Urban Transit Institute at the Transportation Institute

2004 Outstanding Student of the Year Award - Jacinta Simmons

The achievements of Jacinta Simmons reflect the theme of the UTI at North Carolina A&T State University and the importance of the Southeastern Transportation Center in fostering diversity in the transportation profession.

Jacinta Simmons, a senior transportation and logistics major, was selected North Carolina A&T State University’s (NCA&TSU) University Transportation Center Outstanding Student of the Year. She has displayed scholarship as a member of the University Honors Program, leadership, and character. However, her academic success (a near perfect 4.0 grade point average) is only a small part of what she has accomplished.

Jacinta has held positions of leadership in the many campus organizations.  She served as president of the campus chapter of the national transportation fraternity, Delta Nu Alpha, as well as president of the Midwest Aggie Club. Other memberships include the Honda Campus All-Star Quiz Bowl Team, Aggie Toastmasters, and voter registration volunteer for the NAACP. Clearly, she is a person that accepts responsibility and seeks ways to make her community better.

Internship experience started early for Jacinta. Her exposure in transportation is extremely vast for someone so young. Her initial experience was with the Central Ohio Transit Authority in Columbus in the Paratransit and Special Services Department. The following summer, she again interned in Columbus. This time, however, her experience was as a research analyst with Battelle Memorial Institute in their transportation market sector. There, she was, in part, responsible for creating transportation profiles for each state.

Jacinta enhanced her research skills as an assistant to the United Parcel Service Distinguished Professor in Transportation at NCA&TSU, Dr. Kofi Obeng. She worked on his project “Public Transit Boards: Organization, Roles, and Characteristics.” She was responsible for creating databases, implementing surveys, and analyzing research results. Over the 2003 summer and fall semester, Jacinta participated in a co-op experience with Harley Davidson in Milwaukee. She was a buy/planner with the service parts division. Jacinta also carried a full-time on-line course load during the fall semester. Her ability to balance work and academics was phenomenal. 

Because of her outstanding job performance, Jacinta was given responsibilities that far exceeded those of the typical intern. She participated on an audit team that evaluated the performance of the parts and accessories marketing unit. In addition, she was responsible for inventory analysis for an entire parts category. As Jacinta stated, “I was glad to accept the challenge and happy that they trusted me with such a big responsibility.” As if this was not enough, she also participated on the supplier diversity team and was APICS certified in the basics of supply chain management and master planning of resources.

Finally, Jacinta has been an STC Education Award recipient and is currently a Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship recipient. She was a Conference of Minority Transportation Officials (COMTO) scholarship recipient and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and Golden Key honor societies. Upon graduation in May 2004, Jacinta has been accepted to pursue a graduate degree in transportation from The Ohio State University.