Krambles Award Archive

The Krambles Awards Remembered

George Krambles

Since it was managed by the Urban Transportation Center in 2006, the George Krambles Transportation Scholarship has been awarded to students who have gone on to productive careers in the transportation industry — just like the man the scholarship is named after. George Krambles, former Executive Director of the Chicago Transit Authority, served the region’s transit system for 43 years beginning with the Chicago Rapid Transit Company in 1937 as a student engineer. He graduated from the Electric Railroad Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1936 and was a good friend and supporter of the UTC.

Winners of 2021 Krambles Awards Announced

Three UIC students representing the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering were awarded a 2021 Krambles Transportation Scholarship.

Recipients for 2021 are:

  • Pietro Buffoni, PhD Candidate, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
  • Matthew Krause, Masters Candidate, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
  • Limon Barua, PhD Candidate, UIC College of Engineering

Winners of 2020 Krambles Awards Announced

Three UIC students representing the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering were awarded a 2020 Krambles Transportation Scholarship.

Recipients for 2020 are:

  • Amy Hofstra, PhD Candidate, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
  • Quinn Kasal, Masters Candidate, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
  • Ehsan Rahimi, PhD Candidate, UIC College of Engineering

Announcement of Winners: Scholarship winners for the 2020 competition were announced at the UTC and CUPPA Alumni Association virtual reception January 25, 2021, held in conjunction with the virtual Transportation Research Board 2021 Annual Meeting. The annual UIC George Krambles Transportation Scholarship Awards program was established to honor the accomplishments of a legendary Chicago public transit leader.  This year, the program is open to any PhD or Master’s degree candidate or undergraduate student in good academic standing within the University of Illinois at Chicago who plans a career in the transportation industry.

The year 2020 marked the 14th year the Krambles Scholarship program has been managed by the Urban Transportation Center. Scholarships were awarded. All participants demonstrated that he or she plans to pursue a career in some aspect of the transportation industry, such as planning, policy development, operations and management.

Winners of 2019 Krambles Awards Announced

Three UIC students representing the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs and the College of Engineering were awarded a 2019 Krambles Transportation Scholarship. The official announcement was made by Dr. P.S. Sriraj during the UTC and CUPPA Alumni Association Reception held January 13 during the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board.

Recipients for 2019 are:

  • Amy Hofstra, PhD Candidate, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
  • Tim McMahon, Masters Candidate, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
  • Ehsan Rahimi, PhD Candidate, UIC College of Engineering

The annual UIC George Krambles Transportation Scholarship Awards program was established to honor the accomplishments of a legendary Chicago public transit leader.  This year, the program is open to any PhD or Master’s degree candidate or undergraduate student in good academic standing within the University of Illinois at Chicago who plans a career in the transportation industry.

This year marks the 13th year the Krambles Scholarship program has been managed by the Urban Transportation Center. Scholarships will be awarded. All participants must demonstrate that he or she plans to pursue a career in some aspect of the transportation industry, such as planning, policy development, operations and management.

Winners of 2018 Krambles Awards Announced

Two doctoral candidates, a master’s candidate and an undergraduate student were awarded scholarships for participating in the 2018 George Krambles Transportation Scholarship Awards managed by the Urban Transportation Center.

Recipients for 2018 are:

  • Sudheer Ballare. A PhD candidate in the UIC College of Engineering, Sudheer is in his final year of research and is studying solutions to urban logistics problems. He’s also working as a research assistant at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at the Ann Arbor, Michigan office. Upon earning his doctorate, Sudheer plans to pursue a career in urban logistics and sustainable transportation.
  • Emma Chapman. Prior to attending UIC to pursue a master’s of business administration degree in the College of Business, Emma held full-time positions with the Chicago Transit Authority and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, as well as an international engineering/design firm, a financial rating company and leading transportation research organization.  Emma is committed to a career in public transportation and is passionate about enhancing mobility options.
  • Anthony Misiak. Anthony, who is pursuing a bachelor's degree in Urban Studies from the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, has completed successful internships with Metra and the Village of Schiller Park. He is committed to improving public transportation and plans to “reshape how we think about transit” and bring what was taught in the classroom to find real world solutions to transportation challenges.
  • Ali Shamshiripour. One of Ali’s long-term goals in life is to contribute to society through effective transportation engineering. He holds a master’s degree in transportation engineering from his native Iran and is in pursuit of a doctorate in that field through the UIC College of Engineering. He currently is president of the Institute of Transportation Engineers UIC Chapter.

Winners of 2017 Krambles Awards Announced January 8, 2018

Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee and Fatemeh Nazari, 2017 Krambles Awards recipients, at the UTC and CUPPA Alumni Association Reception at the 2018 TRB Annual Meeting.

Three PhD candidates from the University of Illinois at Chicago were awarded scholarships for participation in the 2017 George Krambles Transportation Scholarship Awards. Announcement of the recipients was made January 8, 2018 at the UTC and CUPPA Alumni Association Reception held during the 2018 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting.

UTC Director Dr. P.S. Sriraj announced these Krambles Awards recipients at the reception:

Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee for paper on: “Modeling Travelers’ Adoption of Autonomous Vehicles and Transportation System Performance.”

Fatemeh Nazari for paper on: “Shared Mobility vs. Private Car Ownership: A Multivariate Analysis of Public Interest in Autonomous Vehicles.”

Jaeyong Shin for paper on: “The Role of Residential Location Choice on the Travel Behavior of Young Adults.”

About the 2017 Krambles Scholarship Awards Recipients

  • Mohamadhossein is working towards his doctorate in Transportation Engineering within the UIC College of Engineering.  His research interests include transportation systems networking and modeling and emerging urban mobility services.  He earned Krambles scholarships in 2015 and 2016.
  • Fatemeh Nazari is a PhD student studying within the UIC Department of Civil and Materials Engineering. In 2016, Fatemeh earned the David Boyce Graduate Award at UIC. Research interests include integrated transportation energy modeling and analysis.
  • Jaeyong Shin is pursuing his doctorate in Urban Planning and Policy through the UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.  He has been a research assistant on studies involving a model for simulating social exclusion and analysis using GIS.  Jaeyong was a Krambles Award scholarship winner in 2016.

2016 Recipients

  • 1st Place: Ramin Shabanpour for paper on: “Modeling Heterogeneity in Discrete Choice Models: Application of Latent-Segmentation Approach in Joint Modeling of Travel Mode and Departure Time Choice Behavior.”
  • 2nd Place: Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee for paper on: Transportation Network Equilibrium for Multimodal Travel: A New Equilibrium Problem with Equilibrium Constraints
  • 3rd Place (tie): Moyin Li for paper on: “Mobility Disadvantage and Face-to-Face Social Meetings.”
  • 3rd Place (tie): Jaeyong Shin for paper on: “The Causes of Declining VMT Among Young People.”

2015 Recipients

  • 1st Place: Ahmadreza Talebian for the paper: “Capacity Allocation in Vertically Integrated Railway Systems: A Sequential Bargaining Game Approach With Focus on the U.S. Context.
  • 2nd Place: Mohamadhossein Noruzoliaee for the paper: “Infrastructure Investment Decisions in Multimodal Intercity Transportation Networks: An Equilibrium Approach.”
  • 3rd place: Ramin Shabanpour Anbarani for the paper: “Expanding the Applicability of Random Regret Minimization: An Exploratory Analysis in the Context of Travel Mode Choice in the Greater Chicago Area

2014 Recipients

  • Ahmadreza Talebian for “A Multi-Stage Approach to Air-Rail Competition: Focus on Rail Agency Objective, Train Speed and Station Access.”
  • Mehran Fasihozaman Langerudi for “Resource Constraints in Mode Choice Models: A Mode Choice Model for Metropolitan Chicago.”
  • Moyin Li for “Transit Use and the Work Commute: An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Urban Densities, Last Mile Problems and Personal Constraints on Mode Choice.”
  • Yaye Keita for “Determinants of Transit Access by Car-Owners.”

2013 Recipients

  • Kyle Bardo, for his paper: “Relationship Building with Freight Railroads Critical to Support Intercity Passenger Rail Development.”
  • Jennifer Kane, for her paper: “Project History and Financial Analysis: Dulles Corridor Metro Rail Project.”
  • Martin Menninger, for his paper: “Analysis of Ridership Projections for the CTA Red Line South Extension.”

2012 Recipients

  • Adam Barnum published a paper on transit signal priority.
  • Jake Rueter published a paper that focused on the global history of bicycle-sharing systems and their implementation and success in North American cities.