The Rising Stars Program is intended to identify the next generation and new faces of the transportation profession and is designed to recognize members under the age of 35 who have already made an impact on the profession, have demonstrated the ability to lead the next generation, and have implemented innovative techniques to solve transportation problems. The District winner will be submitted as the District’s nominee for consideration at the International level for the ITE Rising Star/Young Member of the year.
2022 Rising Star – Morgan Nelson
Morgan is a traffic engineer at Kimley-Horn who is passionate about connecting people to find innovative solutions. Morgan leads projects in both the public and private sectors and has served in internal office leadership roles as well as in professional organizations and community organizations. In her current role, Morgan manages traffic studies that vary from retail tenants to single-family residential developments to large industrial/commercial sites. She supports local, regional and national private sector clients. Morgan leads public sector noise analysis studies in Minnesota and supports noise analysis production for national private sector clients. Morgan’s enthusiasm for transportation engineering is evident in her work with ITE. She has served various roles for International, Great Lakes District, Illinois Section, and North Central Section. In each role, Morgan has demonstrated a passion for sharing her professional experience with others and has dedicated her career to inspiring engineers to be leaders in the organizations and communities we serve.
Past Recipients:
- 2021 – Tyler Krage
- 2020 – Lauren Arthur (legacy Great Lakes District) and Christian Sternke (legacy Midwestern District)
- 2019 – Justin Effinger (legacy Midwestern District)
- 2018 – Sarah Hernandez (legacy Midwestern District)
- 2017 – Amanda Brauer (legacy Midwestern District)
- 2016 – Jennifer Pangborn-Dolde (legacy Midwestern District)
- 2015 – Mike Bittner (legacy Midwestern District)