Jordan McGee Selected to Attend the Eno Future Leaders Development Conference (LDC)

The Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (CM²) Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC) is pleased to report that Jordan McGee, a Master’s student, was selected as an Eno Fellow for the 2020 Transportation Leadership Development Conference (LDC) program. The Eno Center for Transportation is a non-profit leader in transportation policy, research, and professional development. Their competitive fellowship provides 20 graduate students from a nationwide pool of nominations the opportunity to attend the LDC in Washington D.C.

Of the fellowship, she explained, “Dr. Sciara emailed me 01/2020 saying that ‘The transportation faculty within UT’s Community & Regional Planning Program have identified you as one of several students who would be a strong candidate for the 2020 Eno Transportation Leadership Development Conference.’ I was thrilled about the conference and sent over my resume and an essay about my interest. In February, the professors let me know I was nominated for UT. In March, I received an email from Eno that I was selected from the entire pool.” Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference has been postponed until June 2021.

The Future Leaders Development Conference is a conference hosted by the Eno Center for Transportation. It offers a unique several-day seminar introducing graduate students in transportation to the range of players, offices, issues, and processes involved in transportation policymaking in the United States. Attendees look at how national transportation policies are developed. They also meet with federal, state, and local officials as well as public, private and non-profit leaders across the industry, and engage with them to discuss latest developments. The conference helps establish a network, nerd out with others, and see pathways to influence policy. 

The weeklong program will cover topics such as transportation funding, sustainability and climate change, emerging technologies that are changing the industry, and how policy is developed on Capitol Hill, among other topics. Additional information about the Eno Fellowship can be found online at https://www.enotrans.org/course/future-leaders-development-conference/.

An excerpt from Jordan’s essay reads, “Through the Eno Future Leaders Development Conference, I believe that I would similarly gain critical knowledge that would assist my pursuit of improving public transportation for the general public and vulnerable populations. The conference itinerary is impressive, especially with conversations about transportation policy and suggestions for how to influence policy. As someone working towards securing a vote for Project Connect in the upcoming months and throughout my career, this conference would prove advantageous and constructive to me, the agency and the broader community.”