of Arizona 3rd University of Wyoming |
|
| 2009 | RFP Award UC Berkeley |
| Student Competition – 1st Place Ryan Miller, Cal Poly Pomona Ryan Conrad, Portland State University Enrique Biche, Cal Poly Pomona 2nd Jessica Troemner, University of Wyoming Zebulun Coulter, University of Wyoming Paolo Baltar, UCLA 3rd Jenna Buddemeyer, University of Wyoming Karthik Konduri, Arizona State Andy Kosinski, UC Berkeley 4th Brandon Lacap, San Diego State Kristie Gladhill, Portland State University Alan Moore, University of Wyoming |
|
| 2007 | Tied for 1st – Strength Nathan Mustafa, Cal Poly Pomona Tony Symanovich, University of Seattle Matt Marineau, University of Seattle Tao Zhong, UW Tied for 1st – Strength Audrey Naral, UCLA Adam Parast, UW Josh Crain, Portland State University Yao-Jan Wu, UW 1st – Design Sarah Karjala, Montana State Julian Hernandez, Cal Poly Pomona Monica Joyce, Portland State University Isidro Abreo, Cal Poly Pomona 2nd – Design Neelam Sharma, UC Irvine Kelly Pitera, UW Mahesh Paudey, Sacto State Enrique Biche, Cal Poly Pomona |
| 2006 | Gotham City Transportation Authority – Steven Vander Giessen (UW), Jorge Cervantes (CPP), Omar Sanchez (CPP), Vamsi Surapaneni (UNLV) |
| 2005 | 1st Juan Avila, Cal Poly Pomona Luke Seegmiller, BYU 2nd Victor Ling, Cal Poly Pomona Ryan Peterson, BYU 3rd Lyndsay Essigman, University of Wyoming Benjamin Weaver, University of Wyoming |
| 2004 | Julianna Gonzalez, Cal Poly Pomona Leo Espelet, San Diego State University Laura Stanley, Montana State University Chris Cherry, U. of California, Berkeley |
| 2003 | Scott Lee, Montana State Yu Zhang, UC Berkeley Ryan Avery, UW Fredy Monge, Cal Poly Pomona Maria Miranda, Cal Poly Pomona |
| 2002 | Alvin Ly, Cal Poly Pomona Fredy Monge, Cal Poly Pomona Amaka Okoro, CSU Long Beach Meagan Powers, Montana State Vincent Ramos, Cal Poly Pomona |
Historic winners of the James H. Kell Award prior to format change:
| Year |
University
|
|---|---|
| 2001 | none |
| 2000 | none |
| 1999 | University of California, Irvine |
| 1998 | none |
| 1997 | none |
| 1996 | Chico State University |
| 1995 | Cal Poly Pomona |
| 1994 | Chico State University |
The original format of the James H. Kell Award had student chapters conduct and report on original research and investigation of transportation engineering subjects. The investigation shall include, but is not limited to, the collection of original traffic and transportation field data using accepted standard methods. The award recognizes outstanding accomplishment in this area.
