MARTA Internship

Recognizing that attracting new professional talent to the transit industry will be critical to the future success of public transit, GTI/UTC has entered into an agreement with the Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority (MARTA) to sponsor student internships at the transit agency. The agreement stipulates that the GTI/UTC and MARTA will pay half of the salary for the interns.

In 2008, six students worked as interns at MARTA, two undergraduate students and four graduate students. The interns worked in MARTA’s engineering, operations, planning and general manager’s offices. Several of the interns continued their work during their academic year.  As noted by Dr. Michael D. Meyer, Director of the GTI/UTC, “this program has helped generate interest among our undergraduate and graduate students in pursuing careers in the public sector.  For example, one of our first interns of this program, James Wagner (MCE 2009; MCP 2009), was recently hired as a senior transportation planner with the Tulsa Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), where he will be responsible for overseeing their bike-pedestrian master plan.  It’s clear that James’ exposure to the day-to-day operations and challenges facing MARTA played an instrumental role in his ability to obtain a senior planner leadership position directly after graduation.  This is one example of how this program is helping inspire—as well as mentor— the next generation of leaders within the public sector.”

From left to right, Brain Gensheimer, Brent Vokes, and Brandon Denny begin their 2009 summer internships with MARTA.

This is the first time that MARTA has entered into a formal internship agreement with a local university. As noted by Dr. Meyer, “without the resources provided by the University Transportation Center grant, it is highly doubtful that MARTA and the Georgia Transportation Institute could have reached agreement on a program that would support so many students. This program has already been a huge success, and it will likely only get better in the future.”

In 2009, four new interns from civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and city planning are participating in the program. Shannon Griffin (BSCE 2009; MCP 2011) is working with MARTA’s Office of Transit Systems Planning on several projects, including the I-20 East Transit Corridor Study.  She is also developing Memorandums of Understanding with other agencies to allow MARTA to operate in areas outside their current service area.  Brandon Denny (MSCE 2009)is also working with the Office of Transit Systems to evaluate bus routes to ensure they meet MARTA’s service standards and Title IV compliance.  Brent Vokes (BSME 2009) is working with the mechanical engineering group to develop HVAC requirements, determine heating and cooling load calculations, and investigate rail washing systems.  Brian Gensheimer (BSCE 2010) is continuing a project that former interns Bryan Holloway and Justin Cooner worked on by creating rail station profiles that show the potential for transit oriented development.