Traffic and Transportation Engineering

My Favorite Course in Civil Engineering

Why This Course

My prior interaction with Professor Monica Menendez influenced my decision to take this course. Having met with her the semester before, I was eager to take an engineering class with such an established female professor who had a wide range of experiences in academia as well as in the field of consulting. As a civil engineering student, it is also part of the course requirement that I take the Traffic and Transportation Engineering course.

A Typical Day in This Class

A typical day for the class involved Professor Menedez sharing the weekly class objectives. She would then conduct a lecture to go though the theory, including relevant anecdotes from her personal experience as well as current news events.

Throughout the lecture, she asked questions and gave out exercises which we would have to solve to ensure we had understood the concepts. As a whole, participation was an important aspect of the class.

The class also included a weekly recitation section led by a teaching assistant. We would solve more lengthy problems, as well as learn how to use the traffic simulation software Aimsun.

What I Loved About The Class

I really enjoyed the TED talk style presentations. In comparison to other class presentations, it brought out a creative side from my classmates I had not seen before.

The professor set high expectations for these presentations, with a strict time limit and limited reading, bringing attention to our presentation skills. The feedback session following these presentations were also incredibly useful in developing and learning from one another.  

Tips on Navigating What Major or Course to Take

With the many engineering requirements that needed to be fulfilled, it can often feel like you have limited choices in your course selection. However, I think that this important to carry out some research on the professors that are teaching the various courses.

From my experience, I have been more engaged and learned more in courses where I related to the professor. Some courses are taught by multiple professors, so doing more research into which professor you can learn the most from can better help you structure when to take certain courses. 

Why NYU Abu Dhabi

The small class sizes and opportunities to engage directly with professors is one of the main reasons for choosing to come to NYUAD. Furthermore with peers from around the world, there are plenty of opportunities to learn about different parts of the world and different perspectives.