PULLMAN, Wash. — Eric Jessup, a doctoral candidate in agricultural economics at Washington State University, will be honored Tuesday (Jan. 8) by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
He will be recognized as the Northwest’s outstanding graduate student in transportation at the annual meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington D.C.
Jessup, will be one of 10 students across the nation who will be honored at the same banquet, will receive a $1,000 prize.
Selection was based on academic performance; technical merit and research; and professionalism and leadership.
“Eric’s strength is his analytical ability combined with a solid understanding of how to deal with real world problems,” said Ken Casavant, professor of agricultural economics. “He is one of the hardest working graduate students I’ve had over the years and is also one of the most enjoyable to work with.”
Casavant is chair of Jessup’s Ph.D. committee.
Jessup has worked on several research projects at WSU, including a study to identify future transportation needs in Eastern Washington. He also collected and analyzed data for the first state-wide freight origin and destination study undertaken in the nation.
Jessup currently is using a Geographical Information System to develop a pavement management component within a transportation opitimization model for commodity flows in Eastern Washington.
Last fall he was elected president of the Agricultural and Rural Transportation Chapter of the Transportation Research Forum. The forum is a national organization of more than 400 public and private sector transportation researchers.
A Greenville, Ky. native, Jessup holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Kentucky.
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