Transit Fellow Testimonial

Transit Fellows are well-prepared for careers in transit planning, as attested by Mr. Sam Zimmerman, referring to one of our first Transit Fellows:

Gibran Hadj-Chikh is one of the finest young planners in DMJM+HARRIS, the key transit operating company of AECOM Technology, the largest transportation engineering firm in the World according to "Engineering New Record." Gibran came to DMJM+HARRIS uniquely well prepared. The combination of the education he received at Florida State University under your guidance and the practical experience he gained while an intern at Tri Rail has been invaluable to our success at DMJM+HARRIS in growing our transit practice. His quantitative and communications skills reflect the effects of an education that was at once technical and practical. I understand that he was able to jump directly into complex planning issues at Orange County right out of FSU, and our experience with him points to a person with maturity well beyond his age. His recent work on the City of Baltimore DOT's Strategic Plan with its new Director and his executive staff is an illustration of that maturity.

As DMJM+HARRIS's Principal -Transportation Planning and a former senior Federal official (FTA Director of Planning,)I believe that I have a good perspective on the quality of the transportation/transit planners being turned out at the graduate level around he Nation. In short, if Gibran is indicative of what the FSU transit fellow program produces, we need that program to be given more support and grow. Our profession needs it!

(Email from Sam Zimmerman to Greg Thompson 29 May 2002)

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