Professor Qing Shen, Chair and Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban Design and Planning, has recently been selected to receive the 2024 PacTrans Outstanding Educator Award. PacTrans (Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium) is the Regional University Transportation Center for Federal Region 10. It currently consists of the University of Washington, Northwest Indian College, Portland State University, the University of Alaska Anchorage, the University of Idaho, and Washington State University. The Outstanding Educator Award is presented to PacTrans faculty in recognition of sustained outstanding teaching including mentoring, advising, and innovative teaching techniques.
Since joining the University of Washington in 2009, Professor Shen has played a leading role in building a strong collaborative relationship between transportation researchers in Urban Design and Planning and those in the College of Engineering. He has worked with many graduate students and colleagues on transportation research projects. He has chaired or served as a member of a large number of dissertation and thesis committees. Many of his former students have become faculty members at research universities or urban transportation planners in professional organizations. Professor Shen has made notable scholarly contributions to urban transportation planning and related fields.