Zhuo Chen, a former Ph.D. student in transportation (advisor: Dr. Cathy Liu), is selected as one of the Top 5 finalists for the 2018 COTA Best Dissertation Award. COTA (Chinese Overseas Transportation Association) best dissertation award is established to recognize outstanding students with Chinese nationalities for their accomplishments of pursuing doctoral degrees in the transportation field all around the world. She was recognized at the COTA award ceremony during Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting on January 7th in Washington, D.C.

The Utah State Board of Regents has selected Ruth V. Watkins as the 16th president of the University of Utah.

Watkins is the first woman to lead the University of Utah — the state’s oldest, largest and only Research 1 higher education institution — in its 168-year history. (Jerilyn S. McIntyre served as interim president of the U twice, for two months in 1991 and all of 1997.) Watkins will assume the position this spring – an exact date will be determined in the coming weeks.
She succeeds David W. Pershing, who has served as president since 2012 and will officially step down to rejoin the U as a faculty member.

“Dr. Watkins brings both an outside perspective based on years of leadership experience at the University of Illinois as well as significant familiarity with the University of Utah where she has served as senior vice president and provost since 2013,” said Daniel W. Campbell, chair of the Board of Regents. “She is a collaborative leader who is committed to ensuring exceptional educational and research opportunities for students and faculty. She also is widely respected by our community partners. Dr. Watkins’ vision and dedication will ensure the U excels in the years ahead.”

Read more here at @theU . . .