New Mexico State University

Graduate Student, Geography

Graduate Assistant

Arts and Sciences

Thesis Title: The Effects of Commuter Rail Ridership on Interstate 10 in the El Paso-Las Cruces Metropolitan Area

About

General
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My first interest is the application and formation of more public transit systems for metropolitan uses in the Western United States, primarily in the Southwest Region in the El Paso-Las Cruces Metropolitan area. Commuter Rail and how it can affect transportation patterns to assist in traffic congestion and to help meet EPA air quality standards are of interest to me.

Also on the side Geography portrayed through popular literature interests me. The general US public receives geographic information through smart phones, media sources and to a great extent through literature and movies. How the locations are described and how geography is conveyed to people through such popular sources such as Daniel Brown, J.R.R Tolkien and others interests me.

Master's Research
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As our population grows, our infrastructure needs to grow with us. The Eastern and Midwest cities have highly developed public transit systems that allow people the choice on the mode of transportation that they choose. In our area its all about the automobile. Travel Demand Modeling is a powerful tool in assisting Planners with analyzing travel patterns in their regional areas. Yet Travel Demand has been a poor indicator of realistic ridership number in regards to commuter rail. Through a use of TDM and Regression models a joint model will be used to study and analyze the potential for Transit to be used first before the creation of wider lanes, more roads which only address the symptoms.

This research will further science by providing an improvement in the calibration of ridership feasibility studies.