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CARSP Young Professionals Committee

Hours Posted on Hours Updated on

By: Robert Colonna, M.Sc.; Ph.D. Candidate, Health Promotion, Western University and Chair, CARSP Young Professionals Committee

Another year, another fantastic CARSP Conference!

The Young Professionals Committee (YPC) is thrilled to report on several conference successes. This year, we hit a record number of student attendees and presenters, with over 40 students and young professionals joining us, and nearly 30 of them presenting their work. Both of these are new records for our conference! We also set a new milestone by raising $1,500 for the YPC 50/50 raffle. Thank you to everyone who purchased tickets!

We also launched a new ‘YPC Mentorship Program,' a unique initiative aimed at fostering meaningful connections between students and seasoned road safety professionals. We had 12 student mentees and 4 mentors participate, and we hope to bring this back next year!

During the conference, the YPC hosted an enriching career panel that offered valuable insights into the road safety field. We extend our gratitude to all our panelists, including Craig Lyon (Traffic Injury Research Foundation), Alvin TSE (ISL Engineering), Sarah Richmond (Public Health Ontario), and Valerie Smith (Parachute Canada).

We then headed to Three Brasseurs for the ‘Young Professionals & Young at Heart’ networking mixer. We had over 70 attendees gather for an evening of food, drinks, and good old-fashioned networking! This was another record-breaking event and several students reported it as a conference highlight! A huge shoutout to our sponsor, Western Ergonomics, for making these events possible!

We would also like to congratulate all of the Student Paper and Poster Competition finalists! This year we received 10 paper and 8 poster submissions. Below is a list and photos of the winners. Thanks again to Western Ergonomics for sponsoring the Student Paper Competition, and to CARSP for sponsoring the Student Poster Competition.

Student Paper Competition:

  • 1st place: Using Machine Learning to Predict Child Active Transportation-related Motor-vehicle Collisions (Tate Hubkarao) - not pictured
  • 2nd place: Paving The Way Forward: The Safety Implications of Complete Streets (Abby Cartwright)
  • 3rd place: Road Traffic Mortality in Iran: Longitudinal Trend and Seasonal Analysis, March 2011 - February 2020 (Milad Delavary) - accepted on Milad’s behalf by Isaac Laguna
  • 4th & 5th place runner-ups: Using Microsimulation to Investigate Design Options for Safe Mobility of Bicyclists at Signalized Intersections (Robert Mansell) & Reassessment of The Use of Pedestrian Scramble Phases (Madeline Whitehouse) - not pictured

Student Poster Competition:

  • 1st place: Examining Drivers’ Scanning Behaviors: An On-road Study of Intersections in Guelph, Ontario
    Authors: Mattea Powell, Joelle Girgis, Liraz Fridman, Jay Pratt, Paul Hess, and Birsen Donmez (presented by Mark Wei)
  • 2nd place: Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Roundabout Safety – Case Study in Region of Waterloo
    Authors: Ryoto Miyake (presenter), Liping Fu
  • 3rd place: Investigation and Illustration of a Systemic Approach for Identifying Sites for Safety Improvements
    Authors: Mahsa Jafari, Bhagwant Persaud, Cameron Mohammadi (presenter)

Finally, we would like to share some results from the YPC post-conference feedback survey, which was completed by 20 students! See infographic below. We’re thrilled to know we’re supporting the next generation of road safety professionals.

Keep an eye out for the Fall 2024 Newsletter Update where we will announce the new YPC members. See you all next year at the 2025 CARSP Conference in Quebec City!