ITS America's 2008 Student Essay Competition Call for Entries

ITS America’s 2008 Annual Meeting & Exposition will be combined with the 15th World Congress on ITS making it the largest ITS event in the world.  One of the highlights of ITS America’s Annual Meeting is the Student Essay Competition.  We are pleased to announce a call for entries for the 2008 Student Essay Competition, sponsored by Southwest Research Institute.

The Student Essay Competition is designed to:

• Encourage student interest and future participation in the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems and solutions
• Provide an opportunity for today’s transportation and engineering students to apply their knowledge in a thought-provoking and hopefully enjoyable competition
• Build awareness of ITS as a career path with unlimited potential

Eligibility Requirements

• Authors must be a graduate or undergraduate full-time student enrolled in an accredited institution of learning in the U.S. 
• Entries are limited to one paper per student and should be original, unpublished work of an individual student.

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will:

• Receive $1,500, $1,000, $500 respectively to cover expenses of their trip to the 15th World Congress. 
• Receive a complimentary full registration to attend the 15th World Congress.
• Have the opportunity to present their winning essay before ITS leaders during ITS America’s “Research, Integration, Training and Education” Forum Showcase at the event.
• Have their winning essay displayed on the Student Essay Competition web pages at http://www.itsa.org/ and http://www.itsworldcongress.org/
• Be featured in nationally-distributed press releases.

Essay Topics

Essays must be based on one of the following topics.  You may also focus the paper on the sub-topics listed:

Topic 1: Vehicles of the Future:  How Will Technology Be Used to Improve Safety and Mobility?

• Vehicle-Highway Automation
• Vehicle-to-Vehicle and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications and Applications
• Active Vehicle Safety Systems
• Autonomous Vehicle Enabling Technology

Topic 2: What Will The Traffic Management Center of The Future Look Like?

• Sensor and Software Technologies
• Regional Integration
• Information Dissemination

Essay Format Requirements

• The cover page must include the title of the essay, author’s name, name of school, mailing address, phone number, and the student’s e-mail address and phone number. 
• All other pages must include at the top of each page, the author’s name and essay title.
• Essays should be typed, double spaced, on 8 ½”x11” white paper.
• A complete bibliography should be included, if appropriate.
• Essays are not to exceed 2,000 words in length, must be written by only one person, and should not have appeared in any publications other than in school publications.
• Essays will be evaluated considering: writing quality and clarity; interest of the topic and content to the broad Intelligent Transportation Systems industry; analysis and reasoning; timeliness, originality, and creativity; quality and use of research; and compliance with these rules.

Application Procedure

• Entries must be submitted in paper and electronic formats.
• Essays must be accompanied by a cover letter from a faculty advisor or department chair.
• E-mail essays to Edgar Martinez at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it by 5:00 p.m. (EST) on September 30, 2008.
• Mail four hardcopies of the essay by the same deadline, 5:00 p.m. (EST) on September 30, 2008, to: Edgar Martinez, Student Essay Competition, Intelligent Transportation Society of America, 1100 17th Street, NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20036

Selection

Entries will be reviewed and the final selections made by a selection committee comprised of ITS America members and Southwest Research Institute representatives.  The winners will be notified in October 2008.

ITS America and Southwest Research Institute strongly encourage the winners to be present for the awards ceremony on Monday, November 17, 2008 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.