About us
Meet the SLS Committee…
Laura Aston
SLS Chair
Laura Aston is a PhD Student at Monash University, Board member of the ITE ANZ, and a part-time transport planner at Transport for Victoria. Laura is passionate about extending opportunities for engagement offered by Student Leadership Summits, pioneered by North American Student chapters in 2012, to Australia and New Zealand tertiary students.
Laura is the founding Chair of the ITEANZ Student Leadership Summit and Traffic Bowl. With the help of North American colleagues, and support from the ITEANZ and international Board, Laura is responsible for overseeing the activities of the Outreach, Project Management and Finance working groups of the ITEANZ SLS team.
Three fun facts about Laura:
- Training for her first marathon
- Francophile and francophone
- Loves growing and cooking fresh produce
Email: iteanzsls18@gmail.com
Jonathan Bryce
SLS Project Management
He is currently completing my final year of a Commerce/Engineering degree at Monash University majoring in Business Modelling and Civil Engineering.
His role on the team is multifaceted, he plays an integral role in project management, including tasks such as organising and running meetings, developing schedules and providing team leadership. He is also responsible for expansion and growth of the student leadership summit. With aspirations of holding a national conference in 2019, he is seeking to develop relationships with student and Universities across Australia.
Fun Facts:
-studied at the top Turkish university in Istanbul for 6 months
-a two-time Fantasy Football Champion, which is explained by my love of stats and footy
-actively working on a new carpooling solution for Monash University.
Email: jbry9@student.monash.edu
Seyed arash fatemi
SLS Webmaster
Arash is a master’s student studying Transport Engineering at Monash University and is a member of the ITEANZ Executive Board. He holds a bachelor of Civil Engineering and has a keen interest in traffic and transport field.
In the SLS team, Arash is responsible for creating and maintaining SLS’s webpage.
Here is some fun facts about him:
-loves mango
-interested in off-road rallies
-Flamenco Guitar Player
Email: iteanzsls18.web@gmail.com
Tyler O'Hare
SLS University Liaison
Tyler is a final year Civil Engineering student at Monash University with a passion for the transport sector.
He loves cycling and own three bikes. They are like shoes, there is a bike for each occasion. He traveled to Asia in June on Monash Universities first ever Engineering International Study Tour. Transport related of course!
Rahman Shafi
SLS Reporting and Evaluation
He completed his Bachelor of Civil Engineering in 2016, and his interest in transport engineering and travel behaviour let him to pursue his PhD at the Monash Institute of Transport Studies . He is currently studying the travel behaviour and perceptions of South Asian immigrants in Victoria. His previous research included studying mini-roundabouts, which was presented to the City of Monash, and a paper was presented at the 2017 Australasian Transport Research Forum, winning the David Willis Memorial Prize.
3 fun facts:
- He never did Years 6 and 7; He jumped from Year 5 to Year 8.
- His younger sister was born eight years after he was . . . on the same day and month - June 15. So guess what, he never got any attention on his birthdays!
- He was born and raised in Bangladesh, but he dreamt of coming to Australia since Year 8, 2008, when his parents started sending him to the Australian International School, Dhaka. That came true when he joined Monash University in 2012.
Email: rahman.shafi@monash.edu
Charles Fowler
SLS University Liaison
Charles role is to act as liaison with universities so as to facilitate their involvement and get support for the student leadership summit.
Three fun facts about him as follows:
- Left Handed
- Twin
- Proficient in Chinese
Matthew Bennett
SLS Traffic Bowl
Matt Bennett will soon graduate from a Master of Engineering (Transport Systems Engineering) at RMIT. He also has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne majoring in Civil Systems. Matt has always loved transport, focusing his studies on vulnerable road user safety.
Matt is helping in in the project management team, particularly with the organisation of the pub trivia styled Traffic Bowl.
Fun facts
-Has simultaneously been a member of four choirs.
-Has lost by a significant margin to school children in rowing.
-Developed an Infrastructure Prioritisation Report for the share-house in which he lives.
Danielle Rebbechi
SLS Interstate Representative Logistics
Danielle is a recent graduate from the University of Melbourne (Masters of Civil Engineering) and is currently working within the Transport Planning, Logistics and Analytics team at SMEC. Danielle would like to use her engineering career to contribute to the design and optimisation of sustainable (particularly active and public) transport infrastructure and systems.
In the SLS team, Danielle is responsible for organising the logistics behind the attendance of interstate representatives.
Some fun facts:
- She is a passionate traveller
- She recently spent some time in Cambodia with Engineers without Borders, working towards developing a “tractor ride-share system” for local farmers
- Loves hiking and avocado
Simon Kogan
SLS Project Management
Simon is a current student at Monash University completing a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) and a Bachelor of Arts (Chinese Studies and Human Geography). Simon has a strong interest in urbanism and human centred design. Simon hopes to see cities of the future be more pedestrian and cyclist friendly and aspires to someday develop equitable and integrated public transport systems.
Simon’s role in the SLS team includes event logistics, planning and marketing.
Fun facts:
- Fluent in Russian and stumbling his way through Chinese
- Has a growing obsession with urban design and geopolitics
- Would love to live in another big city such as St. Petersburg, Tokyo, Shanghai, or Berlin
Atousa Tajaddini
SLS Budgeting
Atousa is a PhD student in transport studies at Monash University with a strong interest in autonomous vehicles, especially land use pattern evolution and different ways in which AVs could reshape our life style.
In the SLS team, Atousa is responsible for budgeting.
Fun Facts:
- Bookaholic
- Trip lover
- Having 4 years professional experience in microsimulation and transportation planning
Ruwanmal Palapathwala
SLS Sponsorship & Liaison
Ruw is a Civil Engineering/Finance student at Swinburne University working full time as an undergraduate engineer at SALT3 whilst completing his degree. He is passionate about creating transport systems which efficiently connect people, believing in their capacity to greatly enhance the productivity of cities and the people who live in them. His career ethos is "Build a better world, build better people"
Ruw's primary role is to coordinate all sponsorship activities and partnerships pertaining to the Student Leadership Summit. He also assists in industry liaison and marketing activities.
Three fun facts about Ruw:
- Ruw spelt Rue is French for street (coincidence? I think not)
- Can play the violin
- Am a semi-professional photographer
Email: ruwanmal9@gmail.com
Meet our interstate representative…
A select few applicants have been granted the opportunity to travel from interstate to attend the inaugural ITE-ANZ Student Leadership Summit.
Christopher Zheng
I am a third year university of sydney student studying architecture and civil engineering. In my spare time, I help out with revues at UNSW, participate in 180 degrees consulting, while occasionally watching esports.
-I performed for UNSW Law revue 2017, which is a comedy sketch show about singing,acting and dancing
-Solo travelled europe in 2018 from January to February
-I enjoy looking at reddit
Dana Abudayyeh
I am a PhD candidate at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She is passionate about traffic modelling. I am working at modelling disrupted road networks to help oursociety performs better and be more resilient!
Fun facts
-Enjoy car racing.
-My birthday is on a public holiday and I always have this day off.
-Learning how to knit.
Mona Mosallanejad
I’m a traffic engineer (civil engineering background) with more than 12 years’ experience, focusing on Micro simulation software e.g. AIMSUN, SIDRA, Synchro and presenting traffic and transport projects according to the quality and client's needs. Currently, I’m a PhD candidate at University of South Australia and working on the estimation of an OD matrix for public transports. Moreover, working in WSP | Parsons Brinkerhoff as a part time traffic engineer in Adelaide and doing some volunteer activities with AITPM | Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management.
3 fun facts about me:
-I really like to take lots of photos and share on Instagram.
-I usually go to trip for my birthday
-I like to do risk in my life.
Monita Yessy Beatrick Wambrauw
7 Years ago I graduated from UNISA did program Master of transport System Engineering in 2011, I had experienced 5 years working in Indonesia, then back again as a student at UNISA for PhD Civil Engineering, my topic research about the investigation of travel behaviour using DCM (Discrete Choice Modelling).
Fun Facts:
- Likes watch Horror and thriller movies
- Loves cooking
- attending Karate Dojo every Monday.
Volunteers
The event would not be possible without our volunteers
We’d like to thank our volunteers, who come from a variety of institutions, for making the day possible
Delmay Lavigilante (Monash University)
Devika Devinka (The University of Melbourne)
Elizabeth McCormack (The University of Melbourne)
Hui Dong (Monash University)
Patrick Xue (Monash University)
Sarah Soboh (Monash University)
Sri Sasitharan (Swinburne)
Tamara Wetangula (Monash University)
Xiaowei ‘Phylicia’ Liao (Monash University)
Yu ‘Lynn’ Tao (Monash University)
