InTrans / Mar 14, 2011
Gilson Lomboy Attends IRF Road Scholar Program
Dreznes Cup winners
InTrans congratulates research assistant Gilson Lomboy, who in January participated in the 2011 International Road Federation (IRF) Road Scholar Program in Washington, D.C., as an IRF Executive Fellow, one of only 15 students selected to do so nationally.
The annual 10-day IRF Road Scholar Program gathers international graduate students attending U.S. universities who have demonstrated significant educational accomplishments as well as a desire to use their education to improve their home countries.
The Road Scholar Program helps these students understand the process of doing business in the transportation industry in the United States, the importance of leadership, and the benefits and merits of the International Road Federation. It also gives IRF members an opportunity to connect with potential future international leaders in transportation before they return to their home countries.
Lomboy, whose home is in the Philippines, is an ISU graduate student in civil, construction, and environmental engineering with a focus on pavement materials. He described the 10-day Road Scholar Program as “hectic” but full of valuable activities.
“The program is an excellent opportunity for students to learn and meet people that they may never have had the opportunity to,” Lomboy says.
Along with the other Executive Fellows and several IRF traditional Fellows participating in the Road Scholar Program, Lomboy met with transportation industry leaders such as AASHTO Executive Director John C. Horsley and TRB Executive Director Bob Skinner, visited advanced research facilities, listened to high-level corporate presentations, attended leadership training activities, and participated in active-learning events.
Lomboy and his teammates took the “Dreznes Cup” (named after Mike Dreznes, chair of the International Road Educational Foundation, or IREF) for top score in a final-exam team competition that included building a bridge with food items and earning points in a Jeopardy-like contest.
Lomboy was nominated to represent ISU in the IRF’s Road Scholar Program by Shashi Nambisan, director of InTrans; Chris Williams, director of ISU’s Asphalt Materials and Pavements Program; and InTrans faculty affiliates Halil Ceylan and Kejin Wang.