UCI is making a move to improve transportation by welcoming Professor Elisa Borowski (she/they) as an Assistant Professor to the CEE department! Professor Borowski defended their dissertation on accessing crowdsourced, social, and shared resources in December 2022 under Dr. Amanda Stathopoulos’s Mobility and Behavior Lab at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.
As a winner of the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, Borowski is making their mark in transportation-related research by focusing on mobility, equity, and resilience. Having completed both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Transportation Systems Analysis and Planning and publishing in academic journals such as Cities, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, and Travel Behaviour and Society, Borowski is certainly making headway in behavioral research for disruption mobility. But why would they travel halfway across the United States to put down roots in Irvine?
“The interdisciplinary and collaborative cluster hiring program within the Black Thriving Initiative really drew me in,” Borowski said.
The professor describes how the current and progressive diversity initiatives at UCI appealed most to them. In addition to joining the CEE department and the Black Thriving Initiative, Borowski joined the UCI chapter of the University of California’s Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS). They hope to make good use of their research by working hand-in-hand with the local community through funding received from ITS to conduct a mixed methods study in partnership with Climate Resolve, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit committed to a just and resilient future.
“I want to collaborate on solutions with the people and communities who are most severely affected by climate change impacts and historic disinvestment,” they said. “I hope to further develop and refine community-engaged research in transportation engineering at UC Irvine.”
We are very happy to have such a kind-hearted and thoughtful professor among our ranks, and we hope that they find themself at home in the UCI CEE department.
“The transportation engineering program at UC-Irvine has a great reputation of collegiality. Even during my first visit when I wasn’t familiar with almost anyone, I felt the faculty was very friendly and easy to get along with. I look forward to meeting students as well and having the opportunity to work with them to sustain and progress the university’s commitment to diversity that drew me in and welcomed me.” they stated.
Professor Borowski is thrilled to be teaching their first class this quarter for civil engineering graduate students on the technicalities of modeling travel behavior and developing a new course on infrastructure equity for civil and environmental engineering undergraduates to be launched in the spring. Soon, we will be able to catch Borowski collaborating with students on campus and enjoying the flora that Irvine hiking trails have to offer.
