Georgia Tech students sweep WTS Atlanta scholarships

Ph.D. student Stephanie Amoaning-Yankson at the WTS Atlanta meeting where she received the Diane Woodend Jones Leadership Legacy Scholarship.
Amoaning-Yankson
Undergraduate senior Cindy Bledsoe.
Bledsoe
Ph.D. student Xiaodan Xu.
Xu

The Atlanta chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar gave all four of its college-level scholarships to Georgia Tech civil engineering students at a ceremony last week.

Cindy Bledsoe won the Sharon D. Banks Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship, and Brittany Tyson received the WTS Molitoris Leadership Scholarship for Undergraduates.

The organization also gave Ph.D. students Stephanie Amoaning-Yankson its Diane Woodend Jones Leadership Legacy Scholarship and Xiaodan Xu the Helene M. Overly Memorial Scholarship.

“Winning this scholarship is an honor because I greatly value the organization, including for the significant role it has played in my professional career over the past 10 months,” Bledsoe said.

The senior said she has been involved in many of the organization’s outreach efforts and found an internship through a WTS Atlanta meeting earlier this year.

“Throughout my involvement with WTS, I have been very pleasantly surprised by the opportunities it has provided me,” she said.

Amoaning-Yankson said the scholarships boost her confidence as she continues to work on her Ph.D.

“After graduation, I hope to continue to work in the transportation policy and planning field, especially in the areas of risk and system resilience. These scholarships not only help alleviate the financial burden associated with graduate school but also serve as encouragement as I continue to pursue my career goals,” she said.

Xu echoed those sentiments, saying she looks forward to reaching out to new groups interested in her work and attending conferences as a result of the WTS Atlanta award.

“I applied for the scholarship because it is a great chance to reflect on my work and evaluate my achievements over the year,” she said. “Also, winning a scholarship can help me greatly in gaining confidence and advancing myself in this field.”

WTS Atlanta honored scholarship winners at its meeting Oct. 27.