Research Assistants

My name is Hayden Flechner and I am a Civil Engineering student from Tustin, CA.  Starting my fourth year, I have achieved Cal Poly’s Dean’s List for eight full-time quarter terms and I have achieved Cal Poly’s Presidents List for the 2021-22 academic year. In addition, I was honored with the Don Chapin Company Scholarship award from Cal Poly’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in 2021. What excites me about transportation engineering and planning is the raw geometric design of roadways and highways. I feel as if day-to-day passengers take for granted complicated infrastructures like highway interchanges and roads that carve through mountains. My research interest lies in analyzing how transportation systems infrastructure impacts passenger decision making. Fascinatingly enough, it is difficult to predict people’s decisions but it is important to me to understand how the preferred mode of transport affects the demand for other transportation systems. With SuMoLab, I am working as an assistant to synthesize a framework to study the VMT and GHG impacts of priority capital improvement projects across California. To start, we are categorizing infrastructure projects based on their category from active transport to public transit strategies. After graduation, I plan to continue research and study to achieve a Master’s of Science in Civil Engineering. Being the current Chief of Staff of Cal Poly’s Interfraternity Council and formerly serving as the President of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, I’ve committed my time and efforts to serve the Jewish community of San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly’s student body.

My name is Liana Saker and I am from Corona, California. I am a civil engineering student here at Cal Poly, and also a research assistant with SuMoLab. This summer I had the opportunity to be a civil engineering student intern at TRC in Irvine, CA. I am also a part of the Society of Women Engineers and Society of Civil Engineers, which I love to be involved in.  In my free time I love to spend time with my friends and family. Transportation is interesting to me because there is a lot to help with the sustainability of the planet through transportation. I am interested in researching sustainable mobility and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. I have been working in SuMoLab with Dr. Shams Tanvir in creating open-source educational materials for transportation engineering students through a course Dr. Tanvir is a building called sustainable mobility. After graduation I plan to take the PE exam to become a licensed civil engineer and hope to work as a civil engineer and work my way up to a project manager.  

My name is Malik Rahim. I am born in Fresno, California and raised in San Luis Obispo. My parents are from Egypt and I visit my family there often. My most notable educational achievements have been placing top 10 in my entire high school in terms of academic GPA and getting on the Dean’s List in the Fall Quarter of 2021 (>3.5 GPA). The most exciting and compelling reason I decided to participate in transportation research was because of its direct applicability to everyone’s lives on a daily basis. My father also is a professor on this sub-field within Civil Engineering. Therefore, my research interest is mainly surrounding the topic of transportation engineering. This past summer I participated in paid research with a fellow professor (Dr. Tanvir) in which we had to process, organize, and explain raw data from several sites on campus. These were tests done on several days (usually about two weeks) and had thousands of different counts and related details such as vehicle type. The research was a great experience for me and allowed me to delve into applicable and direct work related to the field that interests me most. After graduation, I hope to work for a public/state company (i.e.. Caltrans) as an engineer dealing with transportation in California, USA. I hope my college experience through both classes and research aid me for this. Finally, I enjoy playing and watching soccer, spending time with family and friends, and watching an interesting show or documentary in my free time.