I am pleased to share that I have started a job at the transportation consulting company Cambridge Systematics as of 2 weeks ago, being based out of its office in the DC area (where I grew up). (Note that this company, which was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US, is a different company than the social media data mining company Cambridge Analytica, which was founded in Cambridge in the UK and was notable for its mining of user data from social media sites for the purpose of targeted political advertising in the 2016 presidential election in the US [LINK from Wikipedia].) The company takes on clients primarily from government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels to do work on long-range planning, travel demand forecasting, big data analytics & modeling for passenger & freight transportation, transportation safety planning, public transit planning & operations, and public transit & highway asset management. I will primarily be working on projects related to shared mobility, public transit, long-range planning, and transportation safety, but I will not necessarily be restricted to these areas.
I am excited to be working at this company, as it will give me a different perspective on transportation than I had within academia. Additionally, unlike in academia where I was focused on leading & managing a few projects over a long period of time in which those projects would lead to research products but might not necessarily have any more immediate tangible impact, in this company, I will be able to work on a wide variety of shorter-term projects that will have more immediate tangible impacts for people. I got into the transportation sector to help people with disabilities, and although many of the projects at this company might not directly relate to the needs of people with disabilities, I look forward to bringing up those issues where possible & applicable, using these projects to educate colleagues & clients about these issues where possible & applicable, and having tangible (even if incremental) positive influences on transportation for people with disabilities through the completion of these projects.